I  I  E) 

OF  THL 
U  N  I  VLR5  ITY 
or  ILLINOIS 

1884 


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UNIVERSITY   OF   ILLINOIS   LIBRARY  AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 


HOV    b  1 

my 

m  1 


HITS 


JUL  1«i 
JUN28 


191 S 


m 


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MAR  1  3 


MAR  1  7|d} 
DEC  2  0  1990 


UIC-REC'B  hARaG'93 

111 

m  0  ^  200^ 


1380 


1993 

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L161  — O-1096 


DICTIONARY 

OF 

AMERICANISMS 


GLOSSARY  OF  WORDS  AND  PHRASES 

USUALLY  REGARDED  AS  PECULIAR  TO 

THE  UNITED  STATES. 


BY 

JOHN  RUSSELL  BARTLETT. 


FOURTH  EDITION, 

GREATLY  IMPROVED  AND  ENLARGED. 


BOSTON: 
LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND  COMPANY. 
1884. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1859,  by 

JOHN    RUSSKLL  BARTLETT, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  District  of  Rhode  Island. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1877,  by 

JOHX    RUSSELL  BARTLETT, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  "Washington. 


Cambridge : 
Press  of  John  Wilson  dr'  Son. 


/  ff't 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FOURTH  EDITION. 


The  second  edition  of  this  Dictionary  was  published  in  Boston 
in  1859,  and  a  third  the  following  year.  The  former  was  greatly 
enlarged  from  the  first  edition,  the  latter  was  a  reprint  of  the 
second  edition  without  alterations. 

During  the  eighteen  years  that  have  passed  since  the  last 
revision,  the  vocabulary  of  our  colloquial  language  has  had 
large  additions,  chiefl}^  from  the  sources  whence  additions  usually 
come.  To  the  Indian,  the  Dutch,  the  German,  the  French,  and 
the  Spanish  elements,  there  have  been  but  few  contributions. 
From  the  arts,  from  new  inventions,  from  new  settlements,  par- 
ticularly those  in  mining  districts,  from  commerce,  mau}^  words 
have  been  adopted ;  while  the  late  civil  war  has  also  furnished 
its  share.  But,  perhaps,  the  larger  share  of  additions  is  from 
the  vocabulary  of  slang,  which  may  be  divided  into  several 
classes.  First  are  the  terms  used  by  the  bankers  and  stock- 
brokers of  Wall  Street,  which  are  well  understood,  and  employed 
by  those  who  operate  in  stocks  in  all  our  large  cities.  These 
ma}^  be  classed  among  the  more  respectable  slang.  They  are 
employed  not  only  by  merchants,  but  by  all  who  have  money  to 
invest,  or  who  operate  in  stocks.  Educated  men  also  make  use  of 
them,  for  the  reason  that  there  are  no  terms  which  so  well  express 
the  operations  connected  with  money.  JNext  we  have  "  College 
Slang,"  or  words  and  expressions  in  common  use  among  the 
students  in  our  colleges  and  pupils  of  our  higher  schools.  These 


iv  PREFACE  TO  THE  FOURTH  EDITION. 

words  are  so  numerous  that,  when  explained  at  length,  and 
accompanied  by  examples,  they  make  a  volume  of  themselves. 
Then  there  is  the  slang  of  poUticians,  of  the  stage,  of  sportsmen, 
of  Western  boatmen,  of  pugilists,  of  the  pohce,  of  rowdies  and 
"roughs,"  of  thieves,  of  work-shops,  of  the  circus,  of  shop- 
keepers, workmen,  &c.,  which  taken  together  form  a  rich  mine 
whence  new  words  are  derived ;  some  of  which,  after  a  struggle, 
become  engrafted  on  our  language,  and  finally  obtain  places  in 
"  Webster's  Unabridged." 

Objections  have  been  made  to  the  incorporation  of  slang 
terms  in  a  work  like  the  present,  on  the  ground  that  it  tends  to 
preserve  them  and  perpetuate  their  use.  It  is  true  that  it  does 
preserve  them,  but  it  does  not  perpetuate  their  use  ;  for  they  often 
disappear  as  suddenly  as  the}^  come  into  existence.  Slang  terms 
will  remain  in  use  only  so  long  as  they  may  be  useful  in  colloquial 
language.  They  may  then  be  supplanted  by  others  more  ex- 
pressive, and  sink  into  oblivion.  But,  even  though  they  may 
become  obsolete,  it  is  no  reason  why  they  should  not  be  included 
in  a  Dictionary  or  Glossary.  Words  having  a  political  signifi- 
cance sometimes  have  an  existence  of  ten  or  twenty  years. 
The}'  are  emplo3'ed  b}'  the  newspaper  press,  are  heard  in  the 
halls  of  legislation,  and  find  a  place  in  our  poKtical  annals.  The 
extinction  of  an  old  political  party,  the  organization  of  another 
with  new  issues  and  a  new  platform,  will  be  accompanied  by  new 
terms  which  will  become  the  shibboleth  or  watchword  of  the 
party.  The  names  of  the  older  parties  cease  to  be  used,  and  are 
soon  forgotten.  Such  is  the  history  of  the  terms  Federals, 
Bucktails,  Barnbui-ners,  Old  Hunkers,  Loco-Focos,  Silver  Greys, 
and  Know-Nothings.  The  clubs  and  flash}^  young  men  have  their 
slang,  often  growing  out  of  the  fashion  of  the  day,  or  out  of 
the  customs  of  society ;  while  the  number  introduced  from  the 
humbler  classes  is  much  gi-eater.  Sometimes  these  strange 
words  have  a  known  origin ;  but,  of  the  larger  number,  no  one 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FOUKTH  EDITION. 


V 


knows  whence  they  come.  Slang  is  thus  the  source  whence 
large  additions  are  made  to  our  language. 

A  writer  in  "  Household  Words"  (No.  183)  has  gone  so  far 
as  to  remark  that  a  person  "shall  not  read  one  single  parlia- 
mentar}'  debate,  as  reported  in  a  first-class  newspaper,  without 
meeting  scores  of  slang  words,"  and  "that  from  Mr.  Speaker  in 
his  chair  to  the  Cabinet  Ministers  whispering  behind  it,  from 
mover  to  seconder,  from  true-blue  Protectionist  to  extremest 
Radical,  the  New  House  of  Parliament  echoes  and  re-echoes 
with  slang." 

"The  universahtj  of  slang,"  says  Mr.  Hotten,^  "is  extraor- 
dinar3\  Let  an}"  person  for  a  short  time  narrowly  examine  the 
conversation  of  their  dearest  and  nearest  friends ;  aye,  censor- 
hke,  even  slice  and  analyze  their  own  supposed  correct  talk,  and 
the}'  shall  be  amazed  at  the  numerous  unauthorized,  and  what 
we  can  only  call  vulgar,  words  they  continually  employ.  .  .  . 
I  am  aware  that  most  new  words  are  generally  regarded  as  slang, 
although  afterwards  they  may  become  useful  and  respectable 
additions  to  our  standard  dictionaries." 

Within  the  last  few  j^ears,  several  Enghsh  writers  have  had  the 
courage  to  acknowledge  the  importance  of  the  slang  element  in 
our  language,  and  to  write  in  its  defence.  Among  them  is 
Mr.  E.  B.  Tylor,  the  learned  author  of  "Primitive  Culture," 
and  of  "Researches  into  the  Early  History  of  Mankind,"  who 
thus  writes :  — 

"  Slang,  despised  and  ignored  till  lately  b}^  the  lexicographers, 
is  a  genuine  and  influential  branch  of  speech.  It  is  one  of  the 
feeders  of  what  may  be  called  standard  language,  which  with 
little  scruple  adopts  and  adapts  the  words  it  happens  to  want, 
whether  from  the  technical  terms  of  shopmen  and  artisans,  or 
out  of  the  quainter  vocabularies  of  coster-mongers  and  prize- 
fighters, school-boys   and  fops.     This  practical  importance 


1  Slang  Dictionary,  p.  40. 


\[  niEFACE  TO  THE  FOURTH  EDITION. 

entitles  it  to  be  treated  lingnistically,  like  any  other  working 
dialect.  Nor  is  its  theoretical  value  inconsiderable  to  the  student. 
Like  other  dialects,  slang  is  developed  according  to  the  general 
laws  of  language,  and  very  striking  are  some  of  its  illustrations 
of  those  laws.  Many  a  philological  hint  may  be  gleaned  from 
the  talk  of  factories  and  stables,  music-halls  and  thieves'  kitchens 
and  pawnbrokers'  shops,  which  would  be  more  hardly  sought  from 
the  super-refined  Enghsh  of  the  school-room."^ 

Philologists  and  other  scholars,  when  a  term  is  wanted  for 
some  new  invention,  some  new  product  in  the  arts,  in  machinery 
or  manufactures,  usualty  form  one  from  the  Greek  or  Latin. 
A  word  thus  formed  may  be  plain  to  scholars  famihar  with  those 
languages ;  but,  where  one  comprehends  the  meaning,  a  hun- 
dred fail  to  do  so.  This  is  particularly  the  case  with  the  scien- 
tific names  of  plants  and  flowers.  The  botanist  creates  a  name 
from  the  Latin,  which  is  only  familiar  to  scholars  ;  while  the  com- 
mon people  invent  a  name  which  is  descriptive  of  the  plant,  or 
of  its  habits,  to  which  the}'  cling  with  great  tenacit}^,  and  by 
which  the  plant  is  ever  after  known.  Such  are  the  "Pitcher- 
plant,"  "  Love-lies-bleeding,"  "  Sweet  WiUiam,"  "  Jack-in-the- 
pulpit,"  "None-so-pretty."  So,  too,  of  birds.  The  peasant 
christens  them,  like  his  flowers,  after  their  habits. 

The  late  civil  war  has  given  rise  to  man}'  singular  words. 
Some  of  these,  in  common  use  among  our  soldiers  during  the 
war,  have  since  been  dropped.  Others  have  not  only  been  pre- 
served in  our  colloquial  dialect,  but  have  been  transplanted  to 
and  adopted  in  foreign  countries  where  the  English  language  is 
spoken.  Among  the  former  are  the  words  contraband,  as  applied 
to  slaves,  hummer^  copperhead^  confederates^  carpet-baggers^  jay- 
hawker^  greenback^  monitor^  ku-klux^  skedaddle^  skyugle^  &.Q,. 

In  the  mining  districts  of  Cahfornia  and  Nevada,  many 
strange  words  and  phrases  have  sprung  into  existence,  some  of 

1  The  Philosophy  of  Slang,  in  MacmHlan's  Mag.,Vol.  XXIX.  p.  502. 


PEEFACE  TO  THE  FOUKTH  EDITION.  Yli 

which  have  so  taken  root  that  they  are  heard  in  the  colloquial 
language  of  the  towns  and  cities,  and  have  even  crept  into  the 
ephemeral  literature  of  the  Pacific  States.  By  no  writers  has 
this  peculiar  idiom  been  so  much  employ  ed  as  by  Bret  Harte 
and  Mark  Twain.  In  speaking  of  the  language  of  the  mining 
regions,  the  latter  ssljs:  "The  slang  of  Nevada  is  the  richest 
and  most  infinitely  varied  and  copious  that  ever  existed  anj^- 
where  in  the  world,  perhaps,  except  in  the  mines  of  California 
in  the  '  early  days.'  It  was  hard  to  preach  a  sermon  without  it, 
and  be  understood."  ^ 

The  term  "Americanisms,"  as  used  in  this  Dictionary,  will 
he  found  to  include  the  following  classes  of  words  :  — 

1.  Archaisms,  i.  e.  old  English  words,  obsolete,  or  nearly  so,  in 
England,  but  retained  in  use  in  this  country. 

2.  English  words  used  in  a  different  sense  from  what  they  are  in 
England.  These  include  many  names  of  natural  objects  differently 
applied. 

3.  Words  which  have  retained  their  original  meaning  in  the  United 
States,  although  not  in  England. 

4.  English  provincialisms  adopted  into  general  use  in  America. 

5.  Newly  coined  words,  which  owe  their  origin  to  the  productions 
or  to  the  circumstances  of  the  country. 

6.  Words  borrowed  from  European  languages,  especially  the  French, 
Spanish,  Dutch,  and  German. 

7.  Indian  words. 

8.  Negroisms. 

9.  Peculiarities  of  pronunciation. 

This  fourth  edition  contains  about  one-third  more  matter  than 
the  preceding.  In  preparing  it,  I  have  to  acknowledge  m}' 
indebtedness  to  the  following  gentlemen,  who  have  rendered  me 

1  To  any  one  desirous  to  become  familiar  with  the  shing  of  the  mining 
regions  of  Nevada  and  California,  we  would  recommend  a  perusal  of  chap. 
47  of  Mark  Twain's  "Roughing  It,"  in  which  he  relates  the  interview 
"between  Scotty  Briggs  and  the  clergyman.  A  notorious  cliaracter  named 
Buck  Fanshaw  having  "passed  in  his  checks,"  Scotty  desired  for  him  a 
funeral  which  "  should  be  no  slouch." 


viii  PREFACE  TO  THE  FOURTH  EDITION. 

aid :  to  the  Hon.  J.  Hammond  Trumbull,  of  Hartford,  for  lists 
of  words,  together  with  examples  of  their  use,  and  particularly 
for  his  etymologies  of  Indian  words  ;  to  the  Hon.  James  Russell 
Lowell,  Professor  William  Everett,  and  Mr.  William  Boyd 
of  Cambridge,  for  copious  lists  of  words ;  to  the  Rev.  R.  Man- 
ning Chipman,  of  New  Lisbon,  Conn.,  for  annotations  on  the 
previous  edition  of  this  work  and  very  copious  lists  of  words ; 
to  Messrs.  Charles  E.  Stratton  of  Boston,  Edward  Spen- 
cer of  Randallstown,  Mar3^1and,  John  D.  Sears  of  Upper 
Sandusky,  Ohio,  G.  H.  Curtis  of  New  Orleans,  Dr.  F.  C. 
Clarke  of  Providence,  Professor  William  F.  Allen  of  the 
University  of  Wisconsin,  Mr.  Albert  R.  Cooke  of  Chicago, 
and  to  Miss  Christine  Ladd  of  Union  Springs,  New  York,  for 
lists  of  words  and  phrases. 

At  the  end  of  the  volume  will  be  found  an  Addenda,  contain- 
ing words  and  phrases  which  were  prepared  too  late  for  inser- 
tion in  their  proper  places.  Also  a  collection  of  Proverbs  and 
of  Similes  ;  and  the  names  of  the  States  and  principal  cities, 
accompanied  by  their  vulgar  or  nicknames. 

J.  R.  B. 

Providence,  R.  L, 

November,  1877. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION. 


The  first  edition  of  this  Dictionary  was  published  in  New  York 
in  1848.  It  met  with  a  quick  sale,  and  soon  passed  out  of  print. 
Aware  of  its  many  imperfections,  I  began  my  preparations  for  a 
new  edition  before  it  had  fully  left  the  press.  From  that  time 
to  the  day  the  last  sheets  of  this  edition  left  my  hands  for  the 
printer,  now  ten  years,  I  have  been  more  or  less  occupied  in  its 
preparation.  Nearly  three  years  of  this  period  I  spent  in  the 
Interior  of  the  country,  in  the  service  of  the  United  States  as 
Commissioner  on  the  Mexican  Boundary ;  but,  even  there,  I 
failed  not  to  note  the  pecuUarities  of  the  famihar  language  of 
the  frontier,  and  carefully  recorded  the  words  and  phrases  I  met 
with  for  future  use.  This  experience  enabled  me  to  collect  the 
singular  words  occurring  in  prairie  and  frontier  life,  as  well  as 
those  common  to  Texas,  New  Mexico,  and  California.  Most  of 
these  have  come  from  the  Spanish,  and  are  now  fairly  engrafted 
on  our  language. 

The  other  alterations  and  improvements  made  in  this  edition 
consist  in  the  addition  of  a  very  large  number  of  words  and 
phrases  peculiar  to  the  United  States ;  so  that  it  now  contains 
probably  twice  as  many  as  the  first  edition.  The  examples  or 
illustrations  from  authors,  showing  the  use  of  words,  have  also 
been  greatly  multiplied.  This  seemed  desirable,  as  examples 
convey  a  far  more  correct  idea  of  their  meaning  and  use  than  a 
simple  definition.  The  histories  of  words  and  their  definitions 
have  also  been  corrected  and  improved. 


X 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION. 


In  the  additions  to  this  work,  I  have  to  acknowledge  valuable 
contributions  from  several  friends,  who  took  an  interest  in  the 
subject.  To  the  Rev.  Wm.  S.  Murphy,  Tresident  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Missouri,  I  am  indebted  for  many  words  and  phrases 
pecuhar  to  the  West ;  to  Mr.  John  Gilmaky  Shea,  for  New 
York  words ;  to  Dr.  A.  L.  El  win,  of  Philadelphia,  for  the  use 
of  a  manuscript  vocabulary  of  Americanisms  collected  by  him  ; 
to  Mr.  James  Mitchell,  of  Nantucket,  for  words  in  use  in 
that  island ;  to  Professor  Geo.  C.  Schaeffer,  of  Washington, 
for  many  terms  of  natural  histor}',  words  relating  to  the  arts, 
and  Westernisms ;  and  to  Dr.  Francis  Lieber,  of  Columbia 
College,  New  York,  for  many  sound  remarks,  of  which  I  have 
availed  m3'self  in  the  pages  of  the  work. 

Large  additions  have  been  made  to  the  common  terms  of  plants, 
trees,  and  fruits  of  the  United  States,  as  well  as  of  those  which 
enter  into  our  commerce.  These,  being  familiar  words  of  our 
language,  seem  as  worthy  of  being  noted  and  explained  as  others. 
For  valuable  contributions  to  this  class  of  words,  I  am  indebted 
to  Dr.  Edward  Foreman,  of  Washington  ;  while  Mr.  Alex.  J. 
CoTHEAL,  a  merchant  of  New  York,  and  well  known  in  the  fi^^ld 
of  Oriental  literature,  has  kindly  furnished  me  the  common  names 
of  the  trees,  fruits,  nuts,  &c.,  which  enter  into  our  commerce. 

In  preparing  the  first  edition  of  this  work,  I  was  at  a  loss  what 
to  include  in  the  collection  of  words  ;  and,  preferring  to  err  on 
the  side  of  copiousness,  admitted  man}^  words  common  to  the 
colloquial  language  of  England  and  this  country,  which  have 
now  been  rejected  to  make  wa}^  for  pure  Americanisms.  Of  the 
words  so  rejected  there  are  nearl}'  eight  hundred.  The  following 
are  examples  :  ahove-hoard,  Adam's  ale,  to  advocate,  afeard,  afore, 
afterdaps,  bamboozle,  to  bark  one's  shins,  bobtail,  bogtrotter,  bolt-up- 
right, boozy,  bo-peep,  to  bore,  born  dags,  bran  new,  brown  study,  bj- 
the-by,  to  hold  a  candle,  to  catch  a  Tartar,  caterwaul,  catspaw,  to 
chalk  out,  chink,  chouse,  chuffy,  circumbendibm,  chip-trap,  clincher. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION. 


xi 


clout,  cool,  cosey,  oowUch,  cramho,  criss-cross,  cross-grained,  crotchety, 
crowsfeet,  curmudgeon,  curry  favor,  to  cut  one's  acquaintance,  cut 
and  run,  cut  a  dash,  dahster,  dead  alive,  dawdle,  demijohn,  duds, 
Dich^s  hathand,  dilly-dally,  dog  cheap,  down  in  the  month,  driving 
at,  dumpy,  elbow  grease,  to  feather  one's  nest,  &c.,  &c. 

A  good  mail}'  such  words  have  nevertheless  been  retained,  on 
the  principle  that  a  word  now  used  only  in  some  out-of-the-wa}' 
locality  in  England,  but  quite  general  here,  may  be  regarded  as 
a  pecuharity  of  the  English  language  as  spoken  in  America,  i.  e. 
an  Americanism ;  but,  as  it  is  often  impossible  to  know  with 
exactness  to  what  extent  a  word  is  used  in  England,  it  is  hkely 
that  man}'  of  these  should  properl}'  have  been  omitted. 

Many  words  common  to  the  colloquial  language  both  of  Eng- 
land and  America  have  been  allowed  to  remain,  because  they 
have  not  yet  been  honored  with  a  place  in  the  current  standard 
Dictionaries.  Of  these  there  are  man}^  which  in  the  glossaries 
are  ascribed  to  "  various  dialects,"  and  which  should  be  inserted 
in  any  general  Dictionary  of  the  Enghsh  language  which  aims  at 
completeness.  Were  such  a  work  as  the  new  English  Dictionary 
projected  by  the  Philological  Society  of  London  alread)'  in  exist- 
ence, the  insertion  of  a  large  number  of  words  of  this  class  could 
have  been  dispensed  with. 

From  what  has  been  said,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  present  edi- 
tion, while  it  does  not  wholly  reject  words  of  English  origin, 
claims  to  be  more  strictly  American  than  the  first.  At  the  same 
time,  the  first  edition  will  still  have  a  value  of  its  own,  as  show- 
ing more  fully  how  much  of  the  colloquial  language  of  England 
is  retained  in  use  in  this  country. 

Due  attention  has  been  given  to  some  valuable  criticisms  on 
the  first  edition,  in  a  paper  by  the  late  Dr.  Felix  Fliigel,  entitled 
"  Die  englische  Philologie  in  Nordamerika,"  which  ap})eared  in 
Gersdorf's  Repertorium  for  1852  ;  also,  to  criticisms  whicli  ap- 
peared in  the  "  Western  Continent"  newspaper  of  Philadelphia, 


Xli  PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION. 


and  the  "Literary  World"  of  New  York,  soon  after  the  publi- 
cation of  the  volume.  Some  excellent  illustrations  have  been 
obtained  from  a  paper  on  "  Canadian  English,"  by  the  Rev.  A. 
Constable  Geikie,  read  before  the  Canadian  Institute,  28th  of 
March,  1857,  and  printed  in  its  Journal. 

The  first  edition  was  translated  into  the  Dutch  language  under 
the  title  of  "  Woordenhoeh  van  Americanismen,  etc.  Bewerkt  door 
M.  Keijzer.  Gorinchem,  1854,"  leaving  out  the  quotations  which 
illustrate  the  use  of  words.  It  was  hoped  that  this  work  would 
furnish  assistance  in  settling  the  et3^mology  and  meaning  of  some 
of  the  old  Dutch  words  still  used  in  New  York  ;  but  it  has 
proved  of  little  use. 

At  the  close  of  the  book  will  be  found  a  collection  of  Ameri- 
can similes  and  proverbs,  together  with  the  abbreviations  of  the 
names  of  States,  &c.,  which  were  inserted  in  the  body  of  the 
first  edition. 

To  my  friend,  Mr.  William  W.  Turner,  of  Washington,  I 
take  pleasure  in  again  making  my  acknowledgments  for  the 
valuable  aid  furnished  me  in  the  present  as  well  as  in  the  former 
edition,  not  only  for  the  contribution  of  numerous  words  and 
illustrations,  but  for  his  correction  and  supervision  of  the  whole 
work. 

J.  R.  B. 

Pkovidence,  R.  I.,  March,  1859. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION, 


In  venturing  to  lay  before  the  public  a  Vocabulary  of  the  col- 
loquial language  of  the  United  States,  some  explanation  may 
be  necessary  for  the  broad  ground  I  have  been  led  to  occupy. 

I  began  to  make  a  list  of  such  words  as  appeared  to  be,  or  at 
least  such  as  had  generally  been  called,  Americanisms,  or  pecu- 
liar to  the  United  States,  and  at  the  same  time  made  reference 
to  the  several  authors  in  whose  writings  they  appeared ;  not 
knowing  whether,  in  reality,  they  were  of  native  growth,  or 
whether  the}'  had  been  introduced  from  England.  When  this 
list  had  expanded  so  as  to  embrace  a  large  number  of  the  words 
used  in  famiUar  conversation,  both  among  the  educated  as  well 
as  among  the  uneducated  and  rustic  classes,  the  next  object  was 
to  examine  the  dialects  and  provincialisms  of  those  parts  of 
England  from  which  the  earl}'  settlers  of  New  England  and  our 
other  colonies  emigrated. 

The  provincialisms  of  New  England  are  more  familiar  to  our 
ears  than  those  of  an}^  other  section  of  the  United  States,  as 
they  are  not  confined  within  the  hmits  of  those  States,  but  have 
extended  to  New  York,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Michigan, 
which  States  have  been,  to  a  gi'eat  extent,  settled  b}'  emigrants 
from  New  England. 

On  comparing  these  famihar  words  with  the  provincial  and 
colloquial  language  of  the  northern  counties  of  England,  a  most 
striking  resemblance  appeared  not  only  in  the  words  commonly 
regarded  as  peculiar  to  New  England,  but  in  the  dialectical  pro- 


Xiv  PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION. 


nunciation  of  certain  words,  and  in  the  general  tone  and  accent. 
In  fact,  it  may  be  said,  without  exaggeration,  that  nine-tenths  of 
the  colloquial  peculiarities  of  New  England  are  derived  dir  ctly 
from  Great  Britain ;  and  that  they  are  now  provincial  in  tho:e 
parts  from  which  the  early  colonists  emigi'ated,  or  are  to  be  found 
in  the  writings  of  well-accredited  authors  of  the  period  when 
that  emigration  took  place.  Consequentl}^,  it  is  obvious  that  we 
have  the  best  authorit}'  for  the  use  of  the  words  referred  to. 

It  may  be  insisted,  therefore,  that  the  idiom  of  New  England 
is  as  pure  English,  taken  as  a  whole,  as  was  spoken  in  England 
at  the  period  when  these  colonies  were  settled.  In  making  this 
assertion,  I  do  not  take  as  a  standard  the  nasal  twang,  the 
drawling  enunciation,  or  those  perversions  of  language  which 
the  ignorant  and  uneducated  adopt.  Nor  would  I  acknowledge 
the  abuse  of  many  of  our  most  useful  words.  For  these  per- 
versions I  make  no  other  defence  or  apology  but  that  the}^  occur 
in  all  countries  and  in  every  language. 

Having  found  the  case  to  be  as  stated,  I  had  next  to  decide 
between  a  vocabular}^  of  words  of  purely  American  origin,  or 
one  in  which  should  be  embraced  all  those  words  usually  called 
provincial  or  vulgar,  —  all  the  words,  whatever  be  their  origin, 
which  are  used  in  familiar  conversation,  and  but  seldom  emplojxd 
in  composition,  —  all  the  perversions  of  language,  and  abuses  of 
words  into  which  people,  in  certain  sections  of  the  country,  have 
fallen,  and  some  of  those  remarkable  and  ludicrous  forms  of 
speech  which  have  been  adopted  in  the  Western  States.  The 
latter  plan  seemed  the  most  satisfactory-,  and  this  I  determined 
to  adopt. 

AVith  so  broad  a  ground,  many  words  must  necessaril}-  be  em- 
braced which  are  to  be  found  in  the  dictionaries  of  Drs.  Johnson 
and  Webster,  with  the  remark  that  they  are  low  or  vulgar,  or 
only  to  be  heard  in  famihar  conversation.  Another  class,  not  in 
the  dictionaries  referred  to,  is  contained  in  the  provincial  glos- 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION. 


XV 


saries  of  England.  A  third  class,  entirely  distinct  from  the 
preceding,  consists  of  slang  words  which  are  not  noticed  by  lexi- 
cographers, 3'et  are  so  much  employed  as  to  deserve  a  place  in  8 
glossary. 

Such  is  the  plan  which  I  have  thought  most  advisable  to  adopt, 
and  which  I  hope  will  give  satisfaction.  In  carrying  out  this 
plan,  I  have  endeavored  to  give  the  most  accurate  definitions, 
citing  the  authorities  in  all  cases  where  I  have  been  enabled  to 
find  an}".  Except  as  regards  words  of  purely  American  origin 
(e.  g.  those  derived  from  the  Indian  languages  and  from  the 
Dutch) ,  I  have  generally  kept  aloof  from  etymologies  and  et}"- 
mological  discussions.  These  the  reader  will  find  in  abundance 
—  such  as  they  are  —  in  the  works  of  Johnson,  Todd,  Webster, 
Worcester,  and  others. 

Words  of  a  pro^dncial  character,  and  such  as  have  become 
obsolete  in  composition,  are  often  of  doubtful  signification. 
Illustrations  from  well-known  authors,  w^herein  such  words  are 
emplo3'ed,  are  of  service  in  arriving  at  their  true  meaning. 
These  have  been  employed  in  the  present  Glossary,  and  serve 
the  double  purpose  of  illustration,  and  of  rendering  the  book 
more  readable  than  if  confined  to  a  dry  collection  of  definitions. 
This  mode  of  showing  the  sense  in  which  words  have  been  em- 
plo^'cd  b}'  authors  was  first  practised  on  a  comprehensive  scale 
by  Dr.  Johnson,  whose  labors  are  thereby  greatly  enhanced  in 
value  to  the  philologist ;  and  has  since  been  carried  out  more 
completely  in  Mr.  Richardson's  dictionary. 

The  class  of  words  which  are  purely  American  in  their  origin 
and  use,  I  have  also  attempted  to  illustrate,  by  extracts  from 
American  authors  whose  writings  relate  to  that  class  of  people 
among  which  these  words  are  chiefly  found.  These  books  con- 
tain descriptions  of  country  life,  scenes  in  the  backwoods,  popu- 
lar tales,  songs,  &c.,  in  which  the  colloquial  or  familiar  language 
of  particular  States  predominates.    The  humorous  writings  of 


xvi 


PKEFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION. 


Judge  Haliburton  of  Nova  Scotia  give  a  tolerably  correct  though 
exaggerated  specimen  of  the  provincialisms  of  New  England. 
The  letters  of  Major  Downing  are  of  the  same  character,  and 
portraj^  the  dialect  of  New  England  with  less  exaggeration.^ 
There  are  no  books  in  which  the  Western  words  and  phrases 
are  so  fully  exhibited  ;  though  all  the  works  which  aim  to  illus- 
trate Western  life  contain  more  or  less  of  the  idioms  peculiar  to 
the  people.  Judge  Hall,  Mrs.  Kirkland  (Mary  Clavers),  the 
author  of  the  New  Purchase,  Charles  F.  Hoffman,  and  various 
tourists,  have  displayed  in  their  several  works  the  peculiarities 
of  the  people  of  the  West,  and  occasionally  their  language. 
Mr.  Crockett,  however,  himself  a  native  of  that  region,  associ- 
ating from  infancy  with  its  woodsmen,  hunters,  and  farmers, 
whose  language  is  full  of  quaint  words  and  figures  of  speech, 
has  unintentionally  made  us  better  acquainted  with  the  colloquial 
language  of  the  West  than  any  other  author. 

I  am  also  indebted  to  a  series  of  books  pubUshed  by  Messrs. 
Carey  and  Hart,  called  the  "  Librar}' of  Humorous  American 
Works,"  which  consist  of  a  series  of  tales  and  adventures  in  the 
South-west  and  West,  by  Wm.  T.  Porter,  editor  of  the  "New 
York  Spirit  of  the  Times;"  John  S.  Robb  and  J.  M.  Field, 
Esqs.,  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri;  the  editor  of  the  "New  Orleans 
Pica3^une ; "  and  some  anonymous  writers.  In  these  several 
works,  the  drolleries  and  quaint  savings  of  the  West  are  admir- 
ably incorporated  into  tales  of  the  settlers,  their  manners  and 
customs,  vivid  descriptions  of  Western  scenery,  pohtical  and 
dramatic  scenes.  We  have  no  books  which  present  so  gi'aphic 
an  account  of  Western  life,  related  in  the  exaggerated  and 
metaphorical  language  peculiar  to  the  people  of  that  region. 

1  Among  other  books  from  which  I  have  quoted  examples  of  tlie  use  of 
words  common  to  New  England  and  the  Northern  States  are  Judd's  "  Mar- 
garet," the  "  Widow  Bedott  Papers,"  "  The  Biglow  Papers  "  of  James  Rus- 
sell Lowell,  and  the  Sermons  of  Dow,  Junior  (Elbridge  G.  Page),  "  My 
Acquaintances  and  Betsy  Bobbet's." 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION.  Xvii 

In  Southern  provincialisms,  I  find  myself  most  deficient, 
haying  seen  no  books  except  Major  Jones's  "Courtship"  and 
"Sketches,"  "Georgia  Scenes,"  and  "Sherwood's  Gazetteer 
of  Georgia,"  in  which,  however,  a  considerable  number  of  local 
words  are  to  be  found. 

The  newspapers  have  afforded  me  many  illustrations  of  the 
use  of  words,  which  I  have  not  failed  to  make  use  of.  These 
illustrations,  it  will  be  seen,  are  chiefly  from  the  New  York 
papers,  viz.  the ' '  Commercial  Advertiser,"  the ' '  Tribune,"  and  the 
"Herald,"  for  the  simple  reason  that  I  have  been  in  the  practice 
of  reading,  them  daily.  When  I  met  with  a  w^ord  or  phrase 
peculiarl}'  American,  or  one  which  was  employed  in  a  sense  dif- 
fering from  the  use  of  the  same  in  England,  it  was  at  once 
noticed  and  secured.  All  our  newspapers  contain  more  or  less 
colloquial  w^ords  ;  in  fact,  there  seems  no  other  way  of  express- 
ing certain  ideas  connected  with  passing  events  of  everj^-day  life, 
with  the  requisite  force  and  piquancy.  In  the  English  newspa- 
pers, the  same  thing  is  observable,  and  certain  of  them  contain 
more  of  the  class  denominated  slang  w^ords  than  our  own.  The 
Whig  papers  throughout  the  United  States  employ  certain  po- 
litical terms  in  advocating  the  principles  of  their  partj^,  and  in 
denouncing  those  of  their  opponents.  The  Democratic  papers 
pursue  a  similar  course.  The  advocates  and  opponents  of  Abo- 
lition, Fourierism,  &c.,  invent  and  employ  man}^  words  peculiar 
to  themselves.-  So  with  the  rehgious  sects :  each  new-fangled 
notion  brings  into  existence  some  addition  to  our  language, 
though  that  addition  is  not  always  an  improvement. 

The  value  of  this  Glossary  would  have  been  greatly  enhanced, 
if,  as  is  usual  in  the  compilation  of  similar  works,  I  had  been 
able  to  avail  myself  of  the  assistance  of  persons  residing  in 
various  parts  of  our  countr}-.  No  collection  of  words,  profess- 
ing to  contain  the  colloquial  language  of  the  entire  country,  can 
approach  an}-  degree  of  completeness  or  correctness,  without  the 

b 


Xviii  PllEFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION. 

aid  of  many  hands  and  heads.  None  but  a  native  of  New  Eng- 
land, educated  on  her  soil,  and  who  has  mingled  with  all  classes 
of  society,  has  the  requisite  familiarit}'  with  the  words  and  phrases 
peculiar  to  her  people.  So  with  the  Western  and  Southern  pro- 
vinciaHsms.  One  born  and  brought  up  where  the}'  are  spoken, 
who  has  heard  and  used  them  when  a  boy,  and  grown  up  in  their 
midst,  can  alone  portra}'  them  in  their  true  sense.  The  aid  of 
such  persons  it  was  impossible  to  procure ;  and  the  words  here 
brought  together  have  been,  with  ver}^  few  exceptions,  collected 
b}'  m3'self.  The  deficiencies  and  imperfections  are  such,  there- 
fore, as  could  not  be  avoided  under  the  circumstances. 

The  words  of  Dutch  origin,  most  if  not  all  of  w^hich  are  used 
01  understood  in  the  city  of  New  York  and  those  portions  of  its 
vicinity  colonized  by  natives  of  Holland,  were  furnished  by  Mr. 
Alexander  J.  Cotheal,  a  gentleman  born  and  educated  in  New 
York,  whose  learning  in  other  branches  of  philological  science  is 
well  known  to  many.  A  few  other  words  have  been  given  me 
from  time  to  time  by  other  friends,  who  knew  that  I  was  making 
this  collection.  To  all  of  these  I  am  happy  to  express  my 
acknowledgments. 

When  the  work  had  advanced  far  towards  completion,  and  one- 
half  had  been  put  in  type,  the  occurrence  of  some  terms  common 
in  political  language,  the  exact  meaning  of  which  was  not  clear, 
led  me  to  apply  to  my  friend  John  Inman,  Esq. ,  editor  of  the  New 
York  "Commercial  Advertiser,"  for  aid.  He  readily  comphed 
with  m}-  request,  and  kindly  furnished  the  definitions  of  several 
terms  of  daily  occurrence  in  the  political  language  of  the  day.  I 
regret  that  I  did  not  have  his  valuable  aid  in  defining  and  illus- 
trating the  use  of  words  and  phrases  which  occur  in  the  early 
part  of  this  Glossary.  The  contributions  of  Mr.  Inman  are 
acknowledged  where  they  appear. 

To  my  friend  Mr.  Wm.  W.  Turner  I  am  under  great  obhga- 
tions  for  aid  rendered  me  in  preparing  this  work  for  the  press. 


PEEFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION. 


xix 


Mr.  Turner's  extensive  acquaintance  with  the  European  and 
Oriental  languages,  together  with  an  unusual  sagacity  in  philo- 
logical criticism,  have  peculiarly  fitted  him  to  give  aid  in  the 
]3reparation  of  a  work  hke  this.  I  have  therefore  submitted 
the  whole  to  his  supervision,  and  adopted  his  views  in  all  my 
conclusions.  At  his  suggestion,  I  have  struck  out  many  etymo- 
logies taken  from  standard  dictionaries,  which  it  was  evident 
were  wholl}'  erroneous. 

In  noticing  the  words  embraced  in  this  Glossar}^,  the  reader 
will  probabl}^  think  that  msLuy  have  been  admitted  which  ought 
not  to  have  a  place  in  a  Dictionary  of  American  Provinciahsms. 
From  what  has  already  been  said,  it  will  be  seen  that  it  is  very 
difficult  to  draw  the  line  between  what  should  be  admitted  and 
what  excluded  ;  and  I  have  thought  it  better  to  err  on  the  side 
of  copiousness,  than  by  too  rigid  a  system  of  selection  to  run 
into  the  opposite  extreme. 

A  careful  perusal  of  nearly  all  the  English  glossaries  has 
enabled  me  to  select  what  appeared  most  desirable  to  embrace, 
and  what  to  avoid,  in  an  American  book  of  a  similar  kind. 
Cant  words,  except  such  as  are  in  general  use,  the  terms  used 
at  gaming-houses,  purely  technical  words,  and  those  only  known 
to  certain  trades,  obscene  and  blasphemous  words,  have  b.'cn 
discarded. 

For  a  better  understanding  of  the  subject,  as  well  as  to  show 
the  importance  of  collecting  and  preserving  the  colloquial  dia- 
lects of  our  countr}^,  I  have  prefixed  to  the  Vocabulary  some 
remarks  on  language,  in  which  the  reader  will  find  that  the 
study  of  dialects  and  provincialisms  is  considered  as  worthy  the 
attention  of  philologists  as  the  investigation  of  the  language  of 
literature. 

J.  R.  B. 

New  York,  1848. 


INTRODUCTION. 


DIALECTS  OF  ENGLAND. 

The  most  recent  investigations  in  which  the  science  of  philo« 
logy  has  been  brought  to  bear  on  the  Enghsh  language  have 
shown  that  it  is  of  purel}-  Gothic  origin,  descended  through 
languages  of  which  sufficient  remains  to  make  grammatical  as 
well  as  etjTTiological  comparisons  practicable.  It  is  ti'ue  that 
some  have  regarded  it  as  a  perfect  mongrel,  without  any  natural 
parent,  compounded  of  various  languages  and  dialects,  Greek, 
Latin,  Saxon,  French,  Welsh,  &c.,  &c.  But,  although  the  lan- 
guage is  Yery  much  mixed,  it  is  a  question  whether  it  is  not  as 
pure,  and  as  closely  aUied  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  Moeso-Gothic, 
as  the  languages  in  the  south  of  Europe  are  to  the  Latin.  Or, 
in  other  words,  it  is  probable  that  the  English  is  not  more  im- 
pregnated with  words  of  the  Latin  stock  than  the  Italian, 
French,  Spanish,  and  Portuguese  are  with  words  of  the  Teu- 
tonic stock. 

The  natural  tendencj"  of  language  is  to  improve  ;  and,  when  a 
people  cannot  express  in  a  comprehensive  manner  a  particular 
idea  or  shade  of  meaning,  they  either  form  a  word  to  denote  it 
from  a  root  or  roots  already  in  the  language,  or  borrow  a  word 
from  other  languages  which  expresses  it  alread3\ 

With  regard  to  the  EngHsh  language,  this  last-mentioned  pro- 
cess has  been  adopted  to  an  extent  which,  while  it  has  enriched 
our  vocabular}^  with  a  vast  number  of  terms,  has,  it  must  be 
confessed,  greatl}'  impaired  its  reproductive  power.  The  origi- 
nal substratum  of  Anglo-Saxon  speech  has  been  overlaid  with 
multitudes  of  common  and  conversational  words  from  the  French, 


xxii 


INTRODUCTION. 


literaiy  and  ecclesiastical  terms  from  the  Latin,  and  technicalities 
from  the  Greek  ;  and  the  process  is  constant!}'  going  on.  Yet, 
in  spite  of  these  immense  accessions  to  its  vocabulary,  the 
structure  of  the  Enghsh  has  remained  in  all  essential  respects 
the  same  trom  the  period  when  it  first  became  a  language. 
Moreover,  the  number  of  foreign  importations  contained  in  our 
dictionaries  gives  by  no  means  a  correct  idea  of  the  number  of 
such  words  which  we  actuall}'  make  use  of.  The  gi'cater  part 
of  our  household,  colloquial,  and  poetical  expressions  are  Saxon, 
and  so  are  all  those  important  words  called  particles,  on  which 
tlie  whole  structure  of  speech  hinges  ;  whereas,  an  immense  num- 
ber of  the  words  derived  from  other  sources  belong  exclusivel}' 
to  the  language  of  books,  and  many  even  to  particular  sciences. 

There  is  another  fact  to  be  observed,  which  is  that  these  dif- 
ferent classes  of  words  are  not  used  in  the  same  proportion  b}^ 
all  members  of  society.  Persons  mthout  education,  and  who 
are  consequentl}'  not  familiar  with  the  language  of  literature, 
employ-  almost  exclusivel}-  in  their  conversation  the  simple  and 
expressive  Saxon  terms  ;  while  persons  belonging  to  the  more 
ftwored  classes  of  society  supply  the  place  of  man}'^  of  these 
terms  by  others  derived  from  the  language  of  books.  The  old 
words  thus  discarded,  which  are  often  far  more  expressive  and 
more  consonant  to  the  genius  of  the  language  than  the  appar- 
enth'  more  elegant  novelties  by  which  they  are  supplanted,  are 
from  that  time  considered  as  the  exclusive  property  of  the  com- 
mon people,  and  receive  the  name  of  provincial,  colloquial,  or 
vnlfiur. 

But,  notwithstanding  all  this,  the  common  speech  often  enters 
largely  into  composition,  and  in  some  instances  constitutes  the 
chief  excellence  of  a  writer.  In  dramatic  composition,  the  col- 
loquial language  predominates.  In  Shakespeare,  we  find  every 
vaiiety  of  diction  of  which  the  English  language  is  susceptible, 
from  the  loftiest  flights  of  the  statesman  and  philosopher  to  the 
familiar  language  of  the  lowest  of  the  people.  In  Ben  Jonson, 
Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  Shirle}',  and  the  other  dramatic  authors, 
we  find  the  familiar  idiom  to  be  the  most  prevalent. 

If  we  examine  the  literature  of  other  countries,  we  shall  find 
that  the  colloquial  tongue  has  been  employed  in  written  com- 


INTRODUCTIOX. 


xxiii 


positions  of  a  similar  kind,  and  with  equal  success.  In  addition 
to  Aristophanes  and  Plautus  among  the  ancients,  Cervantes  ma}^ 
be  mentioned  as  an  example  in  Spain,  and  the  writings  of  Rabe- 
lais and  Moliere  in  France.  The  colloquial  dialect  is  generally 
more  ancient  than  the  literar^^  language,  as  the  latter  is  con- 
stantl}'  changing,  while  the  former  remains  nearl^^  stationary. 

If  any  person  will  take  the  trouble  to  examine  the  earl}'  dic- 
tionaries of  the  English  language,  or  the  dictionaries  of  which 
Enghsh  forms  a  part,  he  will  be  surprised  at  the  large  number 
of  words  which  have  become  so  completely  obsolete  as  to  be 
undeserving  a  place  in  modern  compilations.  'Exen  the  Enghsh 
dictionar}'  of  Bailey,  which  at  the  time  Dr.  Johnson  pubhshed 
his  was  the  standard,  abounds  in  words  which  are  now  never 
used  in  composition.  This  class  of  words  was  employed  by 
authors  from  Chaucer's  time,  or  about  the  year  1400,  to  the 
beginning  of  the  seventeenth  centur3\  the  middle  of  that 
century,  the}'  had  ceased  to  be  used  in  books,  but  were  preserved 
in  dictionaries  for  a  century  longer.  The  great  mass  of  them, 
however,  are  found  in  one  or  more  of  the  numerous  provincial 
dialects  of  England  to  the  present  day. 

The  dialects  of  the  English  language  now  spoken  in  England 
have  existed  from  a  very  early  period.  It  is  not  pretended  by 
writers  on  the  subject  that  any  are  of  recent  origin.  "  In  earl}^ 
times,"  sa3'S  Dr.  Bosworth,  "there  was  clearly  a  considerable 
dialectic  variety  in  the  Avritings  of  men  residing  in  different 
provinces.  The  differences  observable  in  the  language  of  the 
most  cultivated  classes  would  be  still  more  marked  and  apparent 
in  the  mass  of  population,  or  the  less  educated  connnnnity. 
These,  from  their  agricultural  pursuits,  had  little  connnunication 
with  the  inhabitants  of  other  provinces  ;  and,  having  few  0})por- 
tunities  and  little  inducement  to  leave  their  own  neighborhood, 
they  intermarried  among  each  other,  and,  from  their  limited 
acquaintance  and  circumscribed  views,  they  would  naturally  be 
much  attached  to  their  old  manners,  customs,  and  language. 
The  same  cause  operating  from  age  to  age  would  keep  united 
the  greater  part  of  the  i)opulation,  or  the  families  of  the  middle 
stations  of  life :  it  may,  therefore,  be  well  expected  that  much 
of  the  peculiarity  of  dialect  prevalent  in  Anglo-Saxon  times 


xxiv 


INTRODUCTION. 


IS  i^reserved  even  to  the  present  dsij  in  the  provincial  dialects  of 
the  same  districts.  In  these  local  dialects,  then,  remnants  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  tongue  may  be  found  in  the  least  altered,  most 
uncorrupt,  and  therefore  its  purest  state."  ^ 

In  an  ethnological  point  of  view,  the  English  dialects  afford 
important  materials  for  elucidating  that  portion  of  EngUsh  his- 
tory which  relates  to  the  earl}'  colonization  of  Great  Britain ; 
for,  if  historj'  were  silent  on  the  subject,  a  philological  test 
applied  to  the  dialects  of  the  country  would  show  what  nations 
contributed  to  its  colonization. 

The  "Edinburgh  Review"  for  April,  1844,  in  an  article  on  the 
ProvinciaMsms.  of  the  European  Languages,  gives  the  following 
results  of  an  inquir}^  into  the  number  of  provincial  words  which 
had  then  been  arrested  by  local  glossaries  :  — 


1,993 

r  Devonshire  and  Cornwall 

878 

589 

<  Devonshire  (North)    .  . 

1,146 

592 

370 

.  1,568 

Herefordshire  .... 

822 

.  6,169 

Lancashire  

1,922 

North  County    .    .  . 

.  3,750 

Suffolk  

2,400 

Cheshire  

903 

2,500 

Grose  and  Pegge  ^  .  . 

.  3,500 

Somersetshire  .... 

1,204 

30,687 

"Admitting  that  several  of  the  foregoing  are  synonymous, 
superfluous,  or  common  to  each  county,  there  are  nevertheless 
man}'  of  them  which,  although  alike  orthographically,  are  vastly 
dissimilar  in  signilication.  Making  these  allowances,  the}'  amount 
to  a  little  more  than  20,000  ;  or,  according  to  the  number  of 
English  counties  hitherto  illustrated,  to  the  average  ratio  of  1478 
to  a  county.  Calculating  the  twenty-six  unpublished  in  the  same 
ratio  (for  there  are  supposed  to  be  as  many  words  collected  by 
persons  who  have  never  pubhsbed  them) ,  they  will  furnish  36,428 
additional  provincialisms,  forming  in  the  aggregate  59,000  words 
in  the  colloquial  tongue  of  the  lower  classes,  which  can,  for  the 
chief  part,  produce  proofs  of  legitimate  origin." 

1  Preface  to  Anglo-Saxon  Dictionary,  p.  xxvi. 

2  Set  down  as  Metropolitan. 


INTRODUCTION. 


XXV 


Since  the  above  was  written,  a  most  important  contribution  to 
this  department  of  hterature  has  been  made  in  the  pubhcation 
of  "  A  Dictionary  of  Archaic  and  Provincial  Words,  Obsolete 
Phrases,  Proverbs,  and  Ancient  Customs,  from  the  fourteenth 
century.  By  J.  0.  Halliwell.  2  vols.  8vo.  London,  1847."  This 
admirable  work  actualh^  contains  50,000  words,  a  great  portion 
of  which  are  illustrated  by  extracts  from  manuscripts.  It  will  be 
found  b}^  most  persons  to  ampty  supply  the  place  of  the  numerous 
separate  glossaries  for  stud3'ing  the  dialects  of  England,  while  it 
affords  indispensable  assistance  for  the  correct  understanding  of 
the  earl}'  writers.  A  still  later  publication  of  the  same  descrip- 
tion, and  which  has  constantly  been  consulted  with  advantage  in 
preparing  the  second  edition  of  the  present  work,  is  the  "  Dic- 
tionary of  Obsolete  and  Provincial  English,  containing  words 
from  the  English  writers  previous  to  the  nineteenth  centur}', 
which  are  no  longer  in  use,  or  are  not  used  in  the  same  sense, 
and  words  which  are  now  used  only  in  the  provincial  dialects. 
Compiled  by  Thomas  Wright,  Esq.  2  vols.  12mo.  London, 
1857." 

As  it  does  not  fall  within  the  scope  of  these  inquiries  to  dis- 
cuss the  languages  to  which  the  English  bears  a  relationship,  we 
shall  pass  over  these,  and  come  at  once  to  the  Anglo-Saxon. 
This  forms  the  basis  of  the  English  language,  and  is  to  be  con- 
sidered as  the  mother-tongue,  upon  which  many  words  and  phrases 
from  other  languages,  at  successive  periods,  during  a  space  of 
fourteen  centuries,  have  been  engrafted. 

The  Saxons  brought  their  language  into  Britain  in  the  year 
449,  when  the  invasion  under  Hengist  took  place.  What  the 
language  was  at  this  period  it  is  impossible  to  show,  as  no  writ- 
ings of  the  time  have  come  down  to  us.  It  probably'  approached 
nearer  to  its  immediate  progenitor,  the  Low  German  and  Moeso- 
Gothic,  than  the  form  it  assumed  several  centuries  later,  when 
we  first  find  written  documents.-^ 

1  It  is  true  tliat  the  celehrated  Anglo-Saxon  poem  of  Beowulf  is  consid- 
ered to  be  contemporary  with  Hengist.  But  its  editor,  Mr.  Kendjle,  states 
that  the  poem  as  contained  in  the  Cottonian  MS.,  British  Museum,  is  not  so 
old;  and  there  occur  in  it  Cliristian  allusions  which  fi.x  this  text  at  least  at 
a  period  subsequent  to  a.  d,  597. 


XX  vi 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  large  number  of  invaders  who  followed  Ilengist  compelled 
the  ancient  inhabitants  to  retire  ;  and  in  about  a  centur\-  the 
whole  country  was  formed  into  a  Saxon  kingdom,  wherein  their 
language  took  the  place  of  the  Celtic.  This  language,  thus 
introduced  and  so  firml}'  established,  has  been  called  pure  Saxon 
b}'  the  learned  Dr.  Hickes  in  his  ''Thesaurus  Veterum  Lingua- 
rum  Septentrionalium." 

The  languages  of  the  Angles  and  Saxons  were  closely  allied  to 
each  other.  In  fact,  from  a  comparison  of  the  earliest  specimens 
that  have  come  down  to  us,  it  is  evident  that  they  w^ere  merely 
dialects  of  the  same  tongue,  spoken  b}'  people  living  contiguous 
to  each  other.  The  other  Gothic  invaders  or  colonists  of  Brit- 
ain, who  have  left  traces  of  their  language,  are  the  Jutes  of  Jut- 
land and  the  Friesians  of  Friesland. 

The  Danes  made  their  first  descent  on  the  English  coast  in 
787,  and  were  soon  repelled.  Successive  invasions  followed  ; 
and,  when  Charlemagne  compelled  them  to  retreat  before  his 
victorious  armies,  they  sought  a  refuge  in  Britain,  laying  waste 
the  country  and  plundering  wherever  they  came.  The  Saxons 
alwaj^s  got  rid  of  them  as  soon  as  possible,  either  by  force  of 
arms  or  contributions  of  money.  Yet  in  man}'  instances  they 
established  colonies,  and  after  230  years  of  warfare  thc}^  suc- 
ceeded in  raising  a  Danish  king  to  the  throne  of  England  in  the 
year  1017.  His  reign,  however,  was  short;  for  in  twent3'-four 
3'ears  the  Danish  dynast}'  was  extinct,  and  a  Saxon  king  again 
succeeded. 

This  is  the  period  where  Dr.  Hickes  places  the  second  stage 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  language,  being  that  in  which  it  was  affected 
by  the  Danish  invasions,  receiving  new  w^ords  or  dialectical 
changes.  Mr.  Forby,  in  his  remarks  on  the  dialect  of  East 
Anglia,  says  that  no  part  of  I^ngland  was  more  completely  over- 
run or  longer  occupied  than  this  ;  but  he  denies  that  a  number 
of  words  sufficiently  large  was  imported  to  give  a  new  color  and 
character  to  the  Saxon  tongue.^ 

"  The  French  element  appeared  in  our  language  with  the  bat- 
tle of  Hastings  (a.  d.  10G6),  perhaps  in  a  shght  degree  during 

1  Forby's  Introd,  to  the  Vocab.  of  East  AngHa,  p.  31. 


INTRODUCTIOK. 


xxvii 


the  -reign  of  Edward  the  Confessor."  ^  It  is  the  dialect  spoken 
in  the  northern  parts  of  France,  and  denominated  Norman- 
French,  which  has  had  the  greatest  influence  upon  the  English 
language. 

Those  parts  of  Great  Britain  which  have  contributed  most  to 
our  pro-vdnciahsms  are  the  counties  of  Norfolk  and  Suffollv,  and 
the  Scottish  Borders.  It  was  chiefl}^  from  these  counties  that 
New  England  was  colonized  ;  hence,  their  pecuharities  of  lan- 
guage are  most  numerous  in  the  New  England  States.  The 
provincialisms  used  in  the  districts  referred  to  have  been  collected 
and  published  in  Forbj^'s  Vocabulary  of  East  Anglia,  2  vols. 
12mo,  London,  1830 ;  Moor's  Suffolk  Words  and  Phrases, 
12mo,  London,  1823  ;  Brockett's  Glossary  of  North  Country 
Words,  with  their  etymolog}',  3d  edition,  2  vols.  12mo,  New- 
castle-upon-Tyne, 184G  ;  and  Carr's  dialect  of  Craven  in  the 
West  Riding  of  York,  2  vols.  12mo,  2d  edition,  London,  1828. 


AMERICAN  DIALECTS. 


Dialects  originate  in  various  waj's.  First,  b}^  the  proximity 
of  nations  speaking  diflferent  languages,  in  which  case  many 
words  and  phrases  are  borrowed  from  one  into  the  otlier ;  wit- 
ness the  Scotch  and  Irish  dialects  of  the  English.  Secondly,  by 
migrations.  This  is  the  most  fruitful  and  permanent  source  of 
dialects.  AVe  see  its  effects  in  the  language  of  Enghind ;  for 
the  immigrations  of  various  nations  into  Great  Britain  from  the 
Saxons  down  to  the  period  of  the  Norman  conquest  are  yet 
distinctly  marked  in  the  dialects  of  that  country.  . 

In  the  United  States,  it  is  easy  to  point  out  causes  which,  in 
the  course  of  a  few  generations,  will  nuitcrially  allcct  the  Eng- 
lish language  in  the  particular  districts  of  country  where  those 
influences  are  at  work.    Dialects  will  spring  up  as  marked  as 


1  Latham  on  tlie  Englisli  Language,  p.  45.    1st  edit. 


xxviii 


INTRODUCTION. 


those  of  Great  Britain.  A  free  intercourse  may  in  some  cases 
check  the  permanency  of  these  dialects ;  but  in  those  parts  of 
the  country  aside  from  the  great  thoroughfares,  where  a  dialect 
has  once  become  firmly  established,  a  thousand  3'ears  will  not 
suffice  to  eradicate  it. 

The  State  of  New  York  was  originall}-  settled  hj  the  Dutch. 
The  number  of  their  colonists  was  never  large,  nor  did  they 
extend  their  settlements  be3'ond  the  valle}^  of  the  Mohawk  and 
lands  adjacent ;  yet  we  find  even  in  this  thickl}'  settled  State, 
after  a  lapse  of  two  hundred  years,  that  they  have  left  evident 
traces  on  our  spoken  languages.  In  the  cities  of  New  York  and 
Albany,  man}"  Dutch  words  have  become  incorporated  into  the 
common  speech.  In  some  of  the  inland  villages  of  Dutch  ori- 
gin, the  inhabitants  still  use  the  language  of  their  fathers ;  and 
there  are  even  individuals  who  never  spoke  an}"  other. 

The  words  so  adopted  by  us  embrace  geographical  names,  — a 
class  of  words  which  the  first  colonists  of  a  country  or  the  primi- 
tive inhabitants  themselves  generally  leave  to  their  posterity  or 
to  the  subsequent  occupants.  Many  of  the  other  words  which 
the  Dutch  have  left  us  are  terms  belonging  to  the  kitchen. 
These  have  been  preserved  and  handed  down  by  cooks  and  do- 
mestic servants,  until  from  constant  use  they  are  become  famil- 
iar to  all.  Among  these  terms  are  cookey,  cruller,  olykoke,  spack 
and  applejees,  noodlejees,  rullichies,  koolslaa, pit. 

The  terms  for  various  playthings,  holidays,  &c.,  preserve 
among  children  .their  original  Dutch  names ;  as,  scup,  sriore, 
Jioople,  peewee,  pile,  pinkster,  paas.  Other  w^ords  confined  to 
children  are  pinky,  terawchy. 

Articles  of  wearing  apparel  in  some  instances  retain  their 
Dutch  names  ;  as,  barraclade,  clockmntcli. 

Besides  these  there  are  terms,  the  use  of  which  is  not  confined 
to  the  districts  originally  colonized  from  Holland,  but  has  been 
extended  to  New  England  and  several  of  the  Northern  States, 
and  even  to  Canada ;  such  as  stoop,  a  porch,  boss,  a  master- 
workman,  &c. 

If  a  few  Dutch  colonists  mingled  with  the  English  have  been 
able  to  engraft  so  many  words  on  our  language,  what  may  we 
not  expect  from  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Germans  in  the 


INTRODUCTIOK. 


xxix 


State  of  Pennsylvania?  There  the  German  language  will  doubt- 
less exist  for  centuries  ;  for  although  the}^  are  situated  in  the 
midst  of  an  English-speaking  population,  far  more  numerous 
than  themselves,  and  although  the  government  and  laws  are 
conducted  through  the  English  language,  still  the  tendency  of  a 
people  of  common  origin  to  cling  together,  —  the  pubhcation  of 
newspapers,  almanacs,  and  books  in  German,  —  and  the  culti- 
vation to  some  extent  of  German  literature,  will  tend  to  preserve 
the  idiom  and  nationality  of  the  people.  It  is  true  the  language 
is  alread}^  much  corrupted,  and  in  the  course  of  time  it  must 
give  wa}'  to  the  English ;  but  it  will  leave  behind  it  an  almost 
imperishable  dialect  as  a  memento  of  its  existence.  In  the 
States  of  Ohio  and  Texas,  where  there  are  large  settlements  of 
Germans,  a  similar  result  must  follow. 

In  the  State  of  Illinois  is  a  colon}'  of  Norwegians.  These 
people  before  coming  to  America  sent  out  an  agent,  who  selected 
•and  purchased  for  them  a  large  tract  of  land  in  one  section  of 
that  State.  They  were  accompanied  by  their  clergjTuan  and 
schoolmaster.  They  are  thus  kept  together,  and  will  for  a  long 
time  preserve  their  language  and  nationality.  But  it  must  also 
eventuall}'  give  wa}',  after  engrafting  on  the  EngUsh  language  in 
that  vicinity  a  Norwegian  dialect. 

There  are  large  settlements  of  Welsh  emigrants  in  the  States 
of  Pennsylvania  and  New  York.  In  the  latter,  in  Oneida  County, 
one  may  travel  for  miles  and  hear  nothing  but  the  Welsh  lan- 
guage. These  people  have  their  newspapers  and  magazines  in 
their  native  tongue,  and  support  many  churches  wherein  their 
language  alone  is  preached.  The  Welsh,  however,  are  not  in 
sufficient  numbers,  nor  are  they  sufficiently  isolated,  to  retain 
for  any  length  of  time  their  native  form  of  speech  ;  neither  can 
they  produce  any  sensible  dialectical  change  in  our  language, 
owing  to  the  great  difference  between  it  and  their  own.  They 
will,  however,  add  some  words  to  it. 

In  the  State  of  Louisiana,  which  was  colonized  by  the  French, 
and  in  Florida,  which  was  colonized  by  the  Spaniards,  there  are 
many  words  of  foreign  origin,  scarcely  known  in  the  Northern 
States.  The  geographical  divisions,  the  names  of  rivers,  moun- 
tains, bays ;  the  peculiarities  of  soil  and  climate ;  all  that  re- 


XXX 


INTEODUCTION. 


lates  to  the  cultivation  of  the  earth,  the  names  of  fishes,  birds, 
fruits,  vegetables,  coins,  &c.,  &c.,  retain  to  a  great  extent  the 
names  given  them  by  the  first  possessors  of  the  country.  The 
same  classes  of  words  are  preserved  in  Lower  Canada,  where 
they  were  originally  given  by  the  French.  We  have  adopted 
them  into  our  own  tongue,  where  they  will  for  ever  remain  in 
use.  Among  the  words  of  French  origin  are  bagasse,  banquette, 
cache,  chute,  bodette,  bayou^  sault,  levee,  crevasse,  Jiabitan,  portage, 
voyageur. 

The  Spanish  colonists  in  Florida,  and  our  intercourse  with 
Mexico  and  the  Spanish  main,  were  the  means  of  introducing 
a  few  Spanish  words.  Since  the  annexation  of  Texas,  New 
Mexico,  and  California,  our  vocabulary  has  received  numerous 
additions  from  this  source.  These  consist  of  geographical  terms, 
as  arroyo,  acequia,  barranca,  canyon,  cienega,  cieneguita,  faralones, 
loma,  mesa,  mesilla,  playa,  ojo,  sierra,  Jornada  ;  of  names  of  arti- 
cles of  food,  as  tortilla,  frijoles,  atole,  pinole,  chile  ;  and  of  various 
other  terms,  as  arriero,  adobe,  corral,  chaparal,  pistareen,  rancho, 
ranchero,  lariat,  lasso,  fandango,  stampede,  scrape,  tinaja,  vamos, 
vaquero . 

The  Indian  terms  in  our  language,  as  might  be  supposed,  are 
numerous.  First,  as  to  geographical  names.  These  abound  in 
every  State  in  the  Union,  though  more  in  some  States  than  in 
others.  In  New  England,  particular^  on  the  coast,  Indian 
names  are  very  common.  Nearly  all  the  rivers,  bays,  and 
prominent  landmarks  bear  them,  as  Housatonic,  Connecticut,  Win- 
nepesaukie,  Quinnebaug,  Pawcatuch,  Merrimack,  Kennebec,  Penob- 
scot, Narragansett,  Passamaquoddy,  &c.  In  other  parts  of  the 
country,  too,  the  rivers  retain  their  aboriginal  names,  as  the 
Mississippi,  Missouri,  Ohio,  Susquehanna,  Roanoke,  Altamaha, 
Chattahoochee,  Alabama,  &c.,  &c.  And  the  same  may  be  said 
of  the  great  lakes  ;  as,  Ontario,  Erie,  Huron,  Michigan,  as  well 
as  the  lesser  ones  of  Seneca,  Cayuga,  Canandaigua,  Oneida,  Win- 
nipeg, Winnebago  ;  and  also  of  nearly  all  the  ba3's,  mountains, 
and  numerous  geographical  divisions  and  locaUties.  Man}'  of 
the  aboriginal  names,  however,  have  been  discarded  for  others 
less  appropriate.  In  New  England,  the  towns  and  villages  were 
chiefly  named  after  the  towns  in  England  from  which  the  early 


INTRODUCTION. 


xxxi 


colonists  emigrated.  In  the  State  of  New  York  there  is  a  strange 
discrepanc}'  in  the  names  of  places.  Before  the  Revolution,  the 
people  seemed  to  prefer  the  aboriginal  names :  not  onh'  the 
rivers,  lakes,  hills,  &c.,  but  man}-  of  the  toM'ns,  received  them. 
After  the  war,  the  names  of  distinguished  statesmen  and  soldiers 
were  applied  to  the  new  counties  and  towns.  Besides  geo- 
graphical names,  the  Indian  languages  have  supplied  us  with : 
1st,  man}'  names  of  beasts  and  fishes,  as  caribou,  cayman,  chipmuh^ 
moose,  ocelot,  opossum,  raccoon,  skunk,  manitee,  sqiieteague,  menha- 
den, pauhaugen,  scuppaug^  qualiaug,  terrapin  ;  2d,  of  plants,  as 
persimmon,  chincapin,  pecan,  tuckahoe,  maize,  kinnikinnik,  tobacco, 
—  particular!}'  preparations  of  them  for  food,  as  sa.mp,  hominy, 
succotash,  svpaicn,  from  Indian  corn,  and,  from  the  cassava  plant, 
mandioca  and  tapioca  ;  3d,  names  of  articles  known  to  and  used 
b}"  the  Indians,  and  which  the  Europeans  did  not  possess,  as 
canoe,  hammock,  moccasin,  icampum,  sewan,  wigwam,  tomahawk, 
pemmican,  tepee,  toboggin  ;  and,  4th,  names  applied  by  Indians 
to  themselves  in  their  various  relations,  as  inca,  cazique,  cock- 
arouse,  mingo,  sachem,  sagamore,  squaw,  pappoose. 

The  greatest  perversions  of  the  EngUsh  language  arise  from 
two  opposite  causes.  One  of  them  is  the  introduction  of  vul- 
garisms and  slang  by  uneducated  people,  who,  not  having  the 
command  of  proper  words  to  express  their  ideas,  invent  others 
for  the  purpose.  These  words  continue  among  this  class,  are 
transmitted  b}'  them  to  their  children,  and  thus  become  perma- 
nent and  provincial.  They  are  next  seized  upon  b}'  stump- 
speakers  at  political  meetings,  because  they  are  popular  with  the 
masses.  Next  we  hear  them  on  the  floor  of  Congress  and  in  our 
halls  of  legislation.  Quoted  by  the  newspapers,  tlic}'  become 
familiar  to  all,  and  take  their  place  in  the  colloquial  language  of 
the  whole  peoi)le.  Lexicographers  now  secure  them  and  give 
them  a  place  in  their  dictionaries ;  and  thus  they  are  lirmly 
engrafted  on  our  language.  The  study  of  lexicography  will 
show  that  this  process  has  long  been  going  on  in  England,  and 
doubtless  other  languages  are  subject  to  similar  influences. 

But  the  greatest  injur}'  to  our  language  arises  from  the  i)er- 
version  of  legitimate  words  and  the  invention  of  h}  brid  and 
other  inadmissible  expressions  by  educated  men,  and  particularly 


xxxii 


INTEODUCTION. 


by  the  clergy.  This  class  is  the  one,  above  all  others,  which 
ought  to  be  the  conservators  rather  than  the  perverters  of  lan- 
guage. It  is  nevertheless  a  fact  which  cannot  be  denied,  that 
many  strange  and  barbarous  w^ords,  to  which  our  ears  are  gradu- 
all}^  becoming  familiar,  owe  to  them  their  origin  and  introduc- 
tion :  among  them  may  be  mentioned  such  verbs  as  to  fellowship, 
to  difficult,  to  eventuate,  to  resurrect,  to  doxologize,  to  happify,  to 
donate,  to  fvneralize,  &c.,  &c. 

Political  writers  have  made,  and  are  constantl}^  making,  large 
additions  to  our  stock  of  words  and  phrases.  Alex.  Hamilton's 
writings  abound  in  newl}'  coined  expressions ;  many  of  which 
have  been  adopted  by  Dr.  Webster,  and  have  a  place  in  his  dic- 
tionar3\  But  few,  however,  have  come  into  general  use,  as  his 
writings  have  not  been  widel}^  diflused,  and  there  is  nothing  to 
recommend  them  for  adoption  by  scholars.  Mr.  N.  P.  Willis, 
also,  has  the  reputation  of  inventing  many  new  words,  some  of 
which,  though  not  yet  embodied  in  our  dictionaries,  are  much 
used  in  familiar  language.  Judge  Story  has  contributed  his 
share  of  new  words  ;  but,  as  they  are  confined  to  legal  treatises 
and  works  on  the  Constitution,  the}'  can  never  seriously  affect 
the  language. 

Writers  of  political  articles  in  the  newspapers,  stump-orators, 
and  the  members  of  legislative  bodies,  have  added  much  to  the 
English  vocabulary-.  This  class  of  words,  though  not  remark- 
able for  their  elegance,  are  often  highly-  expressive,  and  become 
more  widely-  known  than  other  classes.  In  many  instances, 
however,  their  existence  is  but  short.  They  often  spring  up 
with  a  party ;  and  as  the  parties  become  extinct,  or  give  place 
to  new  ones,  the  terms  which  express  their  peculiar  ideas  or  doc- 
trines likewise  fall  out  of  use.  In  this  class  may  be  included 
such  terms  as  Old  Hunker,  Buchtail,  Federalist,  Barnhurner,  Loco- 
foco,  Young  Democracy,  Democratic  Republican,  Know-nothing, 
Native  American,  Nullijier,  Nullijication,  Coon,  Coonery,  Fire- 
eater,  Black  Republican,  Silver-gray,  Wire-puller,  &c. 

There  are  words,  however,  in  this  class,  which,  having  grown 
out  of  our  peculiar  institutions,  are  of  a  permanent  nature. 
The  origin  of  some  of  these  is  involved  in  obscurity,  while  that 
of  others  is  w-ell  known.    Sometimes  a  little  incident  trivial  in 


INTRODUCTION. 


xxxiii 


itself  has  brought  into  existence  words  which  are  extremely 
expressive,  and  which  will  remain  as  long  as  our  institutions 
exist.  In  this  class,  we  find  caucus,  mass-meeting,  buncombe  or 
bunkum,  to  lobby,  to  gerrymander,  mileage,  gubernatorial,  senatorial, 
squatter  sovereignty,  stamping  ground,  stump,  &c. 

The  peculiar  ph3'sical  features  of  the  country  —  its  animals, 
productions,  aborigines,  forest-life,  &c. — have  been  a  most 
fruitful  source,  from  which  have  sprung  perhaps  the  largest 
number  of  new  words,  as  necessary  and  useful  to  ourselves  as 
any  derived  from  our  Saxon  ancestors.  These  terms  are  not 
used  in  England,  for  the  simple  reason  that  there  they  are  not 
wanted.  Although  I  cannot  agree  with  Dr.  Webster,  that  "  we 
rarely  find  a  new  word  introduced  into  a  language  which  is 
entirely  useless,"  —  for  there  are  unquestionably  thousands  of 
words  encumbering  our  dictionaries  which  might  well  be  dis 
pensed  with,  —  3'et  there  is  no  doubt  that,  in  most  instances, 
"  the  use  of  new  terms  is  dictated  by  necessity  or  utility  :  some- 
times to  express  shades  of  difference  in  signification,  for  which 
the  language  did  not  supply  a  suitable  term ;  sometimes  to 
express  a  combination  of  ideas  by  a  single  word,  which  other- 
wise would  require  a  circumlocution.  These  benefits,  which  are 
often  perceived,  as  it  were,  instinctively  by  a  nation,  recommend 
such  words  to  common  use,  till  the  cavils  of  critics  are  silenced 
by  the  weight  of  authority."  — Letter  to  J.  Pickering,  p.  7. 

Were  we  to  classify  the  periods  when  names  were  applied  to 
places  in  the  State  of  New  York,  for  example,  we  would  call 
that  in  which  the  Indian  names  were  applied  the  aboriginal 
period.  This  is  as  far  back  as  it  would  be  safe  for  ordinary 
mortals  to  go,  leaving  the  "  antediluvian^^  period  to  the  second- 
sight  of  such  seers  as  Mr.  Rafinesque.^ 

The  Indian  names  seem  to  have  prevailed  till  the  Revolution. 
Then  came  a  burst  of  patriotism  among  the  settlers,  many  of 
whom  doubtless  had  served  in  the  war,  and  every  new  place  was 
christened  with  the  names  of  the  warriors  and  statesmen  of  the 
day.  Thus  arose  Washington  County,  Washington  Village,  and  Wash- 
ington  Hollow;  Jefferson  County,  Village,  Lake,  &c.    The  State 

1  See  Introduction  to  History  of  Kentucky, 
c 


xxxiv 


INTRODUCTION. 


of  New  York  has  thus  perpetuated,  in  her  towns  and  villages, 
the  names  of  Adams^  Jay^  Lafayette^  Hamilton^  Madison.  PlacJcney, 
Putnam^  Pulaski,  Schayler,  De  Kalb,  Steuben,  Sullivan,  Gates, 
Franklin,  Greene,  Monroe,  Washington,  Wayne,  &g.  This  m a j  well 
be  styled  the  patriotic  period.  The  names  of  statesmen  and 
generals,  however,  did  not  suffice  for  the  patriotism  of  our  early 
pioneers ;  for  we  find  interspersed  among  them  the  names  of 
Freedom,  Freetmvn,  Freeport,  Friendship,  Independence,  Liberty^ 
Victory^  Hopewell,  Harmony,  Concord,  Union,  &c. 

Next  comes  the  classical  period  ;  for  by  what  other  term  could 
we  designate  a  period  when  towns  were  christened  by  the  names 
of  such  men  as  Homer,  Virgil,  Solon,  Ovid,  Cato,  Euclid,  Brutus, 
Pompey,  Tully,  Cicero,  Cincinnatus,  Aurelius,  Scipio,  Ulysses, 
Seneca,  Hannibal,  Hector,  Romulus,  Lysander,  Manlius,  Camillus, 
and  Marcellus  ;  or  of  such  places  as  Athens,  Sparta,  Marathon, 
Troy,  Corinth,  Pharsalia,  Palmyra,  Utica,  Smyrna,  Attica,  Mace- 
don,  Ithica,  Phoenicia,  Tyre,  Rome,  and  Carthage. 

Testimony  to  the  piety  (to  say  nothing  of  the  good  taste)  of 
our  forefathers  is  also  afforded  b}'  the  occurrence  of  such  names, 
also  in  the  State  of  New  York,  as  Eden,  Paradise,  Babylon, 
Nineveh,  Mount  Sinai,  Jerusalem,  Jericho,  Hebron,  Goshen,  Canaan, 
Bethany,  Bethlehem,  Bethpage,  Sharon,  Sodorn,  Siloam,  Lebanon,  Mo- 
riah,  &c.  Of  the  names  of  European  cities  there  are  Antwerp, 
Amsterdam,  Berlin,  Boston,  Cambridge,  Copenhagen,  Dresden,  Dun- 
dee, Florence,  Frankfort,  Geneva,  Genoa,  Hamburg,  Hague,  Lisbon, 
Leyden,  Liverpool,  Manchester,  Madrid.  Milan,  Moscow,  Naples, 
Oxford,  Odessa,  Parma,  Palermo,  Paris,  Rome,  Riga,  Stockholm, 
Turin,  Verona,  Vienna,  Versailles,  Venice,  and  York.  There  are 
towns  in  the  same  State  named  after  nearly  ever}'  countr}'  in 
Europe,  as  Norway,  Sweden,  Denmark,  Russia,  Poland,  Greece, 
Italy,  Sardinia,  Holland,  and  Wales.  There  is  a  town  of  Mexico, 
Chili,  Peru,  Lima,  Havana,  Cuba,  Cairo,  Alexandria,  Memphis, 
Egypt,  Arabia,  Persia,  China,  Pekin,  Canton,  Delhi,  Bombay, 
Manilla,  Batavia,  Java,  and  Teddo.  Distinguished  authors  and 
statesmen  of  England  are  remembered  in  the  towns  of  Addison, 
Burns,  Burke,  Byron,  Clarendon,  Chesterfield,  Dry  den.  Gray,  Gran- 
ville, Hampden,  Hume,  "  Junius,'^  Locke,  Marlborough,  Milton.  Scott, 
Sheridan,  Sidney,  Spencer,  Somers,  and  Walton.    But  little  fond- 


INTRODUCTION. 


XXXV 


ness  is  exhibited  for  dramatic  authors,  as  the  name  of  the 
greatest  of  them  all  has  been  forgotten ;  not  even  a  pond,  a 
hollow,  or  a  swamp  in  the  United  States  has  been  honored  with 
the  name  of  Shakspeare.  If  we  were  to  classify  all  the  names 
of  places  in  the  State  of  New  York,  we  should  be  puzzled  to 
find  a  place  for  the  names  of  Big  Indian,  Coiv  Neck,  Half  Way^ 
Half  Moon.  Mad  Creek,  Mosquito  Cove,  Ohlong,  Owl  Pond,  Oxhoiu^ 
Painted  Post,  Pitcher,  Red  Jacket,  Rough  and.  Ready,  Success.  Spe- 
onk.  Sing  Sing,  Sugar  Lonf,  Yaphank,  and  the  like.  The  name 
of  Penn  Tan  is  said  to  have  been  manufactured  b}'  the  first  set- 
tlers, part  of  whom  were  from  Penns3-lvania  and  the  rest  from 
New  England,  by  taking  the  first  s^dlable  from  "  Penns3'lvania," 
and  the  last  from  "Yankee." 

In  California,  many  places  have  been  absurdly  named  from 
some  trifling  incident  connected  with  the  first  settlement ;  such 
are  Hangfown.,  Shirt  Tail  Canyon,  Flapjack  Canyon.,  Whiskey 
Gulch,  Port  Wine  Diggins,  Humhn.g  Flat,  Murderer  s  Bar,  Jackass 
Gulch.,  Red  Dog,  Travellers''  Rest.  Some  of  these  retain  their 
names  even  after  thej' become  populous  villages.  The  following 
are  sufficiently  important  to  have  post-offices,  as  appears  from 
the  oflflcial  Postal  Guide  :  Big  Trees,  Big  Pine,  Dutch  Flat,  Big 
Oak  Flat,  Black  Bear,  Buck  Eye,  Hay  Fork,  Happy  Gamp,  Horse- 
town.,  Fair  Play,  Grizzly  Flat,  Gas  Jet,  Left  Hand,  Two  Rocks, 
Uncle  Sam,  You  Bet,  and  Zum.  Zum. 

But  California  is  not  alone  in  the  oddness  of  the  nomenclature 
of  her  towns.  If  any  one  curious  in  the  subject  will  turn  to  the 
pages  of  the  United  States  Postal  Guide,  he  will  find  names 
quite  as  odd  in  some  of  the  older  States.  In  Arkansas  will  be 
found  Black  Fish,  Bright  Star,  Black  Jack,  Blue  Ball,  Big  Bottom, 
Buck  Htm,  Due  West,  Evening  Shade,  Oil  Trough,  Opposition, 
Rocky  Comfort,  Social  Hill,  Sub  Rosa,  Ten  Mile,  and  War  Eagle  ; 
while  Illinois  glories  in  her  Bible  Grove,  Lone  Tree,  Moonshine, 
Sugar  L<>af  Fair  Weather,  Red  Bud,  Robin  s  Nest,  and  Blue  Glass. 
From  the  Western  States  we  turned  to  Georgia,  one  of  the  old 
original  "Thirteen"  States,  to  see  what  her  nomenclature  is, 
and  found  some  names  quite  as  odd  as  those  of  the  new  States, 
Among  them  are  Air  Line,  Anvil  Block,  Cold  Water,  Cheery  Log, 


xxxvi 


INTRODUCTION. 


Dirt.  Town,  Pine  Log,  Rising  Fawn,  Saw  Dust,  Social  Circle^ 
Talking  Rock,  Ty  Ty,  Wolf  Skin,  and  War  Woman. 

Strangely  formed  factitious  words  are  much  affected  at  the 
West,  abskize,  absquatulate,  catawanipously,  exjlunctify,  obscute, 
slantendicular,  &c.,  &c.  ;  and  in  the  South  such  onomatopees  as 
keslosh.  kesouse,  keswollop,  kewhollux,  &c. 

The  battle-fields  of  the  Mexican  war  are  commemorated  in 
eighteen  Buena  Vistas,  sixteen  Montereys,  nine  Palo  Altos,  and 
three  Resacas.  And  the  names  of  its  heroes  have  given  birth  to 
a  host  of  Taylors  and  Taylorvilles^  Worths  and  Worthvilles,  Pierces 
and  Piercevilles,  besides  Piercetown,  Pierceland,  and  Pierce  Point ; 
also  several  Polks  and  Polkvilles,  together  with  Polktown,  Polk 
City,  Polk  Patch,  Polk  Precinct,  and  Polk  Run  ;  and  two  addi- 
tional Quitmans.  The  officers  who  distinguished  themselves  in 
the  late  civil  war,  and  the  statesmen  of  the  day,  will  not  be  for- 
gotten as  the  new  States  fill  up. 

In  consequence  of  the  variety  of  origin  of  the  names  of  States 
and  towns,  the  formation  of  nouns  from  them  to  denote  the 
native  or  citizen  of  such  State  or  town  is  sometimes  difficult  and 
even  impossible.  Thus  New  Yorker,  Vermonter,  Rhode  Islander, 
will  do  well  enough  ;  and  so  will  Virginian,  Georgian,  Philadel- 
pfiian,  Bostonian,  Mohilian  ;  but  Baffcdoan,  lllinoian,  Ohioan,  are 
hardly  admissible ;  while  Connecticut,  Massachusetts,  and  Ar- 
kansas refuse  to  ^ield  to  the  process  at  all. 

The  class  of  new  words  and  new  meanings  of  old  words  which 
owe  their  origin  to  circumstances  or  productions  peculiar  to  the 
United  States,  such  as  ark,  backwoods,  backwoodsmen,  breadstvffs, 
barrens,  blaze,  bottoms,  broad-horn,  buffalo-robe,  cane-brake,  cypress- 
brake,  clearing,  corn-broom,  corn-shacking,  deadening,  diggings,  dug- 
out, flat-boat,  hog-wallow,  husking,  interval,  location,  pine-barrens, 
prairie,  pre-emption,  reservation,  salt  lick,  savannah,  snag,  sawyer, 
squatter,  &c.,  are  necessar}'  additions  to  the  language. 

The  metaphorical  and  other  odd  expressions  used  first  at  the 
West,  and  afterwards  in  other  parts  of  the  country,  often  origi- 
nate in  some  curious  anecdote  or  event,  which  is  transmitted 
from  mouth  to  mouth,  and  soon  made  the  property  of  all.  Po- 
litical writers  and  stump  speakers  perform  a  prominent  part  in 
the  invention  and  diff'usion  of  these  phrases.    Among  these  may 


INTRODUCTION. 


xxxvii 


be  mentioned  to  cave  in,  to  acknowledge  the  corn,  to  flash  in  the 
pan,  to  hark  up  the  wrong  tree,  to  loake  up  the  wrong  passenger,  to 
pull  up  stakes,  to  he  a  caution,  to  fizzle  out,  to  flat  out,  to  peter  out, 
to  fix  his  flint,  to  he  among  the  missing,  to  give  him  Jessy,  to  see  the 
elephant,  to  fly  around,  to  spread  one's  self,  to  tucker  out,  to  use  up, 
to  walk  into,  to  cotton,  to  hifer,  to  chisel,  to  slope,  to  lobby,  to  gerry- 
mander, to  splurge,  &c.,  &c. 

Our  people,  particularly  those  who  belong  to  the  West  and 
South,  are  fond  of  using  intensive  and  extravagant  epithets,  both 
as  adjectives  and  adverbs,  as  awful,  powerful,  motistrous,  dreadful, 
mighty,  almighty,  all  fired,  &c.  ;  while  euphemistic  oaths  are  one 
of  the  characteristics  of  the  Yankee  dialect. 

The  words  bankable,  boatable,  dutiable,  mailable,  mileage,  are  well 
formed  and  useful  terms,  which  have  been  generally  adopted  by 
those  who  have  occasion  to  make  use  of  them.  But  the  words 
dubersome,  disremember,  decedent,  docity,  and  the  like,  can  hardly 
be  called  necessary  additions  to  our  language. 

There  is  a  diversity  in  the  pronunciation  of  certain  words  in 
different  parts  of  the  United  States,  which  is  so  perceptible  that 
a  native  of  these  particular  districts  may  be  at  once  recognized 
by  a  person  who  is  observant  in  these  matters*.  Residents  of 
the  cit}'  of  New  York  are  perhaps  less  marked  in  their  pronun- 
ciation and  use  of  words  than  the  residents  of  any  other  city  or 
State,  the  reason  of  which  is  obvious.  The  population  is  so 
fluctuating,  so  man}-  people  from  every  part  of  the  country,  as 
well  as  from  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  are  congregated 
there,  who  are  in  dail}"  contact  with  each  other,  that  there  is  less 
chance  for  any  idiom  or  peculiarity  of  speech  to  grow  up.  Nev- 
ertheless, grammatical  inaccuracies  are  far  from  uncommon  in 
the  speech  of  the  wealthier  classes,  and  slang  is  cultivated  to 
an  increasing  extent  b}' the     rowd^'"  portion  of  the  population. 

The  large  number  of  educated  men  in  New  England,  her 
admirable  schools  and  higher  institutions  of  education,  have  had 
a  powerful  influence  in  moulding  the  language  of  her  people. 
Yet,  notwithstanding  this  fact,  in  Boston  and  other  towns  in 
Massachusetts,  there  exist  some  glaring  errors  in  the  vulgar 
speech.  There  are  peculiarities  also  to  be  observed  in  the  lite- 
rary language  of  the  Bostonians.    The  great  extent  to  which 


xxxviii 


INTRODUCTION-. 


the  scholars  of  New  England  have  carried  the  study  of  the 
German  language  and  literature  for  some  years  back,  added 
to  a  very  general  neglect  of  the  old  masterpieces  of  P^nglish 
composition,  have  had  the  effect  of  giving  to  the  writings  of 
many  of  them  an  artificial,  unidiomatic  character,  which  has  an 
inexpressibly  unpleasant  effect  to  those  who  are  not  habituated 
to  it. 

The  agricultural  population  who  live  in  the  interior  of  New 
England  have  a  strongly  marked  provincial  dialect,  b}^  which 
they  may  be  distinguished  from  the  people  of  every  other  part 
of  the  Union.  The  chief  peculiarit}'  is  a  drawling  pronuncia- 
tion, sometimes  accompanied  by  a  speaking  through  the  nose, 
as  eend  for  end^  dawg  for  dog^  Gaivd  and  Go-od  for  God^  &c. 
Before  the  sounds  ow  and  oo,  they  often  insert  a  short  which 
we  will  represent  by  the  letter  y ;  as,  hyow  for  cow,  vyow  for  vow^ 
tyoo  for  too,  dyoo  for  do,  &c.,  &c.  The  numerous  words  em- 
plo3^ed  in  New  England  which  are  not  heard  in  other  parts  of 
the  country  are  mostl}'  genuine  old  words  still  provincial  in  the 
north  of  England :  ver}'  few  are  of  indigenous  origin. 

A  very  common  mispronunciation  in  New  England  is  in  such 
words  as  Neii\* Tuesday,  Dew,  Duke,  where  the  vowel-sound  in 
stoop  is  given  for  the  vowel-sound  in  few,  thereby  pronouncing 
them  Noo,  Toosday,  Doo,  Dooh.  This  error  among  us  is  noticed 
by  all  English  people,  who  are  very  particular  in  giving  these 
and  similar  words  their  correct  pronunciation.  The  educated  in 
the  Middle  States  pronounce  these  words  correctl3\ 

Among  some  of  the  Western  people  there  are  strange  ideas 
regarding  the  use  of  certain  words,  which  has  led  the  mock- 
modest  to  reject  them  and  substitute  others.  Thus,  to  speak  of 
the  names  of  animals  onl}' ,  the  essentiall}'  English  word  hvll  is 
refined  be3'ond  the  mountains,  and  perhaps  elsewhere,  into  cow- 
creattire^  male-cow,  and  even  gentleman-coio !  A  friend  who  re- 
sided manj^  years  in  the  West  has  told  me  of  an  incident  where 
a  gray-headed  man  of  sixty  doffed  his  hat  reverently  and  apolo- 
gized to  a  clergyman  for  having  used  inadvertent!}*  in  his  hear- 
ing the  plain  Saxon  term.  Male  sheep,  male  hog^  &c.,  are  of  a 
piece  with  the  preceding,  to  which  we  ma}^  add  rooster,  he  biddy^ 
game  chicken,  &c. 


INTRODUCTION. 


xxxix 


The  chief  pecuharity  in  the  pronunciation  of  the  Southern  and 
Western  people  is  the  giving  of  a  broader  sound  than  is  proper 
to  certain  vowels  ;  as,  whar  for  where,  thar  for  there^  har  for  hear. 
Ear  and  here  are  both  pronounced  like  year  ;  honse^  ahout^  &c. , 
have  a  pronunciation  approaching  to  hoose,  ahoot,  &c.  ;  and  the 
final  r  is  omitted,  as  you  do  for  your  door^  &c. 

In  the  following  table  of  words  incorrectly  pronounced,  such 
as  belong  to  New  England  are  designated  b}'  the  letters  N.  E.  ; 
those  exclusively  Western,  by  the  letter  W.  ;  the  Southern 
words,  by  S.  ;  the  rest  are  common  to  various  parts  of  the 
Union.  In  this  attempt  at  classification  there  are  doubtless 
errors  and  imperfections ;  for  an  emigrant  from  Vermont  to 
Illinois  would  introduce  the  provincialisms  of  his  native  district 
into  his  new  residence.  Many  of  these  inaccuracies  are  also 
heard  in  England. 


a-tilly 

for  actually. 

curous 

for  curious. 

aim 

,,  earn. 

cupalo 

,,  cupola. 

airy 

„  area. 

curchy 

„  curtesy. 

alk-r.s 

,,  always,  S.  W. 

cuss 

,,  curse. 

arethnietic 

,,  arithmetic. 

dar 

,,  dare,  W. 

arrant 

„  errand. 

darter 

,,  daughter. 

artt-r 

.,  after. 

deef 

,,  deaf. 

ary 

„  e"er  a. 

dew 

„  do,  N.  E. 

attackted 

,,  attack'd. 

deestrict 

,,  district,  N.  E. 

anywheres 

,,  anywhere. 

desput 

„  desperate,  N.  E. 

bac.ielder 

,,  bachelor. 

dooz 

„  does,  N.  E. 

ba- 

„  bear,  W. 

drap 

,,  drop,  S. 

becase 

„  because. 

dreffle 

„  dreadful,  N.  E. 

bellowses 

,,  bellows. 

dribble 

,,  driblet. 

ben 

been,  N.  E. 

drownded 

,,  drown' d. 

bile 

,,  boil. 

druv 

,,  drove. 

binieby 

by  and  by. 

dubous 

,,  dubious. 

bust 

,,  burst. 

eend 

,,  end. 

caired 

,,  carried,  N.  E. 

everywheres 

,,  everywhere. 

caze 

„  because. 

fer 

,,  for. 

cheer 

„  chair. 

forrerd 

forward,  N.  E. 

chimbly 

,,  chimney. 

fust 

„  first. 

chist 

„  chest,  N.  E. 

gal 

clar 

„  clear,  W. 

gin 

„  given. 

closte 

,,  close. 

gineral 

,,  general. 

considable 

•   ,,  considerable. 

git 

»  get. 

cotch'd 

caut^ht,  W. 

gownd 

„  gown. 

crick 

.,  creak. 

grievious 

,,  grievous. 

critter 

„  creature. 

gwine 

„  going,  S. 

cunnle 

colonel. 

har 

,,  hair,  \V. 

xl 


INTRODUCTION. 


hath 

for  hearth,  S. 

ruff 

for  roof,  N.  E. 

hankecher 

handkerchief. 

sarce 

sauce. 

header 

hinder. 

sarcer 

saucer. 

hist 

„  hoist. 

sarve 

,,  serve. 

holt 

„  hold. 

sartin 

,,  certain,  N.  E. 

huff 

hoof. 

sass 

„  sauce,  N.  E. 

hull 

„  whole,  N.  E. 

sassy 

,,  saucy. 

hum 

„  home,  N.  E. 

scace 

,,  scarce,  W. 

humbly 

,,  homely,  N.  E. 

schollard 

„  scholar,  S.  W. 

idea 

,,  idea,  S. 

sen 

,,  since. 

ile 

„  oil. 

shet 

„  shut,  S. 

injine 

,,  engine. 

shuk 

,,  shook,  W. 

innards 

,.  inwards. 

sich 

,,  such. 

inter 

,,  into. 

skeart 

„  scared,  S.  W. 

innemy 

,,  enemy. 

sorter 

,,  sort  of. 

janders 

,,  jaundice. 

smaart 

,,  smart,  S. 

jedge 

,,  iuda:e,  N.  E. 

spettacle 

spectacle. 

jest 

„  just. 

spile 

,,  spoil. 

jiiie 

,,  join. 

spose 

,,  suppose. 

jiste 

,,  joist. 

squinch 

,,  quench. 

keer 

,,  care. 

Stan 

stand. 

ketch 

„  catch. 

star 

,,  stair,  W. 

kin 

,,  can. 

steeple 

„  staple,  W. 

kittle 

„  kettle. 

stiddy 

,,  steadv. 

kiver 

,,  cover. 

stun 

,,  stone,  N.  E. 

larn 

„  learn. 

streech 

,,  stretch,  W. 

larnin 

.,  learning. 

stupenduous 

stupendous. 

lawth 

,,  loath. 

sutliin 

,,  something,  N.  K 

leetle 

little. 

tech 

,,  touch. 

lieves 

„  lief. 

tend 

,,  attend. 

mash 

marsh. 

tell'd 

„  told,  N.  E. 

million 

,,  melon. 

tew 

„  to,  N.  E. 

mischievious 

„  mischievous. 

thar 

„  there,  W. 

mountanious 

,,  mountainous. 

tole 

„  told. 

naaink 

„  nothing,  L.  I. 

tossel 

,,  tassel. 

nary 

ne'er  a. 

tuck 

„  took. 

niffffer 

..  neerro. 

torectlv 

directlv,  S. 

nuss 

nurse. 

tremenduous 

tremendous. 

ole 

,,  old. 

twiste 

twice. 

only 

,,  only,  S. 

umberell 

umbrella. 

onst 

,,  once. 

valeation 

valuation. 

pint 

point. 

varmint 

vermin  W. 

pooty 

,,  pretty. 

wal 

,',  well,  N.  E. 

punkin 

,,  pumpkin. 

wh:ir 

„  where,  W. 

pus 

,,  purse,  N.  E. 

wu  it 

„  won't,  N.  E. 

racket 

,,  rocket. 

wunst 

„  once,  W. 

rale 

,,  real. 

wus 

,,  worse. 

rayley 

„  really. 

3'aller 

„  yellov/. 

rayther 

,,  rather. 

year 

„  ear,  S. 

rench 

„  rinse. 

yere 

„  here,  S. 

rheumatiz 

„  rheumatism. 

yourn 

„  yours. 

INTRODUCTION. 


xli 


Americanisms  exhibit  themselves,  not  in  the  use  of  peculiar 
words  and  pronunciations  alone,  but  also  in  some  points  of 
gi-ammar.    Thus,  to  mention  a  few  :  — 

The  termination  -ity  for  abstract  nouns  is  preferred  in  many 
cases  to  the  English  -ness;  so  that  we  have,  for  instance,  such 
words  as  accountability,  instead  of  accountableness ;  obtusify  for 
obtuseness^  &c.  Of  a  like  nature  are  rendition  for  rendering^ 
reservation  for  reserve. 

The  terminations  -er  and  -est,  which  indicate*  the  degrees  of 
comparison  of  adjectives,  are  often  discarded  for  the  adverbs 
more  and  most^  even  before  monosyllables,  contrar}^  to  good  Eng- 
hsh  usage.  And  the  possessive  relation  is  often  denoted  b}^  the 
preposition  o/,  where  the  termination  -s  would  be  neater  and 
more  idiomatic. 

The  influence  of  the  French  language  seems  to  be  visible,  not 
onh^  in  the  preceding  instances,  but  also  in  the  use  of  the  definite 
article  before  the  names  of  diseases ;  as,  the  gout,  the  consump- 
tion, the  headache,  the  erysipelas,  &c. 

It  ma}'  be  owing  to  the  influence  of  the  German  language,  in 
which  the  adverbs  are  nothing  but  apocopated  adjectives,  that 
the  adjectival  ending  is  so  often  omitted  b}'  vulgar  speakers  ;  as, 
"I  have  got  wet  bad;''  "See  that  3'ou  do  it  good;''  "He'll 
take  cold  sure." 

On  the  other  hand,  it  seems  owing  to  the  teachings  of  some 
priggish  pedagogue,  who  had  learned  that  "  adverbs  quahfy 
verbs,"  and  knew  nothing  be3'ond  it,  that  adverbs  are  now  often 
emplo3'ed  where  idiomatic  usage  requires  an  adjective;  as,  "I 
feel  very  hadJy;"  "  You  look  charmingly"  &c.  So  that  we  may 
expect  soon  to  hear,  "She  seems  ignorantly ;"  "He  became 
quite  craziiy,"  &c.  ;  and  to  be  unable  any  longer  to  make  the  dis- 
tinction between  "He feels  warmly"  and  "He  feels  warm."  The 
ladies  seem  more  especially  to  alfect  this  form  of  speech,  which  is 
more  common  at  the  South  than  at  the  North  ;  whence  it  is  likel}' 
that  it  originated  in  a  Southern  boarding-school.  The  persons 
who  use  it  are  not  aware  that  it  is  reall}'  the  person  or  thing 
which  is  qualified  in  these  cases,  and  not  the  action  or  state 
of  being. 

Among  the  American  pecuharities  of  style,  one  of  the  most 


xlii 


INTRODUCTION. 


remarkable  is  a  tendenc}'  to  exaggeration.  "The  use  of  ex- 
travagant terms,"  says  Dr.  Lieber,  in  one  of  his  letters  to  me 
on  the  subject,  "is  ver}-  common.  These  are  often  used  by 
deficiently  educated  persons  who  edit  newspapers,  and  more 
frequently  by  the  same  class  of  people  when  speaking  in  public. 
In  tlie  South  and  West,  this  custom  prevails  to  a  greater  extent 
than  at  the  North.  '  This  is  the  finest  cow  in  the  State  of  South 
Carolina,'  observes  one.  '  The  handsomest  woman  south  of  the 
Potomac,'  says  another.  And  a  man  who  kept  a  countr}^  school 
with  ten  small  scholars  was  said  to  be  making  '  bushels  of  money ' 
by  it." 

This  sort  of  exaggeration  frequently  assumes  the  form  of  what 
in  England  is  ver}'  appropriateh'  termed  "fine  writing,"  but 
which  with  us  is  better  known  as  "  highfaluten."  Thus,  a  West- 
ern critic,  speaking  of  the  acting  of  a  Miss  Logan,  says  the  way 
in  which  she  chanted  the  Marseillaise  was  ' '  terrible  in  its  inten- 
sity," and  that  the  impression  made  "  must  create  for  her  a  name 
that  will  never  die."  This,  however,  "does  not  begin  "with 
Miss  Wyatt,  whose  performances  at  Springfield,  Illinois,  are 
thus  described  in  a  criticism  in  one  of  the  papers  of  that 
city  :  — 

"  Illumined  by  the  lyric  muse,  she  is  magnificent.  All  nerve, 
all  palpitation,  her  rounded  form  is  the  fittest  setting  for  her  dia- 
mond soul !  She  has  grace  which  is  more  than  beauty,  and  dis- 
tinction which  adorns  still  more  than  grace.  She  appears  the 
incarnation  of  genius  !  —  it  struggles  within  her  !  —  inspiration 
quivers  down  her  snow-white  arms,  and  trembles  on  her  fingers' 
ends, — passion  wrestles  in  her  quivering  frame,  and  shudders 
through  her  limbs.  Her  soul  flickers  in  ever}^  accent,  and  looms 
up  in  every  pantomime,  while  serene  smiles  pla}^  about  her 
mouth.  Her  draper}'  follows  her  gestures, — her  gestures  her 
passions.  Every  attitude  is  a  model,  ever}'  pose  is  a  classic 
statue." 

"  The  very  opposite,"  says  Dr.  Lieber,  "  is  the  case  at  pres- 
ent in  England.  There  has  been  no  period  and  no  country  in 
which  perspicuity,  simplicity,  and  manliness  of  style  are  so  gen- 
eral as  at  present  in  English  Reviews  ;  even  newspapers,  e.^.  the 
"London  Spectator,"  are  models  of  these  attributes  of  a  good 


INTEODUCTION. 


xliii 


st3'le.  Monckton  Milnes,  M.  P.,  told  me  he  had  not  the  least 
doubt  but  that  the  House  of  Commons  of  the  present  day  would 
not  stand  the  eloquence  of  Fox,  Sheridan,  or  Burke.  I  asked, 
'  What  would  they  do  ? '  '  The  members  would  instantly  leave 
their  seats,'  was  the  reply.  Mr.  Mihies  also  spoke  of  several 
American  writers  w;hose  style  was  correct ;  still,  he  could  alway  s 
detect  some  florid  expression  characteristic  of  their  people." 

Before  closing  these  observations  on  American  provincialisms, 
I  should  do  injustice  to  previous  writers  on  the  same  subject,  not 
to  speak  of  their  works.  The  earliest  of  these,  as  far  as  my 
knowledge  extends,  is  that  of  Dr.  Witherspoon.  In  a  series  of 
essay's  entitled  "The  Druid,"  which  appeared  originally  in  a 
periodical  publication  in  1761,  he  devotes  numbers  5,  6,  and  7 
of  these  essa3's,  about  twenty  pages  in  all,  to  Americanisms, 
perversions  of  language  in  the  United  States,  cant  phrases,  &c. 
The}'  were  afterwards  published  in  his  collected  works,  in  4  vols. 
8vo,  Philadelphia,  1801,  and  ma}'  be  found  in  the  fourth 
volume. 

The  most  important  work  of  the  kind  is  that  of  the  late  Hon. 
John  Pickering.  He  began  with  an  article  in  the  ' '  Memoirs  of 
the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,"  Boston.  This 
was  soon  after  enlarged  and  pubhshed  in  a  separate  volume 
entitled  "  A  Vocabulary,  or  Collection  of  Words  and  Phrases  which 
have  been  supposed  to  be  peculiar  to  the  United  States  of  America. 
To  which  is  prefixed  an  Essay  on  the  Present  State  of  the  English 
Lamjiiage  in  the  United  States."  Boston,  1816.  pp.  206.  (Con- 
taining about  520  words.)  This  valuable  and  interesting  work 
received  much  attention,  and  in  the  following  year  appeared  a 
pamphlet,  entitled  Letter  to  the  Hon.  John  Pickering.,  on  the 
Subject  of  h  is  Vocabulary,  or  Collection  of  Words  and  Phrases  sup- 
posed to  be  peculiar  to  the  United  States.'"  l^y  Noah  Webster. 
8vo.    Boston,  1817.    pp.  69. 

In  the  Transactions  of  tlie  Albany  Institute,  1830,  Vol.  I.,  is 
an  article  entitled  '■''Notes  on  Mr.  Pickering's  Vocabulary,  &c., 
with  Preliminary  Observations."  By  T.  Rome^'n  Beck.  In  Mr. 
Sherwood's  "  Gazetteer  of  Georgia"  is  a  glossary  of  words  pro- 
vincial in  the  Southern  States.  The  latest  work  on  provincial- 
isms, but  chiefly  of  errors  in  grammar,  is  Grammatical 


xliv 


INTRODUCTION. 


Corrector,  or  Vocabulary  of  the  Common  Errors  of  Speech  ;  alpha- 
hetlcally  arranged,  corrected,  and  explained  for  the  Use  of  Schools 
and  Private  Individuals^  B}^  Setli  T.  Hurd.  12mo.  Philadel- 
phia, 1847.^ 

Since  the  publication  of  the  first  edition  of  this  work,  there 
have  been  pubhshed  two  additions  of  a  work  entitled  ' '  A  Collec- 
tion of  College  Words  and  Customs.''  Bj  B.  H.  Hall.  12mo. 
Cambridge,  The  last  edition  in  1856.  This  is  a  ver}^  complete 
work  in  its  way,  and  contains  many  Americanisms  which  origi- 
nated at  Colleges.  An  excellent  little  volume,  b}'  Dr.  A.  L. 
Elwyn  of  Philadelphia,  entitled  "  Glossary  of  Supposed  A merican- 
{s7iisr  has  also  appeared.  This  is  a  useful  work,  and  shows  how 
man}'  of  our  supposed  Americanisms  are  really  English. 

As  the  charge  has  been  frequently  made  against  us  by  Eng- 
lish critics  of  perverting  our  vernacular  tongue,  and  of  adding 
useless  words  to  it,  it  will  not  be  out  of  place  to  state  here  that, 
in  the  belief  of  the  author,  the  English  language  is  in  no  part 
of  the  world  spoken  in  greater  purity  b}'  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  than  in  the  United  States.  In  making  this  assertion,  he 
does  not  depend  wholly  on  his  own  observation  :  it  has  repeat- 
edly been  made  by  intelhgent  Englishmen  who  have  travelled  in 
the  United  States,  and  had  an  opportunity  of  judging.  On  this 
subject,  the  author  of  an  English  work,  entitled  the  "Back- 
woods of  Canada,"  has  the  following  judicious  remarks :  — 

"With  the  exception  of  some  few  remarkable  expressions, 
and  an  attempt  at  introducing  fine  words,  the  lower  order  of 
Yankees  have  a  decided  advantage  over  our  English  peasantry 
in  the  use  of  grammatical  language  :  the}^  speak  better  English 

1  In  preparing  this  work,  I  have  examined  all  the  English  provincial 
glossaries,  and  the  principal  English  dictionaries  ;  which  it  was  necessary  to 
do,  in  order  to  know  what  words  and  phrases  were  still  provincial  in  Eng- 
land. Many  of  the  facts  in  that  portion  of  the  Introduction  which  treats 
of  English  dialects  have  been  drawn  from  similar  essays  appended  to  the 
several  glossaries.  But  I  am  chiefly  indebted  to  the  enlarged  Preface  to 
Dr.  Bosworth's  Anglo-Saxon  Dictionary,  which  presents  the  best  historical 
analysis  extant  of  the  English  language ;  and  to  the  admirable  and  later 
work  of  Professor  Latham,  "  The  English  Language,"  London,  1841,  which 
is  unquestionably  the  most  valuable  work  on  English  philology  and  gram- 
mar which  has  yet  appeared. 


INTRODUCTION. 


xlv 


than  you  will  hear  from  persons  of  the  same  class  in  any  part  of 
England,  Ireland,  or  Scotland;  a  fact  that  we  should  be  unwill- 
ing to  allow  at  home."  —  p.  83. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Witherspoon,  President  of  Princeton  College, 
born  and  educated  in  Scotland,  made  a  similar  remark  in  1784. 
In  an  essa}'  on  the  language,  he  says  :  — 

' '  The  vulgar  in  America  speak  much  better  than  the  vulgar 
in  Great  Britain,  for  a  very  obvious  reason  ;  namely,  that  being 
much  more  unsettled,  and  moving  frequentl}^  from  place  to  place, 
they  are  not  so  liable  to  local  peculiarities  either  in  accent  or 
phraseolog3\" —  Works,  Vol.  IV.  p.  281. 

The  "London Quarterl}^  Review," in  noticing  Silliman's  "Trav- 
els in  England,"  quotes  his  remark  on  the  use  of  the  English  lan- 
guage in  England  and  in  America,  where'in  the  Professor  insists 
that  it  is  "  more  correctly  spoken  at  this  time  (1805)  b}"  the  mass 
of  the  Americans  than  b}"  the  mass  of  the  English  nation." 
"This  assertion,"  adds  the  reviewer,  "  is  founded  upon  a  com- 
mon and  very  easy  mistake  as  to  the  nature  of  provincial  dia- 
lects, and  upon  a  curious  fact  in  the  history  of  language.  There 
are  no  provincial  dialects  in  America  :  emigrants  from  all  parts 
of  Great  Britain  have  met  there,  and  intermixed  with  each  other, 
and  with  natives  of  the  countrj'.  The  peculiarities  of  dialect 
have  necessarily  been  melted  down  into  the  general  speech,  w^hich 
is  common  English ;  and  this  is  the  language,  therefore,  which 
all  children  learn  as  their  mother  tongue.  The  low-bred  Lon- 
doner does  not  transmit  his  A^ulgar  shibboleth,  and  the  child  of 
the  Northumbrian  is  free  from  the  hurr  which  sticks  in  the  throat 
of  his  father.  Dialects  can  only  be  preserved  by  collective  bodies 
speaking  the  language  which  the}*  acquired  in  their  3'outh  ;  the}' 
cannot  therefore  continue  in  promiscuous  colonies." — Vol.  15, 
p.  61. 

We  cannot  sa}'  as  much,  however,  in  fovor  of  our  literary  dia- 
lect. The  ripest  scholars  among  us  acknowledge  the  fact  that 
in  the  best  authors  and  public  speakers  of  Great  Britain  there  is 
a  variet}'  in  the  choice  of  expressions,  a  correctness  in  the  use  of 
the  particles,  and  an  idiomatic  vigor  and  raciness  of  style  to 
which  few  or  none  of  our  writers  can  attain.  The  unfortunate 
tendency  to  favor  the  Latin  at  the  expense  of  the  Saxon  ele- 


xlvi 


TNTRODUCTION. 


ment  of  our  language,  which  social  and  educational  causes  have 
long  tended  to  foster  in  the  mother  country,  has  with  us  received 
an  additional  impulse  from  the  great  admixture  of  foreigners  in 
our  population.  It  is  not  likely  that  the  pure  old  idiomatic  Eng- 
lish style  can  ever  be  restored  in  this  country ;  but  there  is  no 
good  reason  to  doubt  that  the  fusion  of  the  present  rather  hete- 
rogeneous elements  of  which  our  society  is  composed  will  result 
in  the  production  of  a  style  and  a  literature  which  will  also  have 
their  beauties  and  their  merits,  although  fashioned  after  a  some- 
what different  model. 


AMERICAN  WORDS  AND  PHRASES. 


DICTIONARY 

OP 

AMERICAN  WORDS  AND  PHRASES. 


A. 

A  1.  The  highest  classification  of  a  vessel  on  Lloyd's  list.  Some- 
times "copper-bottomed"  is  added.  Years  ago  it  was  commoir 
to  see  the  mark  appended  to  the  name  of  a  vessel  in  an  advertise- 
ment for  freight  or  passengers.  So  far  the  term  and  its  use  are 
English;  but,  in  a  commercial  country,  the  use  of  such  terms  is 
often  extended  beyond  their  original  application. 

It  is  well  known  to  those  who  are  in  turn  well  known  to  Stewart,  and  who  stand 
on  his  books  rated  A  No.  1  for  the  length  of  their  bills,  that  the  fitting  out  a 
young  lady  nowadays  for  a  winter  season  in  town,  or  a  summer  season  at  a 
watering-place,  assimilates  more  nearly  to  preparing  a  vessel  for  a  voyage 
around  the  world  than  any  other  analogous  undertaking. — N.  Y.  Commercial 
Advertiser. 

The  Niagara,  New  Orleans,  and  Louisville  packet  is  one  of  the  most  mag- 
nificent steamers  now  running  the  river.  Her  interior  arrangements  are  com- 
plete, and  her  officers  A  No.  1.  —  Western  Paper. 

Got  a  prime  nigger,  said  the  slave-dealer ;  an  A  number  one  cook  and  no 
mistake  1    Picked  her  up  cheap.  —  Mrs.  Stowe,  Bred,  Vol.  I.  p.  313. 

Abergoin.  The  term  "  aborigines  "  is  corrupted  by  some  of  the  illit- 
erate people  of  the  West  into  Aber gains  or  Abrogans. 

Abisselfa.  A,  by  itself,  A.  It  will  be  recollected  by  many  that  in 
the  olden  time  the  first  letter  of  the  alphabet  was  denominated 
"abisselfa"  when  it  formed  a  syllable  by  itself,  as  in  tlie  word 
able.  The  scholar,  in  spelling  the  word,  was  taught  to  say,  "a,  by 
itself,  a  (rapidly,  abisselfa)^  b,  I,  e,  ble,  able.^^  We  derive  this 
word  and  the  use  of  it  from  England,  where  it  is  used  in  Suffolk 
county.    See  Moor's  Glossary. 

To  abolitionize.    To  convert  to  the  doctrines  of  the  abolitionists. 


2 


ABO— ACC 


Abolitiondom.  Said  in  the  Confederate  States,  during  the  late  civil 
war,  of  the  loyal  States. 

They  [the  people  of  Tennessee]  cannot  be  sold  to  Abolitiondom. — Knoxville, 
Tennessee  Jtefjister,  18G7. 

About  Right.    To  do  a  thing  about  right  is  to  do  it  well. 

I  fell  foul  of  the  old  mare;  and  if  I  didn't  give  it  to  her  about  rirjht^  then 
there 's  none  o'  me,  that 's  all.  — New  Enyland  Stories. 

Above  one's  Bend.  Out  of  one's  power.  A  common  expression  in 
the  Western  States.  Above  one^s  huckleberry  is  a  vulgarism  of  the 
same  signification. 

I  shall  not  attempt  to  describe  the  curiosities  at  Peale's  Museum;  it  is  above 
my  bend.  —  Crockett,  Tour  down  East. 

Above  Par.  A  term  originally  applied  to  stocks,  but  often  trans- 
ferred to  other  things  which  are  superior;  as,  "  This  horse  is  above 
par; "  "  These  goods  are  above  par;  "  meaning  that  they  are  above 
the  ordinary  standard,  better  than  common. 

Above  Snakes.  Exaggerated  cant  for  *'from  the  ground,"  or 
more  than  above  the  ground. 

Those  two  tall  Kentuckians,  with  their  tufted  chins,  somewhere  about  seven 
feet  above  snakes.  —  Worthy'' s  Travels  in  the  United  States. 

To  absquatulate.    To  run  away,  to  abscond.    A  factitious  vulgarism. 

W  was  surrendered  by  his  bail,  who  was  security  for  his  appearance  at 

court,  fearing  he  was  about  to  absquatulate.  —  iV.  Y.  Herald,  1847. 

A  railroad  station-master  at  Oakdale  has  absquatulated  with  funds  belonging 
to  the  railroad  and  various  individuals.  — N.  T.  Tribune. 

Hope's  brightest  visions  absquatulate  with  their  golden  promises  before  the 
least  cloud  of  disappointment,  and  leave  not  a  shinplaster  behind. — Bow^s 
Sermons,  Vol.  I.  p.  309. 

According  to  Gunter.  Gunter  was  a  distinguished  arithmetician, 
and  the  inventor  of  a  chain  and  scale  for  measuring.  The  Laws 
of  Rhode  Island,  both  colonial  and  recent,  referring  to  measures, 
say,  "  All  casks  shall  be  gauged  by  the  rule  commonly  called 
*  gauging  by  Gunter.'"  This  refers  to  the  instrument  called 
"  Gunter's  Slide-rule,"  adapted  for  gauging.  Hence  anything  cor- 
rectly and  properly  done  is  said  to  be  "  according  to  Gunter." 

Mr.  K  ,  a  respected  citizen  of  Detroit,  has  published  a  letter  entirely  ex- 
onerating General  Cass  from  the  charge  of  having  defrauded  his  association  in 
the  land  speculations.  He  is  positive  that  all  was  done  according  to  Gwiter.  — 
N.  Y.  Tribune. 

The  expression  ' '  according  to  Hoyle ' '  is  .also  common ;  and  an 
old  fellow,  who  never  played  a  game  of  whist  in  his  life,  always 
said  "  according  to  Hodge." 


ACC— ACR 


8 


Account.  "These  hogs  are  of  no  account,^ ^  meaning  of  no  value. 
The  word  is  used  rn  the  West  to  the  exclusion  of  other  shades 
of  meaning.    See  No  Account. 

Accountability.  The  state  of  being  accountable.  In  England,  the 
form  accou7itabIenes.<i  is  used.  The  same  difference  is  observable 
in  a  number  of  words. 

Acequia.  (Span.)  The  irrigating  ditches  used  in  Texas  and  New 
Mexico  are  called  Acequias.  The  larger  or  principal  one,  which 
supplies  the  smaller,  is  called  the  Acequia  Aladre,  or  main  ditch. 
The  word  is  sometimes  spelled  azequia  or  zequia. 

As  the  mustang  sprang  over  the  zequia,  the  flowing  skirt  of  the  manga  was 
puffed  forward.  —  Mayne  Eeid,  The  War  Trail. 

To  acknowledge  the  Corn.  An  expression  of  recent  origin,  which 
has  now  become  very  common.  It  means  to  confess  or  acknowledge 
a  charge  or  imputation.  The  following  story  is  told  as  the  origin  of 
the  phi-ase  :  — 

Some  years  ago,  a  raw  customer,  from  the  upper  country,  determined  to  try  his 
fortune  at  New  Orleans.  Accordingly  he  provided  himself  with  two  flat-boats, 
—  one  laden  with  corn  and  the  other  with  potatoes,  —  and  down  the  river  he 
went.  The  night  after  his  arrival  he  went  up  town,  to  a  gambling-house.  Of 
course  he  commenced  betting,  and,  his  luck  proving  unfortunate,  he  lost.  When 
his  money  was  gone,  he  bet  his  "truck  ; "  and  the  corn  and  potatoes  followed 
the  money.  At  last,  when  completely  cleaned  out,  he  returned  to  his  boats  at 
the  wharf  ;  when  the  evidences  of  a  new  misfortune  presented  themselves. 
Through  some  accident  or  other,  the  flat-boat  containing  the  corn  was  sunk,  and 
a  total  loss.  Consoling  himself  as  well  as  he  could,  he  went  to  sleep,  dreaming 
of  gamblers,  potatoes,  and  corn.  It  was  scarcely  sunrise,  however,  when  he  was 
disturbed  by  the  "child  of  chance,"  who  had  arrived  to  take  possession  of  the 
two  boats  as  his  winnings.  Slowly  awakening  from  his  sleep,  our  hero,  rub- 
bing his  eyes  and  looking  the  man  in  the  face,  replied:  "  Stranger,  /  acknowl- 
edge the  corn,  —  take  'em ;  but  the  potatoes  you  can't  have,  by  thunder !  " —  Pitts- 
burg Commercial  Advertiser. 

The  Evening  Mirror  very  naively  comes  out  and  acknowledges  the  coim,  admits 
that  a  demand  was  made,  &c.  — New  York  Herald,  June  27,  1846. 

Enough,  said  the  Captain.  I 'm  hoaxed,  I 'm  gloriously  hoaxed.  I acJonowledge 
the  com. — Pickings  from  the  Picayune,  p.  80. 

None  of  my  enterprises,  however,  have  been  omitted ;  and,  though  a  portion 
of  my  "  Confessions  "  may  by  some  be  considered  injudicious,  I  prefer  frankly 
to  acknowledge  the  co?'«  wherever  I  have  had  a  hand  in  plucking  it.  —  P.  T. 
Bamum. 

Across  Lots.    By  short  cuts,  in  the  quickest  manner. 

I  swore  in  Nauvoo,  when  my  enemies  were  looking  me  in  the  face,  that  I 
would  SI  nd  them  to  hell  across  lots  if  they  meddled  with  me.  —  Speech  of  Brigliam 
Youmi,  1857. 


4 


ACT— ADV 


Acting.  Acting  as ;  fulfilling  the  duties ;  holding  the  position  of.  It 
is  said  of  one  who,  not  formally  inducted  into  an  office  or  position, 
performs  the  duties  of  it  ad  interim;  as  "Acting  Governor," 
"Acting  Pastor,"  &c. 

Action.  An  amusing  article  appeared  in  the  "  National  Intelli- 
gencer," Washington,  in  1846,  on  the  abuse  of  this  word.  The 
writer  says :  — 

"The proceedings  of  Congress;  the  decision  of  Congress,  or  either  House;  the 
vote  of  the  Senate  or  of  the  House,  preliminary  or  final ;  the  considei-ation  of  a 
bill  or  measure;  the  signature  of  the  President  after  a  bill  has  passed  both 
Houses;  or  the  sanction  or  approval  of  the  President, — these  are  modes  of 
expression  no  longer  known.  The  words  I  underscore  have  disappeared  —  gone 
for  ever,  it  would  seem.  Nobody  hears  of  them  more.  It  is  the  action  of  the 
House,  or  the  House  taking  action ;  the  action  oi  the  Senate,  or  the  Senate  taking 
action;  or  what  action  will  the  House  take,  or  what  action  will  the  Senate  take; 
or  both  Houses  are  waiting  for  the  action  of  the  Pi-esident." 

Adam  and  Eve.  (^Aplectum  hyemale.)  Putty  root,  so  called  from  the 
bulb  of  the  preceding  year  being  always  connected  with  the  new 
one. 

To  admire.  1.  To  wonder  at;  to  be  affected  with  slight  surprise.  — 
Ray. 

In  New  England,  particularly  in  Maine,  the  word  is  used  in  this 
sense.    Some  of  the  old  English  writers  so  employed  it. 

I  perceive  these  lords 
At  this  encounter  do  so  much  admire, 
That  they  devour  their  reason.  —  Shakspeare. 

2.  To  like  very  much.  This  verb  is  often  and  very  absurdly  used 
in  New  England  in  such  expressions  as,  "I  should  admire  to  see  the 
President." 

Adobies.   (Span,  adobes.)    Sun-baked  brick  used  for  building  houses, 

fortifications,  and  making  enclosures,  in  Texas,  New  Mexico,  &c. 

The  large  and  economical  adobe  brick,  hardened  in  the  sun  and  without  fire, 
supersedes  other  materials  for  walls  and  fences  in  this  dry  atmosphere  [that  of 
the  great  Plains],  and,  as  in  Syria  and  Egypt,  resists  decay  for  centuries.  —  W. 
Gilpin  in  Nat.  Intel.,  1857. 

Adulterer.    A  person  who  adulterates. 

One  of  the  gentlemen,  while  conversing  with  the  Committee,  remai'ked  that 
his  friend  (indicating  him)  knew  all  about  the  adulteration  of  liquors;  .  .  . 
whereupon  the  proverbiul  joker,  Mr.  Thaddeus  Stevens  (chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee), said:  "Then  let  the  adulterer  speak  for  himself."  —  iV.  Y.  Herald,  27 
March,  1862. 

Adventism.    See  Millerism. 

Adventist.    See  Millerite. 


AFF— AGU 


5 


Affinity.  A  man  or  a  woman  for  whom  one  of  the  opposite  sex  feels 
a  strong  attachment,  amounting  to  a  passion ;  indeed,  so  strong  is 
this  passion  claimed  to  be,  that  husbands  leave  their  wives,  and 
wives  their  husbands,  for  one  for  whom  they  possess  a  stronger 
affection,  and  between  whom  they  pretend  there  is  a  stronger  aifin- 
ity.  This  individual  they  call  their  "  affinity."  The  following 
example  conveys  the  meaning  of  the  word :  — 

"  Ain't  Theron  Gusher  a  married  man  ?  "  [inquired  Josiah  Allen's  wife  of  Miss 
Betsy  Bobbet]. 

Oh,  yes,  some." 

"Some!"  I  repeated  in  a  cold  accent.  "He  is  either  married,  or  he  hain't 
married,  one  or  the  other;  "  and  again  I  repeated  coldly,  "Is  he  a  married  man, 
Betsy?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  he  has  been  a  married  man  a  few  times,  or  what  the  cold  world  calls 
marrying,  — he  has  got  a  wife  now;  but  I  do  not  believe  he  has  found  his  affinity 
yet,  though  he  has  got  several  bills  of  divorcement  from  various  wimmen,  trying 
tofind  htx.''— Betsy  Bobbet,  p.  190. 

"  Says  she  \i.  e.  Miss  Bobbet],  '  When  a  woman  finds  that  her  soul  is  clogged 
and  hampered,  it  is  a  duty  she  owes  to  her  higher  nature  to  find  relief.'  " 

"  Says  I  [i.  e.  Josiah  Allen's  wife],  'When  a  woman  has  such  feelin's,  instead 
of  leavin'  her  husband,  and  goin'  round  huntin'  up  an  affinitee,  let  her  take  a 
good  thorough  wort  puke.'  "  — Ibid.,  p.  327. 

Referring  to  the  four  millions  of  Spiritualists  which  Judge  Edmunds  declared 
to  be  in  the  United  States,  J.  Warren  Chase  afiirms  that  all  these  Spiritualists 
accept  the  doctrine  of  special  nffinities  between  man  and  woman  :  affinities  which 
imply  a  spiritual  relation  of  the  sexes  higher  and  holier  than  that  of  marriage. 
—  Dixon,  SpiHtual  Wives,  p.  75. 

To  Africanize.    To  place  under  Negro  domination. 

Africanization.  The  act  of  placing  under  Negro  domination.  This 
and  the  preceding  are  words  of  recent  introduction  by  Southern 
political  writers. 

After  Night.  After  nightfall;  in  the  evening;  as,  "A  meeting  will 
be  held  in  the  court-house  after  night. This  expression  is  said  to 
be  peculiar  to  the  Middle  States.  —  Hurd^s  Grammatical  Corrector. 

Aguardiente.  (Span.)  On  the  Mexican  frontier,  as  well  as  in 
Spanish  America,  any  distilled  liquor,  whether  rum,  brandy,  or 
whiskey. 

General  Sherman,  in  speaking  of  a  dinner  at  San  Francisco,  on 
the  4th  July,  1846,  says:  — 

"A  man  of  some  note,  named  Sinclair,  presided,  and,  after  a  substantial  meal 
and  a  reasonable  supply  of  ayuardiente,  we  began  the  toasts."  —  Memoirs,  Vol.  I 
p.  49. 

Agur-forty.    Aqua-fortis,  vulgarly  so  called  at  the  South-west. 


6 


AGU— ALE 


The  doctors  fed  me  on  lodlum  tea  and  epecac,  washed  down  with  myrtle  tea,  — 
't  wa'n't  of  no  manner  of  use  ;  they  then  tried  ayur-forty,  — if  it  had  been  agur- 
hundred,  't  wouldn't  have  done.  —  N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times^  Frontier  Tale. 

Aguy  and  Agur  for  agve;  fecer-an^-aguy  for  "  fever  and  ague;  "  com- 
mon among  the  uneducated,  wherever  this  distressing  disease  is 
known.  The  word  ague  is  pronounced  in  some  localities  so  as  to 
rhyme  with  plague. 

Ahead.  Forward,  in  advance.  This  word,  originally  a  sea  term,  is 
now  in  very  common  use  by  all  classes  of  speakers  and  writers. 

Our  banks,  being  anxious  to  make  money  for  their  stockholders,  are  probably 
right  to  drive  aAeacZ,  regardless  of  consequences,  &c.  —  N.  Y.  Com.  Adv., 'Nov. 
29,  1845. 

Agee.  Askew;  as  "'to  have  one's  hat  agee.^^  From  the  term  gee  used 
in  driving  cattle. 

Airy.    Conceited.    Said  of  one  who  puts  on  airs. 

Alamo.    (Span.)    {Populus  monilifera.)    See  Cotton-Wood. 

Albany  Beef.  Sturgeon;  so  called  because  a  part  of  the  sturgeon's 
flesh  has  much  the  look,  and  not  a  little  of  the  taste,  as  well  as 
texture,  of  ox  muscle.  It  abounds  in  the  Hudson  River,  and  is 
much  eaten  in  the  city  of  Albany. 

Albany  Hemp.  (Urtica  Canadensis.)  Canada  nettle,  so  called  fi*om 
the  use  made  of  its  fibrous  bark. 

Albany  Regency.  A  name  popularly  given  in  the  United  States  to  a 
junto  of  astute  Democratic  politicians,  having  their  head-quarters 
at  Albany,  who  controlled  the  action  of  the  Democratic  party  for 
many  years,  and  hence  had  great  weight  in  national  politics. — 
Wheeler,  Diet. 

Alcoholism.  The  practice,  the  results  of  using  alcohol;  drunken- 
ness. 

Three  deaths  of  alcoholism ;  three  of  diseases  of  the  bones,  joints,  &c. ;  forty 
of  the  brain  and  nerves.  —  N.  Y.  Herald,  March,  1862. 

Alder.  Beside  the  true  alders,  various  shrubs  belonging  to  quite  dif- 
ferent families  are  so  called,  generally  on  account  of  a  resemblance 
in  the  leaves ;  thus,  Rhamnus  alnijiorus  (alder-leaved  buckthorn)  is 
"  dwarf  alder;  "  Clethra  alnifolia  (sweet  pepper-bush)  is  "spiked  " 
or  ' '  white  alder ; ' '  Prinos  verticillatus  (winter  berry)  is  ' '  black 
alder." 

Alewife,  plur.  Alewives.  {Alosa  vernalis,  Storer.)  A  fish  of  the 
herring  kind,  abounding  in  the  waters  of  New  England.  In  Mary- 
land and  Virginia  they  are  called  "  old  wives ;  Alewhap,  plur. 
Alewhaps,  in  Connecticut. 


ALF— ALK 


7 


The  name  appears  to  be  an  Indian  one,  though  it  is  somewhat  changed,  as  ap- 
pears by  the  earliest  account  we  have  of  it.  In  former  times,  the  Indians  made 
use  of  these  fish  to  manure  their  lands,  as  the  menhaden  are  now  used.  Mr. 
Winthrop  says:  "Where  the  ground  is  bad  or  worn-out,  they  put  two  or  three 
of  the  fishes  called  aloof es  under  or  adjacent  to  each  corn-hill ;  whereby  they  had 
many  times  a  double  crop  to  what  the  ground  would  otherwise  have  produced. 
The  English  have  learned  the  like  husbandry,  where  these  aloqfes  come  up  in 
great  plenty."  — Philosophical  Trans.,  1678. 

High  up  in  the  open  fire-place  were  two  dozen  hard-wood  rods,  that  severally 
supported  about  a  dozen  gasperaux,  or  alewives,  that  were  undergoing  the  process 
of  smoking.  —  Sam  Slick,  Wise  Saws,  p.  128. 

Alfalfa.  A  plant  derived  from  Chili,  and  now  extensively  cultivated 
in  California.  It  is  understood  to  be  simply  the  lucerne  of  Europe 
(Medicago  saliva),  differing  in  habit  of  growth,  if  at  all,  only  as  a 
result  of  difference  of  soil  and  climate.  It  is  a  plant  allied  to  the 
clover  family.  It  has  lately  been  introduced  into  Texas,  and  is 
found  to  be  admirably  adapted  to  the  black  prairie  soil  of  that 
State.  —  IT.  S.  Agricultural  Report  for  1875,  p.  394. 

Mr.  Squier,  who  found  the  plant  growing  luxuriantly  in  Peru, 
thus  speaks  of  it  :  — 

Our  mules  pricked  up  their  ears,  and,  with  visions  of  infinite  alfalfa  before 
them,  broke  into  a  lively  trot.  —  Travels  in  Peru,  p.  475. 

Algic.    Relating  to  the  Algonkin  tribes.    Formed  by  IVIr.  Schoolcraft 

from  the  word  Algonkin. 
Alienage.    The  state  of  being  an  alien.  —  Webster.    Neither  this  nor 

the  following  word  is  to  be  found  in  the  English  dictionaries,  except 

the  recent  one  of  Mr.  Knowles.    They  are  common,  however,  in 

professional  books. 

Where  he  sues  an  executor,  &c.,  the  plaintiff's  alienage  is  no  plea.  — Laires's 
Pleading  on  Assumpsit,  p.  687. 

To  restore  estates,  forfeitable  on  account  of  alienage.  —  Judge  Story. 
Alienism.    The  state  of  being  an  alien.  —  Webster,  Knowles. 

The  prisoner  was  convicted  of  murder;  on  his  arraignment  he  suggested  his 
alienism,  which  was  admitted.  — 2  Johnson's  Reports,  381. 

The  law  was  very  gentle  in  the  construction  of  the  disability  of  alienism.  — 
Chancellor  Kent, 

Alkali  Desert,  Alkali  Land.  Wide  districts  of  land  in  Colorado 
and  Xevada,  and  more  appropriately  called  a  desert,  covered  with 
an  efflorescence  of  alkali. 

As  you  drive  over  the  uncultivated  part  of  the  plain,  you  see  occasionally  the 
white  flowery  efllorescence  of  alkali.  Frequently  a  farm  would  extend  into  the 
midst  of  this  alkali  land.  — Nordhoffs  California,  p.  144. 

And  now  we  entered  upon  one  of  that  species  of  deserts  whose  concentrated 
hideousness  shames  the  diffused  and  diluted  horrors  of  Sahara,  —  an  alkali  desert. 


8 


ALL 


For  sixty-eight  miles  there  was  but  one  break  in  it.  The  alkali  dust  cut  through 
our  lips,  it  persecuted  our  eyes,  it  ate  through  the  delicate  membranes  and  made 
our  noses  bleed  and  kept  them  bleeding.  —  Mark  Twain,  Moug/iing  It,  p.  143-4. 

All  any  more.  A  common  expression  in  Pennsylvania  among  the 
illiterate  to  mean  "all  gone."  Thus  a  servant  will  say,  "The 
potatoes  is  all  any  more^  i.  e.  are  all  gon<e;  or  she  will  say  simply, 
"They 'sail." 

All-Day.  Continuing  a  whole  day,  able  to  work  a  whole  day  or  every 
day  ;  steady;  strong.    "  An  all-day  horse,"  &c. 

All-fired.  Enormous,  excessive;  enormously,  excessively.  A  low  ex- 
pression; probably  a  puritanical  corruption  of  hell-Jired,  designed  to 
have  the  virtue  of  an  oath  without  offending  polite  ears. 

I  was  woked  up  by  a  noise  in  the  street;  so  I  jumps  up  in  an  all-fired  hurry, 
ups  with  the  window,  and  outs  with  my  head.  —  Sam  Slick. 

I 'm  dying  —  I  know  I  am !  My  mouth  tastes  like  a  rusty  cent.  The  doctor 
will  charge  an  all-Jired  price  to  cure  me.  —  Knickerbocker  Mag.,  1845. 

The  first  thing  I  know'd,  my  trowsers  were  plastered  all  over  with  hot  molas- 
ses, which  burnt  all-Jired  bad.  —  Major  Jones's  Courtship,  p.  87. 

Old  Haines  sweating  like  a  pitcher  with  ice-water  in  it,  and  looking  all-jired 
tired.  —  Porter'' s  Tales  of  the  South-west,  p.  58. 

You  see  the  fact  is,  Squire  (said  the  Hoosier),  they  had  a  mighty  deal  to  say 
up  in  our  parts  about  Orleans,  and  how  all-Jired  easy  it  is  to  make  money  in  it ; 
but  it 's  no  ham  and  all  hominy,  I  reckon.  —  Pickings  from  the  Picayune,  p.  67. 

AU-firedly.    Enormously,  excessively. 

Rum  does  every  thing  that  is  bad ;  wonder  if  it  is  rum  that  makes  potatoes  rot 
so  all-f  redly.  —  Milne,  Farm  Fence,  p.  8. 

All-holler.  To  beat  one  all-holler,  or  all  hollow,  is  to  beat  him  thor- 
ouglily. 

All-possessed.    Affected  by  evil  spirits,  or  demons;  possessed. 

Bill  Jenkins  was  a  dreadful  mean  man;  used  to  get  dnmk  every  day,  and 
swore  like  all-possessed  when  he  got  mad.  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  30. 

All  Sorts.  Pleel-taps  of  drinks  of  all  sorts  left  in  glasses  at  a  public 
house,  poured  into  a  common  receptacle,  and  sold  to  poor  drinkers 
at  half  price.  — Baltimore  Farmer. 

All  Sorts  of.  A  Southern  expression,  synonymous  with  expert,  acute, 
excellent,  capital.  It  answers  to  the  English  slang  term  bang-up 
or  out-and-out.  It  is  a  prevalent  idiom  of  low  life,  and  often  heard 
in  the  colloquial  language  of  the  better  informed.  A  man  who  in 
New  England  would  be  called  a  curious  or  a  smart  fellow  would  in 
the  South  be  called  all  sorts  of  a  fellow;  expert  in  many  ways. 

She  was  all  sorts  of  a  gal,  —  there  warn't  a  sprinklin'  too  much  of  her :  she  had 
an  eye  that  would  make  a  fellow's  heart  try  to  get  out  of  his  bosom,  her  step  was 
light  as  a  panther's,  and  her  breath  sweet  as  a  prairie  tlower.  —  Bobb,  Squatter 
Life. 


ALL 


9 


If  you  can  only  get  Kit  rid  of  them  little  failings  [blindness  and  deafness], 
you  'II  find  him  all  sorts  of  a  horse.  —  Traits  of  Amer.  Humor. 
To  pen  an  Ode  upon  Oil-of-Bob 
Is  all  sorts  of  a  job.  — Poe,  Life  of  Thingum  Bob. 

All-to-pieces.    1.  Excessively  ;  as,  "I  beat  him  last  night  at  poker 
all-to-pieces.^^ 
2.  Excessive,  out-and-out. 

Miss  G  sot  down  in  a  rocking-chair,  hauled  out  her  snufF-box  (for  she  was 

an  all-to-pieces  snuff-taker),  and  began  to  rock  and  snuff  and  rock  as  hard  as  ever 
she  could.  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  324. 

The  expression  is  used  in  England,  and  is  noticed  by  Ha  Hi  well, 
in  the  Int.  to  his  Dictionary. 

They  growl,  shud  you  not  own  that  it 

Beats  Danbury  all-to-pieces.  —  Poem  in  Essex  Dialect. 

All-to-smash.  Smashed  to  pieces.  This  expression  is  often  heard  in 
low  and  familiar  language.  It  is  an  English  provincialism.  Mr. 
Halliwell  says,  that  a  Lancashire  man,  telling  his  master  the  mill- 
dam  had  burst,  exclaimed,  "  Maister,  maister,  dam 's  brossen,  and 
aw^s-to-smash.^^ — Archaic  and  Prov.  Dictionary.    See  Smash. 

Alley.  1.  A  place  where  the  game  of  nine  or  ten  pins  is  played  ;  usu- 
ally called  a  nine  or  ten  pin  alley,  and  sometimes  simply  an  alley. 

2.  An  ornamental  marble,  used  by  boys  for  shooting  in  the  ring, 
&c. ;  also  called  in  England  a  taw.  It  is  made  of  marble  or  of 
painted  clay  or  of  alabaster.  In  some  cities,  the  boys  call  white 
marbles  alleys. 

Jim.  I  '11  give  you  a  marble.  I  '11  give  you  a  white  alley.  White  alley,  Jim ! 
And  it 's  a  bully  taw.  —  Mark  Twain,  Tom  Sawyer,  p.  27. 

Alligator.  1.  A  large  American  reptile,  resembling  the  Egyptian  cro- 
codile, having  a  wide,  obtuse  muzzle  and  unequal  teeth.  Though 
still  numerous  in  Florida,  Louisiana,  and  Texas,  they  are  no  longer 
regarded  as  very  dangerous.  The  name,  according  to  Cuvier,  is  a 
corruption  of  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  el  lagarto,  equivalent  to 
the  Latin  lacerta. 

2.  In  the  Western  States,  the  name  is  applied  also  to  the  Meno- 
poma  allegheniensis,  a  salamandroid  animal. 

Alligator  Gar.  The  gar-fish  of  the  South,  so  called  from  the  resem- 
blance its  long  jaws  bear  to  those  of  the  alligator. 

Alligator  Pear.  (Laurus  persea.)  A  West  Indian  fruit,  resembling 
a  pear  in  shape.  It  contains  within  its  rind  a  yellow  butyraceous 
substance,  which,  when  the  fruit  is  perfectly  ripe,  constitutes  an 
agreeable  food,  an  English  corruption  of  the  Spanish  avocalo  and 


10 


ALL— ALM 


French  avocat.  In  England  this  is  sometimes  called  Vegetable 
Marrow,  and  so  is  the  succada  squash. 

To  allot  upon.  To  intend,  to  form  a  purpose;  as,  I  Hot  upon  going 
to  Boston.  Used  by  uneducated  people  in  the  interior  of  New  Eng- 
land.   See  Lot  upon. 

Allotment  Certificate.  A  certificate  specifying  the  land,  &c.,  allotted 
to  a  person  named  in  said  certificate. 

President  Lincoln  has  appointed  the  following  persons  to  provide  for  allotment 
certificates  dimon^iiiQ  volunteers  from  New  York  State.  — N.  Y.  Tribune,  Dec.  30, 
1861. 

To  allow.  1.  To  declare;  assert;  maintain;  affirm;  common  in  the 
Middle  and  Southern  States,  but  never  heard  in  New  England. 
2.  To  think;  to  suppose.  Western. 

The  lady  of  the  cabin  seemed  kind,  and  allowed  we  had  better  stop  where  we 
were.  —  Ca7'lton,  The  New  Purchase. 

Gentlemen  from  Arkansas  allowed  that  California  was  no  better  than  other 
countries ;  and  the  proof  of  it  was,  that  they  could  only  get  twenty  dollars  a 
week  and  board  olfered  them  for  driving  an  ox-team.  —  Farnham,  California. 

He  Howed  he'd  ge  me  half  a  crown. 

An  treat  me  wud  some  beer, 
If  I  wud  make  it  up  wud  him, 

An  let  un  goo  off  clear. 

Tom  CladpoWs  Journey  to  Lunnun. 

Allspice.  1.  The  aromatic  berry  of  the  Eugenia  pimenta^  the,  Allspice 
Pimento  or  Bayberry  Tree,  a  native  of  South  America  and  the  West 
India  Islands.  From  being  cultivated  in  Jamaica,  it  is  often  called 
Jamaica  Pepper. 

2.  The  "sweet-scented  shrub"  {Calycanthus  Jioridus)  is  also 
known  as  Carolina  Allspice,  the  bark  and  w^ood  having  a  somewhat 
spicy  flavor. 

All- two.  The  word  hoth  is  so  expressed  by  the  negroes  of  South  Caro- 
lina, Georgia,  and  Florida. —  W.  F.  Allen,  Int.  to  Slave  Songs.  In 
the  following  definition  of  love  by  a  slave,  the  words  appear  in  the 
last  sentence :  — 

Arter  you  lub,  you  lub,  you  know,  boss.  You  can't  broke  lub.  Man  can't 
broke  lub.  Lub  stan'  — 'e  ain't  gwine  broke.  Man  hab  to  be  berry  smart  to 
broke  lub.  Lub  is  a  ting  stan'  jus'  like  tar;  arter  he  stick,  he  stick,  he  ain't 
gwine  move.  Hab  to  kill  all-two  arter  he  lub  befo'  you  broke  lub.  —  Ibid., 
p.  xxxvi. 

Almighty  Dollar.  A  term  applied  to  the  love  of  money  as  "  the  root 
of  all  evil."  "  Almighty  gold  "  is  used  by  Farquhar  in  the  "  Re- 
cruiting Officer,"  Act  iii.  Sc.  2. 


ALO— AME 


11 


The  almic/hty  dollar,  that  great  object  of  universal  devotion  throughout  our 
land,  seems  to  have  no  genuine  devotee  in  these  peculiar  [Creole]  villages.  — 
W.  Irving,  Wolferfs  Boost,  p.  40. 

The  almighty  dollar  exerted  a  more  powerful  influence  in  California  than  in 
the  old  States ;  for  it  overcame  all  pre-existing  false  notions  of  dignity.  —  Borth- 
wich's  California,  p.  165. 

Along.  Forward,  on,  Mrs.  Trollope  has  the  following  words  :  "We 
must  try  to  get  along,  as  the  Americans  say."  Lover  also  was 
puzzled  to  discover  what  the  young  American  lady  meant  by  saying 
that  she  was  so  unwell  that  she  "  could  not  get  along. ''^  An  Eng- 
lishman would  say,  get  on. 

Alonsenel.  The  Mexican  name  for  Cowania  stansburiana,  a  plant 
growing  extensively  in  the  vicinity  of  Salt  Lake,  and  held  in  great 
esteem  as  a  styptic  in  hemorrhages,  and  as  a  general  astringent. 

Alum-Root.  (Henchera  Americana.)  A  plant  so  called  from  its 
astringency. 

To  amalgamate.  This  word,  which  properly  denotes  the  uniting  of 
mercury  with  other  metals,  is  universally  applied,  in  the  United 
States,  to  the  mixing  of  the  black  and  white  races. 

Amalgamation.    The  mixing  or  union  of  the  black  and  white  races. 

Ambia.  Used  in  the  South  and  West  for  tobacco  juice.  It  is  a 
euphemism  for  the  spittle  produced  by  this  voluntary  ptyalism. 
More  commonly  spelled  and  pronounced  Ambeer,  probably  from 
Amber,  —  denoting  its  color. 

Ambition.  In  North  Carolina  this  word  is  used  instead  of  the  word 
grudge;  as,  "I  had  an  ambition  against  that  man."  I  am  credibly 
informed  that  it  is  even  employed  in  this  manner  by  educated  men. 

Ambitious.  Angry,  enraged.  A  native  of  Georgia  was  heard  to  say, 
"  I  was  powerful  ambitious  and  cussed  snortin'."  The  word  is  used 
in  the  West  in  a  similar  sense.  Thus,  they  say  an  '■^ambitious 
horse,"  meaning  thereby  a  horse  that  is  fiery  and  unmanageable. 
In  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  energetic,  industrious. 

Amenability.  State  of  being  amenable  or  answerable.  —  Judge  Story, 
Webafer.    Not  in  the  English  dictionaries. 

Americanism.  A  way  of  speaking  peculiar  to  this  country.  —  Wither- 
spoon. 

"  By  Americanism,^'  says  Dr.  Witherspoon,  "  I  understand  a  use 
of  phrases  or  terms,  or  a  construction  of  sentences,  even  among 
persons  of  rank  and  education,  different  from  the  use  of  the  same 
terms  or  phrases,  or  the  construction  of  similar  sentences,  in  Great 
Britain.  In  this  sense  it  is  exactly  similar  in  its  formation  and 
signification  to  the  word  '  Scotticism.'  "  —  Works,  Vol.  IV. 


12 


AME— ANO 


To  Americanize.    To  render  American ;  to  naturalize  in  America.  — 

Webster. 

Americanization.    The  act  of  rendering  American,  or  of  subjection 

to  the  laws  and  usages  of  the  United  States. 
Among,  for  between.    This  word  is  often  used  when  reference  is  made 

only  to  two  persons.  Ex. :  "  The  money  was  divided  among  us  two." 
Among  the  Missing.    To  be  among  the  missing  is  to  absent  one's  self. 

If  a  person  inquires  if  you  are  at  home,  the  servant  is  directed  to  say,  No,  if 
you  don't  want  to  be  seen,  and  choose  to  be  among  the  missing.  —  S.  Slick, 
Nature  and  Human  Nature,  p.  17. 

The  crowd  of  office-seekers  in  Washington  will  be  among  the  missing,  when 
they  learn  the  President's  decision.  —  N.  Y.  Herald. 

Anagreeta.  "  Corn  gathered  before  maturity,  and  dried  in  an  oven 
or  the  hot  sun,  by  which  means  it  retains  its  sweetness,  and  is  easily 
dressed,  making  a  fine  mixture  in  puddings,  especially  with  pease; 
but  this  is  only  practised  in  the  provinces  of  New  York  and  New 
Jersey." — Romans^s  Nat.  Hist,  of  Florida,  p.  122. 

Anan  (from  anon) .  How  ?  What  do  you  say  ?  It  is  made  use  of  in 
vulgar  discourse  by  the  lower  class  of  persons  addressing  a  superior, 
when  they  do  not  hear  or  comprehend  what  is  said  to  them.  It 
is  going  out  of  use  now.  —  Halliwell.  The  word  is  common  in 
Pennsylvania. 

Anchovy  Pear.  (Grias  cauUJlora.)  A  fruit  of  Jamaica.  It  is  large, 
contains  a  stone,  and  is  esculent.  This  plant  is  imperfectly  known 
to  botanists,  and  does  not  yet  appear  to  be  classed. 

Ancient  Dominion.    Virginia.    See  Old  Doyninion. 

Andpersand.  Two  generations  ago,  when  Irish  schoolmasters  were 
common  at  the  South,  this  expression,  equivalent  to  the  &  annexed 
to  the  alphabet  (meaning  Sf  per  se,  and,^'  to  distinguish  it  from 
Sfc.)  was  in  frequent  use. 

Annatto.  (Anotta,  Annotto,  Webst.)  The  West  Indian  name  of  the 
dye  "  orlian,^^  called  by  the  Indians  anoty.  —  De  Vries,  1634. 

Annexation.  Often  used  in  the  restricted  sense  of  the  addition  of 
new  territory  to  that  of  the  United  States,  and  often  with  the  acces- 
sory idea  of  unlawful  acquisition. 

Annexationist.    One  who  favors  the  policy  of  annexation. 

Annexion  was  solemnly  advocated  by  Mr.  Sumner  as  a  better  word 
than  annexation. 

Anog.  An  andiron.  Amasa  Lincoln's  inventory  of  Mary  Stratton's 
estate,  Athol,  Mass.,  1840.    See  Hand-dog. 


ANT 


13 


To  ante.  To  risk;  to  venture  a  bet.  The  a7ite  is  the  stake  first 
put  up,  before  the  cards  are  dealt,  or  betting  on  the  hands  begins. 
Each  player  puts  his  ante  in  the  pool,  before  [ante']  beginning  the 
game  or  hand. 

You  have  heard  of  the  difficulty  that  "  The  Bulletin  "  has  fallen  into.  I  have 
had  to  ante  up  there  at  the  rate  of  $200.  I  hope  the  friends  there  have  made 
arrangements  which  will  ensure  the  permanency  of  the  paper.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune, 
Aug.  10,  1861,  Letter  of  Truston  Polk,  of  Tennessee. 

Antehumous.  Published  before  the  death  of  the  author;  as  post- 
humous is  after  the  death.  In  speaking  of  a  forthcoming  work 
called  the  "  Life  and  Times  of  James  Buchanan,"  the  "  New  York 
Herald,"  Jan.  3,  1862,  says:  — 

The  venerable  ex-President  could  not  wait  until  the  grass  grew  over  his  grave 
to  have  his  life  written,  for  the  popular  estimation  of  Mr.  Buchanan  is  too  well 
settled  to  be  disturbed  or  altered  by  this  antehumous  attempt  at  self-justitication. 

Anti-Bank.    Adverse  to  banking. 

Had  this  constitution  been  submitted  whole,  with  all  its  anti-Bank,  anti-Negro 
imperfections  on  its  head,  it  would  have  stood  a  better  chance.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune, 
June  23,  1862. 

Anti-Federalist.  "  This  word  was  formed  about  the  year  1788,  to 
denote  a  person  of  the  political  party  that  opposed  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which  was  then  always 
spoken  of  by  the  name  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  The  word 
is  not  now  much  used ;  having  been  superseded  by  various  other 
names,  which  have  been  successively  given  to  the  same  party."  — 
Pickering'' s  Vocabulary. 

Anti-Mason.    One  hostile  to  masonry  or  free-masonry.  — Worcester. 

Anti-Masonic.    Hostile  to  masonry. 

Anti-Masonry.    Hostility  to  masonry. 

Anti-Negro.    Hostility  to  Negroes.    See  Anti-Bank. 

Anti-Re ntism.  An  organized  opposition  to  manorial  rights  of  agri- 
cultural lands  in  the  State  of  New  York.  The  early  Dutch  land 
proprietor  of  New  Netherland  (now  New  York)  was  invested  with 
titles  and  privileges  of  a  lord  patroon  or  protector,  and  his  colony  or 
manor  was  governed  by  the  same  customs  and  laws  as  were  the 
feudal  manors  of  Holland.  A  large  number  of  manors  were  created 
under  the  Dutch,  and  subsequently  under  the  English  colonial  gov- 
ernment, and  existed  at  the  outbreak  of  the  American  Revolution. 
The  result  was,  that  at  the  close  of  the  Revolution  a  large  propor- 
tion of  this  land  in  the  settled  parts  of  the  State  was  held  by  the 
patroons,  and  the  cultivators  occupied  their  farms  on  leases,  for  one 


14 


ANT 


or  more  lives,  or  from  year  to  year,  stipulating  for  the  payment  of 
rents,  dues,  and  services,  copied  from  the  feudal  tenures  of  England 
and  Holland.  In  1779  and  1785,  laws  were  enacted  abolishing 
feudal  tenures;  but  the  proprietors  of  manor  grants  contrived  to 
form  a  deed  by  which  the  grantees  covenanted  to  perform  certain 
services,  and  pay  rents  and  dues,  similar  to  the  feudal  incidents 
abolished.  After  many  years  of  suffering  under  these  exactions, 
the  tenants,  in  1839,  held  meetings  to  form  some  plan  to  rid  them- 
selves of  their  grievances.  Societies  to  effect  this  object  were 
formed,  which  became  known  as  anti-rent  associations.  Following 
these  came  a  secret  armed  organization,  extending  through  several 
counties,  pledged  to  protect  tenants  from  arrest,  and  to  guard  their 
property  from  levy  and  sale  upon  execution.  These  armed  bodies, 
dressed  as  Indians,  appeared  masked,  and  prevented  the  sheriff 
from  performing  his  duties.  They  insulted  all  w^ho  sympathized 
with  the  patroons,  and  held  public  meetings,  and  passed  resolutions 
denouncing  the  landed  proprietors.  These  violent  proceedings  finally 
led  to  bloodshed.  In  1812,  a  commission,  appointed  to  hear  wit- 
nesses and  counsel,  failed  to  accomplish  any  thing.  The  disaffection 
increased,  owing  to  the  unyielding  exactions  of  landlords.  Governor 
Wright  finally  felt  compelled  to  issue  a  proclamation  declaring  one 
of  the  counties  in  a  state  of  insurrection.  Trials  and  convictions 
followed.  Next  came  the  organization  of  a  political  party  which 
favored  the  measures  of  the  anti-renters.  At  the  State  Constitutional 
Convention  of  1846,  so  many  members  had  been  elected  in  the 
interest  of  the  anti-renters^  that  they  were  enabled  to  procure  the 
insertion  of  a  clause  in  the  new  constitution,  abolishing  all  feudal 
tenures  and  incidents,  and  forbidding  the  leasing  of  agricultural 
land  for  a  term  not  exceeding  twenty  years.  After  1847,  no  instance 
of  resistance  to  law  or  to  the  serving  of  process  occurred.  The 
excitement  died  out,  and  the  anti-rent  influence  ceased  to  be  a  dis- 
turbing force  in  politics.  The  organization  contented  itself  with 
efforts  to  contest  the  validity  of  the  titles  of  their  landlords,  and  to 
the  legality  of  the  conditions  and  covenants  contained  in  the  manor 
grants.  — American  Cyclopedia. 

Anti-Slavery.    1.  Hostile  to  slavery.    2.  Hostility  to  slavery. 

Anti-Slaveryist.    An  opposer  of  slavery. 

He  [President  Lincoln]  had  been  teased  and  pressed  by  radical  antislaveryists 
until  he  was  compelled  to  offer  a  compromise. — Speech  of  Mr.  Wadsworth  of 
Kentucky,  in  Congress,  N.  Y.  Herald,  March  13,  1862. 

Anti-Southern.    Opposed  to  the  alleged  interests  of  Southern  men. 
I  was  stigmatized  as  an  Abolitionist  or  Black  Republican,  an  anti-Southern 
man,  kc.—N.  Y.  Tribune,  Nov.  8,  1861,  Letter  of  W.  S.  Speer,  of  Tennessee. 


ANT— APP 


15 


Anti-Union.    Hostility  to  the  American  Union. 

Any  how  you  can  fix  it.    At  any  rate  whatever. 

Any  Thing  Else.  A  hyperbolical  phrase,  denoting  a  strong  affirma- 
tion, which  has  recently  sprung  up  and  become  quite  common,  is 
given  in  the  following  quotation :  — 

Loco-Foco.  Didn't  General  Cass  get  mad  at  Hull's  cowardice,  and  break  his 
sword  V 

Whig.    He  didn't  do  any  thing  else.  —  Newspaper. 

Anxious  Meeting.    A  religious  meeting  consequent  on  a  revival. 

Anxious  Seat.  A  term  used  in  revival  phraseology.  A  seat  occu- 
pied by  those  who  feel  anxious  about  their  spiritual  welfare.  In 
Maryland  called  the  mourners'  bench. 

Aparejo.  (Span.,  pron.  ajsara^o.)  A  pack-saddle.  The  word  is  em- 
ployed in  the  countries  acquired  from  Mexico,  where  pack-saddles 
are  used. 

Apishamore.  (Chippewa,  ajoMamon.)  Any  thing  to  lie  down  on ;  a 
bed,  A  saddle-blanket,  made  of  buffalo-calf  skins,  used  on  the 
great  prairies. 

Wolves  are  a  constant  annoyance  on  the  plains,  creeping  to  the  camp-tires,  and 
gnawing  the  saddles  and  apishamores.  — Buxton,  Far  West. 

Appellate.    Relating  to  appeals. 

In  all  cases  affecting  ambassadors,  &c.,  the  supreme  court  shall  have  original 
jurisdiction :  in  all  other  cases  before  mentioned,  the  supreme  court  shall  have 
appellate  jurisdiction.  —  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  Art.  3. 

The  king  of  France  is  not  the  fountain  of  justice  ;  the  judges,  neither  the 
original  nor  the  appellate,  are  of  his  nomination.  — Burke,  Revolution. 

For  a  fuller  account  of  this  word,  about  which  there  has  been 
much  discussion  by  lexicographers,  see  Mr.  Pickering's  Vocabulary, 
where  many  authorities  are  cited.  It  was  first  given  by  Mason,  in 
his  supplement  to  Johnson's  Dictionary,  and  was  afterwards  adopted 
by  Todd. 

Appetitical.  Pertaining  to  the  appetite.  See  the  illustration  to 
Planked  Shad. 

Appetizer.  That  which  will  provoke  an  appetite.  The  verb  to  ap- 
petize  is  provincial  in  the  north  of  England. 

Apple.  This  name  is  given  in  the  tropics  to  fruits  of  various  kinds 
which  are  not  apples;  as  the  Bel-apple,  Cashew-apple,  Custard- 
apple,  Conch-apple,  Ground-apple,  Mamma-apple,  Monkey-apple, 
Pine-apple,  Sugar-apple,  Wood-apple,  &c. 

Apple-Butter.  A  sauce  made  of  apples  stewed  down  in  cider.  This 
is  generally  made  in  quantity,  and  kept  for  use  during  the  winter. 


16 


APP 


The  manufacture  occupies  a  whole  night,  and  is  made  the  occasion 
of  a  frolic  among  the  young  folks. 

Oh,  dear,  I  am  so  thirst}' ; 

I 've  just  been  down  to  supper; 
I  drank  three  quarts  of  apple-jack. 
And  a  pound  of  apple-butter.  —  Comic  Song. 

Apple-Brandy.    A  liquor  distilled  from  fermented  apple-juice;  also 

called  Apple-Jack  and  Cider-Brandy. 

It  was  feared  that  the  conquerors  of  Goed  Hope,  flushed  with  victory  and  apple- 
brandy, might  march  to  the  capital,  take  it  by  storm,  and  annex  the  whole  prov- 
ince to  Connecticut.  —  Irving,  Knickerbocker, 

Apple-Cart.  "He  upset  his  apple-cart,"  i.  e.  he  knocked  him 
down.    See  Lobster  Cart. 

Apple-Cut.  A  collection  of  young  people  for  the  purpose  of  cutting 
up  apples  for  drying;  also  called  an  Apple-Bee.  These  gatherings, 
like  husking-bees,  which  take  place  in  the  country,  are  the  occasion 
of  much  merriment.    See  Bee. 

I  have  seen  enough  boldness  used  by  a  parcel  of  girls  at  one  huskin'  or  apple- 
cut,  to  supply  four  presidential  elections.  —  Betsy  Bobbet,  p.  290. 

Apple-Jack.  A  liquor  distilled  from  fermented  apple-juice;  apple- 
brandy.   In  England  the  term  is  applied  to  Jiapjacks.  —  Forby. 

Young's  men,  dressed  in  the  Confederate  uniform,  mingled  with  the  people,  told 
them  the  news  and  got  news  of  them,  cursed  the  Yankees,  and  drank  stirrup- 
cups  of  apple-jack  to  their  discomfiture. —  Woodbury,  Hist.  2d  E.  I.  Rey't, 
p.  337. 

Apple-Leather.  Apples  parboiled  and  stirred  into  a  paste  of  consid- 
erable consistency;  then  rolled  out  and  dried  in  the  sun.  When 
dry,  it  is  about  as  tough  as  leather,  and  comes  away  in  sheets  of  the 
thickness  of  tanned  cowhide,  —  whence  its  name.  — Pennsylvania 
and  Maryland. 

Apple-Peeling.  A  gathering  of  neighbors  in  the  country  for  the 
purpose  of  peeling  apples  for  drying  or  preserving;  an  Apple- Cut  or 
Apple- Bee,  which  see  above. 

I  never  knowed  but  one  gal  in  my  life  as  had  cyphered  into  fractions,  and 
she  was  so  dog  on  stuck  up,  that  she  turned  up  her  nose  one  night  at  an  apple- 
peelin'  bekase  I  tuck  a  sheet  off  the  bed  to  splice  out  the  table-cloth,  which  was 
rather  short.  —  Eyghston,  The  Hoosier  Schoolmaster. 

Apple  [of]  Peru.    See  Jamestown  Weed. 

Apple-Toddy.  A  favorite  mixture  made  of  whiskey  or  brandy,  re- 
sembling punch,  in  which  roasted  apples  take  the  place  of  lemon- 
peel. 

In  speaking  of  the  Swedish  invaders  of  New  Netherland,  Irving 
says  :  — 


APP 


ir 


Like  [the  Yankees]  they  were  great  roysterers,  much  given  to  revel  on  hoe- 
cake  and  bacon,  mint-julep,  and  apple-toddy.  —  Knickerbocker,  p.  247. 

Applicant  One  who  applies  himself  closely  to  his  studies.  A  sense 
of  the  word  common  in  New  England. 

The  English  appear  to  use  the  word  only  in  the  sense  of  "one 
who  applies  for  any  thing,"  in  which  sense  it  is  most  commonly 
employed  by  us. 

Appointable.  That  may  be  appointed  or  constituted ;  as  officers  are 
appointed  by  the  Executive.  —  Federalist^  Webster. 

To  appreciate,  v.  a.  To  raise  the  value  of.  —  Webster.  This  sense 
of  the  word  is  not  in  any  English  dictionary  except  Knowles's, 
which  is  quite  a  recent  work. 

Lest  a  sudden  peace  should  appreciate  the  money.  — Ramsay. 

Also,  V.  n.,  to  rise  in  value;  as,  "  The  currency  of  the  country 
appreciates."  —  Webster.  The  common  acceptation  of  the  word, 
however,  with  us,  as  in  England,  is  to  estimate  correctly,  to  put 
a  thing  at  its  right  value. 

Appreciation.  A  rising  in  value ;  increase  of  worth  or  value.  — 
Webster.  This  noun,  like  the  verb  from  which  it  is  derived,  is 
commonly  used  by  us  in  its  appropriate  meaning  of  estimation,  val- 
uation ;  and  this  will  hereafter  be  understood  of  all  similar  words 
where  a  peculiar  meaning  is  assigned  to  them,  unless  an  express 
statement  is  made  to  the  contrary. 

To  approbate.  (Lat.  approbo,  to  approve.)  This  word  was  for- 
merly much  used  at  our  colleges,  instead  of  the  old  English  word 
approve.  The  students  used  to  speak  of  having  their  performances 
approbated  by  their  instructors.  It  is  now  in  common  use  with  our 
clergy  as  a  sort  of  technical  term,  to  denote  a  person  who  is  licensed 
to  preach;  they  would  say,  such  a  one  is  approbated,  that  is,  licensed 
to  preach.  It  is  also  common  in  New  England  to  say  of  a  person 
who  is  licensed  by  the  county  courts  to  sell  spirituous  liquors,  or  to 
keep  a  public  house,  that  he  is  approbated  ;  and  the  term  is  adopted 
in  the  law  of  Massachusetts  on  this  subject.  —  Pickerinxfs  Vocabu- 
lary. 

Dr.  Webster  observes  that  this  is  a  modem  word,  but  in  common 
use  in  America.  Mr.  Todd  introduces  it  in  his  edition  of  Johnson, 
from  Cockeram's  old  vocabulary,  the  definition  of  which  is,  "to 
allow,  to  like."    Mr.  Todd  says  it  is  obsolete. 

All  things  contained  in  Scripture  is  approbate  by  the  whole  consent  of  all  the 
clergie  of  Christendom.  —  Sir  T.  ElyoVs  Governor,  fol.  226. 

2 


18 


ARA— ARM 


Arab.    "  Street  Arabs  "  is  a  term  applied  to  ragamuffin  boys,  or 

what  are  in  France  called  gamins. 
To  argufy.    To  argue;  also  to  import,  signify.    This  word  has  a 

place  in  several  of  the  English  glossaries.    In  this  country  it  is  only 

heard  among  the  most  illiterate. 

Argufying.  Arguing. 

I  listen  to  a  preacher,  and  try  to  be  better  for  his  argiifying.  —  Sam  Slick, 
Human  Nature. 

Aristocratic.  Strangely  misapplied  in  those  parts  of  the  country 
where  the  population  is  not  dense.  The  city,  in  the  surrounding 
country  towns,  is  deemed  "  aristocratic."  The  people  in  the  villages 
consider  the  inhabitants  of  the  towns  ' '  aristocratic, ' '  and  so  on.  The 
term  is  not  applied  so  much  to  those  who  make  pretensions  as  to  those 
who  live  in  better  style,  and  have  more  of  the  comforts  and  refine- 
ments of  life  about  them;  it  is  very  common  in  small  country  news- 
papers and  in  political  speeches  in  out-of-the-way  places. 

There  have  been  more  than  one  hundred  steamboat  arrivals  here  since  our  last 
issue.  We  believe  that  the  aristocratic  "  Mayflower  "  was  among  them.  —  Illinois 
paper. 

Ark.  A  large  boat,  employed  on  our  rivers  before  the  introduction  of 
steamboats,  to  transport  merchandise.  These  boats  are  first  men- 
tioned in  "A  Description  of  the  Settlement  of  Genesee  County, 
N.  Y.,"  published  in  1799.  The  writer  says:  "  When  the  waters  of 
the  Susquehanna  are  high  by  the  melting  of  the  snow  on  the  Alle- 
ghany Mountains,  a  species  of  boat  may  be  made  to  descend  the 
stream,  that  will  carry  from  two  hundred  to  five  hundred  barrels  of 
flour."  In  a  note,  it  is  stated  that  these  boats  were  invented  by  a 
Mr.  Knyder,  of  Juniata  River,  who  first  tried  the  experiment,  and 
reached  Baltimore  in  safety.  "  They  are  made  of  plank,  are  broken 
up  after  discharging  their  cargo,  and  sold  for  lumber,  with  little  or 
no  loss.  They  are  navigated  by  three  or  five  men,  and  will  float 
down  at  the  rate  of  eighty  miles  a  day;  they  are  called  Arks."*^ 
See  also  Doc.  Hist,  of  New  York,  Vol.  II.  p.  668.    See  Fiat-Boat. 

Arkansas  Toothpick.  A  bowie-knife  of  a  peculiar  kind,  the  blade 
of  which  shuts  up  into  the  handle. 

Straightway  leaped  the  valiant  Slingsby 

Into  armor  of  Seville, 
With  a  strong  Arkansas  toothpick 

Screwed  in  every  joint  of  steel. 

Bo?i  Gaultier,  American  Ballads. 

Armory.  A  place  or  building  where  fire-arms  are  manufactured ;  as, 
the  "  Springfield  Armory." 


ARO— ASS 


19 


Around.    About,  near;  as,  "  Sam  is  around  in  New  York." 

I  was  standing  around  when  the  fight  took  place.  —  Police  Gazette. 
A  friend  assures  me  he  has  heard  a  clergyman  in  his  sermon  say 
of  one  of  the  disciples  that  "  he  stood  around  the  cross." 

Arrastra.  (Span.,  properly  Arrastre.)  The  drag-stone  mill  for  pulver- 
izing or  amalgamating  ore. 

Arriero.  (Span.)  A  muleteer.  The  Mexicans,  who  are  the  most 
expert  in  this  business,  are  invariably  employed  in  Texas,  and  for 
all  mule-trains  used  in  the  commerce  of  the  prairies. 

Arrow-Head.  (Sagittaria  variabilis.)  A  common  and  very  variable 
aquatic  plant,  so  called  from  the  shape  of  its  leaf. 

Arrow-Wood.  (Viburnum  dentatum.)  It  is  from  the  long  and 
straight  stems  of  this  shrub  that  the  Indians  between  the  Missis- 
sippi and  the  Pacific  make  their  arrows. 

Arroyo.  (Span.)  1.  A  small  river;  a  rivulet. 

2.  The  dry  bed  of  a  small  stream ;  a  deep  ravine  caused  by  the 
action  of  water.    Common  in  New  Mexico  and  California. 

Down  the  arroyo,  out  across  the  mead, 
By  he'rith  and  hollow,  sped  the  flying  maid. 

Bret  Harte,  Friar  Pedro's  Ride. 

As,  for  that.,  which;  as,  "  Nobody  as  I  ever  heard  on."  This  vulgar- 
ism is  confined  to  the  illiterate.  It  is  noticed  in  the  Craven  and 
Herefordshire  Glossaries. 

Ascotch.  A  name  given  by  boys  in  New  York  to  a  small  mass  of 
wet  gunpowder. 

As  good  as.  In  the  phrase,  I 'd  as  good's  go  to  New  York,  instead 
of,  "I  might  as  well  go  to  New  York."  Only  heard  among  the 
illiterate. 

As  long  as.  Because,  since.  "We  '11  come,  as  long  as  it 's  pleasant." 
New  York. 

Ash-Cake.    A  corn-cake  baked  in  the  ashes.  Southern. 
Ash- Cart.    A  cart  that  goes  from  door  to  door  to  collect  ashes. 
Ash-Hopper.    A  lye-cask,  or  an  inverted  pyramidal  box  to  contain 

ashes,  resembling  a  hopper  in  a  mill.    They  are  common  in  the 

country,  where  people  make  their  own  soap. 
Ashlanders.    A  club  of  Baltimore  rowdies,  so  named  from  Ashland 

Square,  near  which  they  lived. 
Assemblyman.    A  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  New 

York,  and  in  some  of  the  New  England  States. 


20 


ASS— ATA 


A  small  party  of  the  members  of  the  Legislature,  both  Senators  and  Assembly- 
men, accompanied  the  Commissioners. — N.  Y.  Tribune,  Dec.  18,  1861. 

Assistant.  A  member  of  the  Governor's  Council.  An  officer  both 
judicial  and  executive,  next  in  rank  to  the  Chief  Magistrate.  Xew 
England,  1621  to  1848.    See  Court  of  Assistants. 

Associated  Press.  A  number  of  newspaper  establishments  in  New 
York  and  elsewhere,  which  have  entered  into  a  joint  arrangement 
for  procuring  telegraphic  and  other  news  V>  be  equally  furnished  to 
them  all,  have  assumed  the  name  of  "  The  Associated  Press.^* 

Association.  In  civil  affairs,  this  word  is  much  used  at  the  present 
day,  to  denote  the  principle  of  uniting  the  producing  classes  in 
societies,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  for  themselves  a  larger  share 
of  the  fruits  of  their  labor. 

We  do  not  claim  that  our  rules  are  perfect,  but  we  wish  to  make  them  so ; 
being  firml}'  convinced  that  the  science  taught  by  Fourier  will  ultimatel}-  lead  us 
into  true  Association,  if  we  follow  it  as  a  science,  and  that  we  must  have  some 
correct  rules  of  progress  to  govern  us  during  the  transition  period  from  civiliza- 
tion to  Association.  —  N.  Y.  THbune. 

Associational.  Pertaining  to  an  association  of  clergymen.  —  Webster. 

In  order  to  obtain  a  license,  and  afterwards  to  be  admitted  to  ordination,  they 
[the  students  in  divinity]  must,  in  each  case,  pass  through  the  Associational  or 
Presbyterian  examination. —  Quarterly  Review,  1815. 

Associationist.  One  who  advocates  the  Fourier  doctrine  of  associa- 
tion. 

At.    Used  as  a  verb;  as,  "I  at  him  to  do  it."   To  demand;  to  require. 
We  was  a-layin'  out  to  carry  half  a  barrel  of  pork  [to  the  donation  party],  and 
I  made  a  big  jar  of  butter,  and  sold  it  for  five  dollars,  and  I  atted  Josiah  to  sell 
the  pork,  and  get  the  money  for  that.  — Betsy  Bobbet,  p.  206. 

At,  for  hy.    Used  in  the  expression,  "  sales  at  auction." 

The  English  say,  "  sales  hy  auction,"  and  this  is  in  analogy  with 
the  expressions,  "  sales  hy  inch  of  candle;  "  "  sales  hy  private  con- 
tract. ' '  —  Pickering^ s  Vocahulary. 

At,  for  in.  The  very  common  expressions  "  at  the  North,"  "  at  the 
West,"  instead  of  "in  the  North,"  "in  the  West,"  offend  an 
English  ear. 

At  is  often  used  superfluously  in  the  South  and  West,  as  in  the  ques- 
tion, "  Where  is  he  a/?" 
Atajo.    (Span.,  pron.  atdho.)    A  drove  of  pack-mules. 

Atamasco  Lily.  (Amaryllis  atamasco.)  A  small  one-flowered  lily, 
held  in  like  esteem,  in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  with  the  daisy 
in  England. 


ATH— AVA 


21 


Athens  of  America.  A  name  sometimes  given  to  Boston,  Massachu- 
setts.   Also  called  Modern  Athens  d^ndi  The  Hub,  which  see. 

Atlantic  States.    States  bordering  on  the  Atlantic. 

Atole.  In  the  Spanish  portions  of  North  America,  gruel,  generally 
of  corn-meal. 

At  that  A  cant  phrase,  which  has  recently  become  popular.  It  is  used 
to  define  more  nearly  or  intensify  something  already  said;  as,  "  He 's 
got  a  scolding  wife,  and  an  ugly  one  at  that/^ 

"Liquor  up,  gentlemen."  We  bowed.  "Let  me  introduce  you  to  some  of  the 
most  highly  esteemed  of  our  citizens."  We  bowed  again.  "  Now  then,  Mis- 
ter," turning  to  the  man  at  the  bar,  "  drinks  round,  and  cobblers  at  that.''''  — 
Notes  on  the  North-western  States,  Blackwood,  Sept.,  1855. 

A- tremble.    Trembling,  quivering;  deeply  moved. 

And  beholding  a  noble  and  venerable  tree,  he  says,  "  Oh,  what  majestj'-  and 
glory!  Five  hundred  years  sit  enthroned  on  the  top  of  that  monarch  of  the 
forest."  And  he  feels  himself  all  a-tremble.  —  The  Independent,  Aug.  14,  1862. 
Sermon  by  H.  W.  Beecher. 

Attitudinize.    To  assume  affected  attitudes.  —  Worcester. 

Authority.  In  Connecticut  the  justices  of  the  peace  are  denominated 
the  civil  authority.  —  Webster. 

Mr.  Pickering  says :  ' '  This  word  is  also  used  in  some  of  the  States 
in  speaking  collectively  of  the  professors,  &c.,  of  our  colleges,  to 
whom  the  government  of  those  institutions  is  intrusted. ' ' 

The  authority  required  him  to  give  bonds  for  his  good  behavior.  —  3£iss  H. 
Adams'' s  History  of  New  England,  p.  64. 

Available.    That  may  be  used  with  success  or  advantage.  — Worcester. 

For  some  months  past,  a  regular  sj-stem  of  crying  down  Mr.  Clay  as  unavaiU 
able  has  been  prosecuted  with  indefatigable  energy  and  adroitness  throughout 

the  Union  Mr.  Clay  is  a  great  man  —  able  statesman — all  of  us  prefer 

him  to  anybody  else  if  he  could  be  elected,  but  I 'm  afraid  he  isn't  available.  — 
Letter  in  N.  Y.  Tribune,  May,  1848. 

Availability.  Quality  of  being  available.  —  Worcester.  That  qualifi- 
cation in  a  candidate  which  implies  or  supposes  a  strong  probability 
of  his  success,  apart  from  substantial  merit,  —  a  probability  result- 
ing from  mere  personal  or  accidental  popularity.  The  thing  has 
long  existed  in  the  papal  government,  where  the  advanced  age  of  a 
candidate  for  the  triple  crown  has  often  been  the  motive  of  his 
election ;  the  idea  being  that  he  would  soon  die  out  of  the  way,  and 
leave  the  chair  vacant  for  a  new  trial  of  strength  under  more  favor- 
able auspices,  perhaps,  for  some  of  the  electing  cardinals.  Inoffen- 
siveness — exemption  from  strong  hostility  in  any  quarter  —  is  a 
frequent  element  of  availability.  —  /.  Inman. 


22 


AVA— AWF 


As  this  word  is  not  noticed  by  any  lexicographer  except  Dr. 
Worcester,  and  is  now  much  used,  it  is  thought  advisable  to  give 
several  examples  of  its  use. 

These  political  conventions  are  certainly  becoming  more  odious  and  objection- 
able from  year  to  year;  and  availability,  not  merit  or  qualifications,  is  the  only 
requisite  to  secure  a  nomination.  — Baltimore  Cor.  of  the  N.  Y.  Herald,  May,  1848. 

The  only  possible  motive  for  the  choice  of  Mr.  Cass,  that  we  can  imagine,  is 
his  presumed  availability,  the  elements  of  this  being  his  known  predilection,  real 
or  assumed,  for  territorial  acquisition  in  all  quarters,  by  warlike  means  as  well 
as  others,  and  his  avowed  devotion  to  the  Southern  or  slave-holding  interest.  — 
N.  Y.  Com.  Adv.,  May  2G,  1848. 

The  Whigs,  within  the  last  few  days,  have  presented  candidates  for  the  highest 
office  in  the  gift  of  the  people,  who  are  without  any  principles.  .  .  .  What  do 
they  mean  by  this  in  thus  presenting  candidates  who  have  no  principles?  They 
proceed  on  the  principle  of  mere  availability,  and  nothing  else.  They  are  again 
going  to  insult  your  judgments,  and  tarnish  the  character  of  the  nation,  by  their 
exhibitions  of  coon-skins  and  hard  cider,  and  their  midnight  debaucheries,  as 
they  did  in         —  Speech  of  J.  Bowlin,  N.  Y.  Herald,  June  12,  1848. 

Availed.  Dr.  Witherspoon  notices  this  word  as  used  in  the  following 
example:  "  The  members  of  a  popular  government  should  be  con- 
tinually availed  of  the  situation  and  condition  of  every  part."  — 
Works,  Vol.  lY.  p.  296. 

The  newspapers  sometimes  say,  "  An  offer  "  (for  instance)  "was 
made,  but  not  availed  of^ 

Avalanche.  A  Texan  corruption  of  the  French  Ambulance.  A  spring 
Avocado  Pear.    See  Alligator  Pear. 

Awful.  1.  Disagreeable,  detestable,  ugly.  A  word  much  used  among 
the  common  people  in  New  England,  and  not  unfrequently  among 
those  who  are  educated.  The  expression  "an  awful-looking 
woman"  is  as  often  heard  as  "an  ugly  woman."  The  word  is 
now  more  common  in  England  than  in  the  United  States. 

The  country  people  of  the  New  England  States  make  use  of  many  quaint  ex- 
pressions in  their  conversation.  Every  thing  that  creates  surprise  is  awful  with 
them:  '"What  an  awful  wind!  awful  hole!  awful  hill!  awful  mouth!  aioful 
nose!  "  &c.  — LamberVs  Travels  in  Canada  and  the  United  States. 

The  practice  of  moving  on  the  first  day  of  May,  with  one  half  the  New-Yorkers, 
is  an  awful  custom.  — Major  Downing,  May-day  in  New  York. 

2.  Very  great,  excessive. 

Pot-pie  is  the  favorite  dish,  and  woodsmen,  sharp  set,  are  awful  eaters.  — 
Carlton,  The  New  Purchase,  Vol.  I.  p.  182. 

It  is  even  used  in  this  sense  adverbially,  and  with  still  greater 
impropriety,  like  many  other  adjectives.  Thus,  we  not  unfrequently 
hear  such  expressions  as  "an  awful  cold  day." 


AWF— BAG 


23 


There  was  Old  Crane  pokin'  round  among  the  gals,  and  mighty  particular  to 
Kezier  Winkle.  Ain't  it  ridiculous  ?  I  don't  see  what  he  could  fancy  about  her. 
I  never  thought  she  was  so  awful  handsome  as  some  folks  does.  —  Widoio  Beclott 
Papers. 

3.  Enormous,  flagitious;  as,  "  an  a«o/M^  crime." 
Awfully.    1.   Exceedingly,  excessively.     Now  an  adjective  of  all 
work  in  English  society.    "  0  thanks  very  much !    I      so  awfully 
obliged ! ' ' 
2.  Enormously. 
The  chimneys  were  awfully  given  to  smoking.  —  Carlton,  New  Purchase. 

To  axe.  (Ang.-Sax.,  acsian,  axian.)  To  ask.  This  word  is  now 
considered  a  vulgarism;  though,  like  many  others  under  the  same 
censure,  it  is  as  old  as  the  English  language.  Among  the  early 
writers  it  was  used  with  the  same  frequency  as  ask  is  now.  In  Eng- 
land it  still  exists  in  the  colloquial  dialect  of  Norfolk  and  other 
counties.  "A  true-born  Londoner,"  says  Pegge,  "always  axes 
questions,  axes  pardon,  and  at  quadrilles  axes  leave." 

And  Pilate  axide  him.  Art  thou  Kyng  of  Jewis  ?    And  Jhesus  answeride  and 
seide  to  him,  Thou  seist.  —  Wlcliff,  Trans,  of  the  Bible. 
A  poor  lazar,  upon  a  tide, 

Came  to  the  gate,  and  axed  meate.  —  Gower,  Conf.  Amantis. 

Margaret,  Countess  of  Richmond  and  Derby,  in  a  letter  to  her 
son,  Henry  VIL,  concludes  with  — 

As  herty  blessings  as  3'e  can  axe  of  God.  —  Lord  Howard. 

In  the  next  reign,  Dr.  John  Clarke  writes  to  Cardinal  Wolsey, 
and  tells  him  that  — 

The  King  axed  after  yowr  Grace's  welfare.  —  Pegge'' s  Anecdote. 

The  word  is  much  used  by  the  uneducated  in  the  United  States. 

Day  before  yesterday,  I  went  down  to  the  post-office,  and  ax^d  the  postmaster 
if  there  was  any  thing  for  me.  —  Major  Jones's  Courtshij),  p.  172. 

I  have  often  axed  myself  what  sort  of  a  gall  that  splendiferous  Lady  of  the 
Lake  of  Scott's  was.  —  Sam  Slick  in  England,  eh.  30. 

B. 

Babes.    The  name  of  a  set  of  Baltimore  rowdies. 

Back,  V.    To  back  a  letter  is  Western  for  to  "  direct  "  it. 

Back  is  often  used  for  ago;  as  in  the  phrase,  "a  little  while  hack,''* 
i.  e.  "a  short  time  ago." 

Back  and  forth.  Backwards  and  forwards,  applied  to  a  person  in 
walking;  as,  "  He  was  walking  back  and  forth.^^  A  common  ex- 
pression in  the  familiar  language  of  New  England. 


24: 


BAG 


Backbone.  Moral  stamina,  strength  of  will,  firmness  of  purpose;  the 
antithesis  to  doughface.  A  figurative  expression  recently  much 
used  in  political  writings. 

Infirmity  of  purpose  is  the  cause  of  more  serious  lapses  of  infirmity  of  principle. 
Men  do  not  know  how  to  resist  the  small  temptations  of  life,  from  some  deficiency 
in  their  dorsal  arrangements ;  and  the  natural  result  is  a  departure  from  the 
right.  Backbone  is  the  material  which  is  designed  to  make  an  upright  man; 
and  he  must  be  firm  on  all  points,  if  he  would  pass  scatheless  through  the  struggle 
of  life.  —  The  Republic,  1857. 

Back  Country.  The  interior  and  sparsely  settled  portions.  See  Back- 
woods. 

To  back  down.    To  back  out ;  to  retreat. 

Back-Furrow.    To  plough  so  that  the  second  and  fourth  ridge  of  earth 

made  is  laid  against  or  on  the  first  and  third  ridges  ;  to  turn  the 

soil  every  other  time  reversely. 
Back-House.    A  necessary  house,  privy;  so  called  from  its  position. 

In  some  parts  of  England  it  is  called  the  Backward.    Comp.  the 

Lat.  posticum. 

To  back  out,  v.  To  retreat  from  a  difficulty,  to  refuse  to  fulfil  a 
promise  or  engagement.  A  metaphor  borrowed  from  the  stables. 
Equivalent  expressions  are  to  hack  water ^  to  take  the  hack  track.  Or 
from  passengers  who  have  met  in  a  road  not  wide  enough  for  one  to 
pass  by  the  other. 

Mr.  Bedinger,  in  his  remarks  in  the  House  of  Representatives  on  the  Mexican 
war,  Jan.  25,  1848,  said:  "He  regretted  the  bloodshed  in  Mexico,  and  wished 
it  would  stop.  But,  he  asked,  would  gentlemen  be  willing  to  back  out,  and  for- 
sake our  rights  ?  No,  no.   No  turning  back.   This  great  countr}-^  must  go  ahead." 

The  Whigs  undertook  to  cut  down  the  price  of  printing  to  a  fair  rate,  but  at 
last  backed  out,  and  voted  to  pay  the  old  prices.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

To  all  appearance,  we  are  on  the  eve  of  a  bloody  contest,  if  not  a  revolution. 
What  will  be  the  consequence  ?    One  or  the  other  party  must  back  out,  or  no  one 
can  tell  what  will  be  the  result.  —  National  Intelligencer. 
'T  would  save  some  whole  cart-loads  of  fuss,  an'  three  or  four  months  o'  jaw, 
If  some  illustrious  patriot  should  back  out  and  withdraw. 

Biylow  Papers,  p.  124. 

Back  out.    To  give  up. 

Well,  boys,  you  know  Hoss  Allen,  —  no  back  out  in  him,  anyhow !  —  Hoss  Allen, 
of  Missouri. 

Back  Track.  To  take  the  hack  track  is  to  retrace  one's  steps,  to 
retreat ;  and  hence  is  equivalent  to  to  hack  out.  Western. 

To  back  Water,  v.  To  retreat,  or  withdraw;  a  Western  metaphor, 
derived  from  steamboat  language. 

Backing  and  Filling.  Advancing  and  retreating,  shilly-shally,  inde- 
cision.   A  nautical  metaphor,  used  also,  it  is  believed,  in  England. 


BAG— BAD 


25 


There  has  been  so  much  hacking  and  filling  not  onh'  upon  the  Cuba  question, 
but  upon  every  other,  that  no  confidence  can  be  placed  in  the  declaration  which 
either  General  Pierce  or  his  cabinet  may  make.  —  N.  Y.  Herald,  June  15,  1854. 

A  backin"  and fillin'  and  wrigglin'  policy  will  never  fetch  any  thing  about.  — 
Major  Downing. 

Back-Log.  A  large  piece  of  wood  used  in  fire-places  where  wood  is 
burned.    Fore-sticks  form  part  of  the  same  fire. 

Backward.  Is  sometimes  used  in  the  West  for  bashful,  unwilling  to 
appear  in  company,  on  the  same  principle  as  "  forward  "  in  correct 
language  means  the  very  contrary. 

Backwoods.  The  partially  cleared  forest  region  on  the  Western 
frontier  of  the  United  States,  called  also  the  hack  settlements.  This 
part  of  the  country  is  regarded  as  the  back  part  or  rear  of  Anglo- 
American  civilization,  which  fronts  on  the  Atlantic.  It  is  rather 
curious  that  the  English  word  hack  has  thus  acquired  the  meaning 
of  western,  which  it  has  in  several  Oriental  languages,  and  also  in 
Irish.    Probably,  for  the  like  reason. 

Backwoodsman.  In  the  United  States,  an  inhabitant  of  the  forest 
on  the  Western  frontier.  —  Wehster. 

The  project  of  transmuting  the  classes  of  American  citizens  and  converting 
sailors  into  backwoodsmen  is  not  too  monstrous  for  speculators  to  conceive  and 
desire.  —  Fisher  Ameses  Works,  p.  144. 

I  presume,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  it  is  your  curiosity  to  hear  the  plain,  unedu- 
cated backwoodsman  in  his  home  style.  —  CrocketVs  Tour,  p.  126. 

Bacon-Color.    Being  of  a  color  of  bacon. 

Maria  is  eighteen  years  old,  very  likely;  has  a  very  pleasant  countenance,  light 
haBon-colored  skin.  Plato  is  nineteen  years  old,  bacon-color  and  squarely  built. 
—  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Letter  from  Norfolk,  May  19,  1862. 

Bad  Lands.  "  In  the  arid  region  of  the  Western  portion  of  the  United 
States,  there  are  certain  tracts  of  country  which  have  received  the 
name  of  mawaises  terres,  or  bad  lands.  These  are  dreary  wastes, 
naked  hills  with  rounded  or  conical  forms,  composed  of  sand,  sandy 
clays,  and  fine  fragments  of  shaly  rocks,  with  steep  slopes,  and, 
yielding  to  the  pressure  of  the  foot,  they  are  climbed  only  by  the 
greatest  toil,  and  it  is  a  labor  of  no  inconsiderable  magnitude  to 
penetrate  or  cross  such  a  district  of  country."  —  Powell's  Explora- 
tion of  the  Colorado  of  the  West,  p.  149. 

There  is  an  immense  clayey  formation  that  extends  towards  the  south,  produc- 
ing, in  the  vicinity  of  drainage  courses,  a  series  of  bad  lands,  that  probably  causes 
this  region  of  b'td  lands.  —  Captain  Ludlow,  Reconnoissance  of  the  Black  Hills  of 
Dacotah,  p.  58. 

Bad.  Badly;  greatly,  very  much.  Examples:  "That  bile  hurts  me 
had ;  "   "I  want  to  see  him  Jarf." 


26 


BAG— BAI 


Bagasse.  (Fr.)  Stalks  of  sugar-cane,  from  which  the  juice  has  been 
expressed.  It  is  used  as  fuel  under  the  sugar-kettle.  Called  also 
Cane- trash. 

Bagasse  Furnace.  A  furnace  arranged  to  burn  the  sugar-cane  stalks. 
Baggage.    Literally,  what  is  contained  in  a  bag  or  bags;  the  clothing 

or  other  conveniences  which  a  traveller  carries  with  him  on  a  jour- 
ney. The  English  appear  to  have  discarded  the  word  altogether 
for  the  less  appropriate  term  luggage. 

Having  despatched  my  baggage  by  water  to  Altdorf.  —  Coxe,  Travels. 

This  is  sometimes  called  more  fully  hag  and  baggage. 

Seventeen  members  of  Congress  arrived  to-day  with  their  bag  and  baggage.  — 
Washington  paper. 

Get  ye  packing  then  out  of  our  churches,  with  your  bags  and  baggages,  hoyse 
up  sail  for  New  England,  &c.  —  Mercurius  Eusticus,  p.  167. 

Baggage-Car.    The  car  on  a  railroad  in  which  the  baggage  is  stowed. 

It  is  placed  next  behind  the  tender. 
Baggage-Smasher.    1.  A  man  who  transfers  baggage  to  and  from 

railroad  cars,  steamboats,  &c.    So  called  from  the  reckless  manner 

in  which  these  persons  handle  the  property  of  travellers. 

The  following  is  from  the  Ballad  of  the  "  Centennial  Baggage 

Smasher,^ ^  printed  in  the  "  Indianapolis  Sentinel:  "  — 

Pete  was  a  tip-up  baggage-man :  he  ran  on  Number  4, 

Where  the  tears  and  groans  of  travelling  folks  unflinchingly  he  bore  ; 

He  cared  not  how  the  women  wept,  or  strong  men  raved  and  swore, 

While  he  mutilated  sample-cases,  desolated  Saratogas,  annihilated  ordinary  luggage, 

immolated  carpet-bags,  exterminated  bandboxes,  and  extinguished  travellers* 

outfits  by  the  score,  — 

This  fine  old  T.  P.  baggage-man,  one  of  the  modern  time. 

Then  Pete  he  seized  a  shabby  trunk,  with  snorts  of  wrath  and  scorn, 
And  in  two  seconds  both  the  handles  from  the  ends  had  torn  ; 
And,  heedless  of  the  pleadings  of  the  passenger  forlorn. 

He  banged  the  trunk  on  the  platform,  and  then  threw  it  over  the  top  of  the  car,  and 
let  an  omnibus  run  over  it. 

2.  A  rough,  brutal  person. 

Gamblers,  ticket-swindlers,  emigrant  robbers,  baggage-smashers,  and  all  the 
worst  classes  of  the  city.  —  N.  Y.  THbune,  Nov.  23,  1861. 

Bagging.    See  Cotton-Bagging. 

Bail.    The  handle  of  a  bucket  or  pail.    New  England;  and  provincial, 

Norfolk  County,  England.  —  Forby^s  Glossary. 

Bait.    A  fulcrum.    A  term  common  in  New  England. 
Baiting.    Limch  in  the  field  at  hay-time. 


BAK— BAL 


27 


Bake-Oven.  (Dutch.)  This  term  is  often  used  in  the  West  for  the 
simple  word  oven  in  a  bakery.  It  is  also  applied  to  the  iron  bake- 
pan. 

Bake-Shop.  The  place  where  articles  made  by  bakers  are  sold. 
Southern. 

As  a  general  thing,  the  stores  are  closed;  .  .  .  the  baJce-skops,  however,  seem 
to  be  driving  a  great  business. — iV.  F.  Tribune,  May  16,  1862,  Letter  from 
Norfolk,  Va. 

Balance.  A  mercantile  word  originally  introduced  into  the  ordinary 
language  of  life  by  the  Southern  people,  but  now  improperly  used 
throughout  the  United  States  to  signify  the  remainder  of  any  thing. 
The  balance  of  money,  or  the  balance  of  an  account,  are  terms  well 
authorized  and  proper ;  but  we  also  frequently  hear  such  expressions 
as  the  "  balance  of  a  speech;  "  "  The  balance  of  the  day  was  idly 
spent;  "  "  A  great  many  people  assembled  at  the  church:  a  part  got 
in,  the  balance  remained  without." 

The  yawl  returned  to  the  wreck,  took  ten  or  eleven  persons  and  landed  them, 
and  then  went  and  got  ih.Q  balance  from  the  floating  cabin.  —  Albany  Journal, 
Jan.  7,  1846. 

Most  of  the  respectable  inhabitants  held  commissions  in  the  army  or  govern- 
ment offices ;  the  balance  of  the  people  kept  little  shops,  cultivated  the  ground, 
&c.  —  Williams's  Florida,  p.  115. 

The  boats  of  the  South  Ferry  forced  their  way  through  the  ice,  and  kept  up 
their  communication  for  the  balance  of  the  day.  —  New  Yorh  Tiibune. 

The  monopoly  of  the  things  of  this  world  that  are  necessary  to  human  subsist- 
ence b}'  a  few  constitutes  those  few  the  masters  of  the  balance  of  mankind.  — 
The  States  (  Washinyton),  March  26,  1858. 

Bald  Face.  Common  (penny)  whiskey,  particularly  when  it  is  new; 
also  figuratively  and  appropriately  called  "Red  Eye  "  or  "Pine 
Top;  "  perhaps  from  the  suspicion  that  it  contains  a  large  proportion 
of  turpentine.  This  latter  sort  is  also  called  "  Lightning  Whiskey," 
because  "  warranted  to  kill  at  forty  rods." 

Bald-headed.  To  go  it  bald-headed ;  in  great  haste,  as  where  one 
rushes  out  without  his  hat. 

Balk,  baulk.  A  balky  horse.  This  word  has  been  considered  an 
Americanism,  but  it  is  found  in  Spenser's  Faery  Queene.   See  Baulk. 

Ball-Face.  A  contemptuous  epithet  applied  by  negroes  to  white  per- 
sons, Salem,  Mass.,  1810-20. 

Ballot-Box  Stuffing.  A  new  name  for  a  new  crime.  This  consists 
in  the  use  of  a  box  for  receiving  ballots  at  an  election,  so  constructed 
with  a  false  bottom  and  compartments  as  to  permit  the  introduction 
of  spurious  ballots  to  any  extent  by  the  party  having  it  in  charge. 
The  most  outrageous  frauds  have  been  committed  by  this  means. 


28 


BAL— BAN 


Three  or  four  men  are  here  [in  Indianapolis]  from  New  York  and  Baltimore, 

who  are  in  reality  detectives  sent  on  to  look  after  the  Democratic  roughs  and  ballot- 
box  staffers.  —  Cor.  N.  Y.  Tnbune,  Oct.,  1876. 

The  following  telegram  was  received  from  Cincinnati  a  few  days 
preceding  the  Presidential  election,  Nov.  7,  1876. 

The  city  is  strangely  quiet  to-night.    Both  parties  are  full  of  business.  Several 
experts  at  ballot-box  stuffing  were  spotted  here  to-da}'. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Tallmadge,  of  Brooklyn,  in  his  sermon,  when 
speaking  of  the  Presidential  candidates,  Hayes  and  Tilden,  said: 

If  either  accepts  the  Presidential  chair  at  the  hands  of  the  ballot-stufftrs,  he  will 
be  but  the  bramble  of  discord  therein.  —  N.  Y.  paper. 

Ballooning,  in  Wall  Street  parlance,  is  running  up  a  stock  beyoud 
its  value,  by  newspaper  articles,  fictitious  sales,  or  other  means. 

Ballyhack.     "Go  to  Ballyhack!^'  A  common  expression  in  New 
England.    I  know  not  its  origin.     It  savors  in  sound,  however,  of 
the  Emerald  Isle. 
"You  and  Obed  are  here  too." 

"Let  Obed  go  to  Ballyhack.    Come  along  out."  —  Margaret,  p.  55. 

Balm  of  Gilead.  (Populus  caudicans.)  A  tree,  which  extends  from 
New  England  to  Wisconsin  and  Kentucky.  It  is  rare  in  a  wild 
state,  but  common  in  cultivation.  —  OraT/. 

Balsam  Fir.  (Abies  balsamea.)  A  slender  tree  growing  in  cold,  damp 
woods  and  swamps,  from  New  England  to  Pennsylvania  and  north- 
wards. The  blisters  under  the  bark  furnish  the  well-known  "  Can- 
ada Balsam;"  hence  its  name.  It  is  also  called  Canada  Balsam 
and  Gilead  Fir. 

Balsam  Poplar,  (Populus  balsamifera.)  A  tall  tree  growing  from 
New  England  to  Wisconsin  and  northwards.  Its  large  buds  are 
varnished  with  a  fragrant,  resinous  matter.  —  Gray. 

To  bamboo;  to  bam.  To  cheat;  to  bamboozle.  Connecticut,  but 
probably  imported  from  the  South.  Bam  is  provincial  in  England. 
—  Wright. 

Banana.  The  fruit  of  the  Musa  sapientum,  a  well-known  tropical 
fruit,  imported  into  the  United  States  from  the  West  Indies. 

Band.  A  troop  or  herd  of  bisons  is  called,  in  prairie  parlance,  "a 
band  of  buffalo." 

Banded  Drum.    See  Grunter. 

Bango !  A  common  exclamation  among  the  Negroes  both  North  and 
South. 

Bang  up.  Any  thing  of  good  quality;  superior;  first  rate.  "This 
cloth  is  hang  up.^' 


BAN— BAR 


29 


Banjo.  Probably  a  corruption  of  the  O.  E.  bandore.  A  rude  sort  of 
guitar,  a  favorite  instrument  with  the  Negroes.  The  term  itself  is 
probably  of  negro  origin.  Spelled  by  Miss  Edgeworth,  who  was  very 
familiar  with  West  India  usages,  Ban j ah.  —  See  Belinda, 

How  oft  when  a  boy,  with  childish  joy, 

I 've  roam'd  at  the  close  of  day, 
When  our  work  was  done,  to  have  some  fun, 
And  hear  the  hanjo  play.  —  Negro  Melody. 
Ole  Nashville  dey  say  is  a  very  nice  town, 
Dar  de  niggers  pick  de  cotton  till  de  sun  goes  down ; 
Dey  dance  all  night  to  de  ole  hanjo, 

Wid  a  corn-stalk  fiddle  and  a  shoe-string  bow.  — Negro  Melodies. 
Bankable.    Keceivable  at  a  bank,  as  bills;  or  discountable,  as  notes. 
—  Webster. 

Among  the  great  variety  of  bank-notes  which  constitute  our  cir- 
culating medium,  many  are  below  par,  and  consequently  are  not 
received  at  the  banks.  Those  only  which  are  redeemed  with  specie 
or  its  equivalent  are  received  at  the  banks,  and  are  of  the  class  called 
bankable. 

Banker.  A  vessel  employed  in  fishing  on  the  banks  of  Newfoundland. 
"  There  were  employed  in  the  fisheries  1,232  vessels,  —  namely,  584  to 
the  Banks,  648  to  the  Bay  and  Labrador;  the  bankers  may  be  put 
down  at  36,540  tons." 

The  vessels  that  fish  at  the  Labrador  and  Bay  are  not  so  valuable  as  the  hanhers^ 
more  particularly  those  from  Maine,  Connecticut,  and  Rhode  Island.  —  J.  Q. 
Adams  on  the  Fisheries,  p.  219. 

Bankit.    (Fr.  banquette.^    Sidewalk.  Louisiana. 
Banquette.    The  name  for  the  sidewalk  in  some  of  our  Southern 
cities. 

To  banter.    To  challenge,  defy;  namely,  to  a  race,  a  shooting-match, 

&c.    Southern  and  Western. 
Banter.    A  challenge.    Southern  and  Western.       There  will  be  a 

banter  on  the  bare  ground,"  meaning  a  shooting-match. 
Bar,  for  bear.    The  common  pronunciation  in  certain  parts  of  the 

Southern  and  Western  States. 
Barbecue.    (Span,  barbacoa.)    A  term  used  in  the  Southern  States 

and  in  the  West  Lidies  for  dressing  a  hog  whole;  which,  being  split 

to  the  backbone,  is  laid  flat  upon  a  large  gridiron,  and  roasted  over 

a  charcoal  fire.  — Johnson,  Webster. 

A  writer  in  the  "  AVestminster  Review  "  supposes  the  word  to  be  ? 

conniption  of  the  French  barhe-a-queue,  i.  e.  from  snout  to  tail 

Comp.  cap-a-pie',  from  head  to  foot. 


30 


BAR 


Oldfield,  with  more  than  harpy  throat  endued, 

Cries,  "  Lend  nie,  gods,  a  whole  hog  barbecued.''^  —  Pope. 

Now  the  festive  board  with  viands  is  stored. 

Savory  dishes  be  there,  I  ween ; 
Rich  puddings  and  big,  and  a  barbecued  pig, 

And  ox-tail  soup  in  a  China  tureen.  —  Inrjoldsby  Legends. 

This  word  is  now  much  used  in  the  South  and  West  for  a  public 
meeting  in  the  open  air  witli  a  dinner  or  other  refreshments. 

A  genuine  Virginia  barbecue,  whether  of  a  social  or  a  political  character,  is  a 
rural  entertainment  which  deserves  more  praise  than  censure  ;  and  we  know  of 
none  which  affords  the  stranger  a  better  opportunity  of  studying  the  character  of 
the  yeomanry  of  the  Southern  States.  —  Lanman's  Adventures,  Vol.  II.  p.  259. 

To  barberize.  A  term  among  country  hairdressers.  "  I  can  shoemake 
through  the  week,  and  barberize  on  public  days;  "  that  is,  on  days 
of  public  business,  which  call  farmers  to  the  country  town.  To 
barber  is  so  used  in  old  writers. 

Barely  tolerable.    Referring  to  the  state  of  one's  health.    "  How  are 

you,  Mr.  B.  ?  "    "  Wall,  I 'm  barely  tolerable.'' 
Barfoot.    "  I  take  my  tea  barfoot''  said  a  backwoodsman  when  asked 

if  he  would  have  cream  and  sugar;  i.  e.,  without  either. 

Barge.  A  vessel  of  burden,  employed  on  the  Mississippi  and  its  tribu- 
taries before  the  introduction  of  steamboats.  It  is  thus  described 
by  Flint:  "  The  barge  is  of  the  size  of  an  Atlantic  schooner.  It  had 
sails,  masts,  and  rigging,  not  unlike  a  sea  vessel,  and  carried  from 
fifty  to  an  hundred  tons.  On  the  lower  courses  of  the  Mississippi, 
w^hen  the  wind  did  not  serve  and  the  waters  were  high,  it  was 
worked  up  stream  by  the  operation  that  is  called  '  warping,'  —  a 
most  laborious,  slow,  and  difficult  mode  of  ascent,  in  which  six  or 
eight  miles  a  day  was  good  progress."  —  Hist,  and  Geogr.  of  Miss. 
Valley.    See  Safety  Barge. 

To  bark  a  Tree.  To  make  a  circular  incision  through  the  bark  so 
as  to  kill  the  tree.    See  Girdle. 

To  bark  off  Squirrels.  A  common  way  of  killing  squirrels  among 
those  who  are  expert  with  the  rifle,  in  the  Western  States,  is  to 
strike  with  the  ball  the  bark  of  the  tree  immediately  beneath  the 
squirrel,  the  concussion  produced  by  which  kills  the  animal  in- 
stantly without  mutilating  it.  — Audubon,  Ornithology,  Vol.  I.  p.  294. 

To  bark  up  the  Wrong  Tree.  A  common  expression  at  the  West, 
denoting  that  a  person  has  mistaken  his  object,  or  is  pursuing  the 
wrong  course  to  obtain  it.  In  hunting,  a  dog  drives  a  squirrel  or 
other  game  into  a  tree,  where,  by  a  constant  barking,  he  attracts  its 


BAR 


31 


attention  until  the  hunter  arrives.  Sometimes  the  game  escapes,  or 
the  dog  is  deceived,  and  harks  up  the  wrong  tree. 

If  you  think  to  run  a  rig  on  me,  yon  have  made  a  mistake  in  the  child,  and 
harked  up  the  wrong  tree.  —  S.  Slick,  Human  Nature,  p.  124. 

When  people  try  to  hunt  [office]  for  themselves,  •  .  .  and  seem  to  be 
harking  up  the  wrong  sapling,  I  want  to  put  them  on  the  right  trail.  —  CrocketVs 
Tour,  p.  205. 

Barm.  (Ang.-Sax.  beorm.)  Yeast.  This  old  English  word  is  pre- 
served in  New  England. 

Barnburners.  A  nickname  given  in  the  State  of  New  York  to  the 
more  radical  and  progressive  section  of  the  Democratic  party,  other- 
wise called  the  Young  Democracy,  as  opposed  to  the  conservative 
tendencies  of  old  Hunkerism.    See  Hunker. 

This  school  of  Democrats  was  termed  Barnburners,  in  allusion  to  the  story  of  an 
old  Dutchman,  who  relieved  liimself  of  rats  b}'^  burning  down  his  barns  which 
they  infested,  —  just  like  exterminating  all  banks  and  corporations,  to  root  out 
the  abuses  connected  therewith.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

"A  certain  hind,  it  has  been  said, 
Whose  weakest  member  was  his  head, 
But  full  as  wise  as  Democrats, 
Burned  down  his  barn  to  kill  the  rats." 
Pills,  Poetical,  Political,  and  Philosophical,  and  by  Peter  Pepper  Box,  Phila.,  1809. 

Barrack.  (From  the  Haitian  hajaraque,  a  large  house  capable  of 
holding  many  persons,  whence  Span,  harraca,  Eng.  harracks.  Wedg- 
wood derives  it  from  the  Gaelic  barrack.  The  Indian  origin  is  the 
most  plausible.)  A  straw-thatched  roof  supported  by  four  posts, 
capable  of  being  raised  or  lowered  at  pleasure,  under  which  hay  is 
kept.  Also  called,  in  New  York,  liay-barrach,  probably  from  the 
Dutch.  In  Maryland,  and  perhaps  elsewhere,  the  term  is  applied 
to  any  kind  of  building  intended  for  the  reception  of  straw  or  hay. 
See  Hay-Barrack. 

Barraclade.  (Dutch,  barre  kledeeren,  cloths  undressed  or  without  a 
nap.)  A  home-made  woollen  blanket  without  nap.  This  M^ord  is 
peculiar  to  New  York  City,  and  those  parts  of  the  State  settled  by 
the  Dutch. 

Barracoon.  (Span.,  Jarraca ;  Haitian,  Jayara^^we.)  A  slave-house,  or 
enclosure. 

Barranca.  (Span.)  A  deep  break  or  ravine,  caused  by  heavy  rains 
or  a  watercourse.  The  banks  of  such  are  always  steep  and  abrupt, 
like  a  wall,  owing  to  the  tenacity  of  the  soil,  and  the  suddenness 
with  which  they  are  made.  A  sloping  bank  by  a  river's  side,  or  a 
similarly  formed  ravine,  is  not  a  barranca.    These  perpendicular 


BAR— BAS 


walls  of  earth  are  found  in  Texas  and  New  Mexico,  and  are  a 
marked  feature  in  their  topography. 
Barrens.  Elevated  lands  or  plains  upon  which  grow  small  trees,  but 
never  timber.  They  are  classed  as  Pine-barrens,  Oak-barrens,  &c., 
according  to  the  kind  of  tree  which  prevails  upon  them.  In  Ken- 
tucky, the  term  is  applied  to  certain  regions  in  the  carboniferous 
limestone  formation,  the  soil  of  which  is  really  very  fertile.  Hence 
Barren  County  and  Barren  River.  In  these  places,  the  water  flows  in 
subterranean  channels;  and  hence  a  dryness  of  the  surface,  which, 
according  to  some,  has  permitted  annual  fires  to  sweep  ofE  the  tim- 
ber, while,  according  to  others,  it  has  not  permitted  its  growth. 

Barren-Ground  Reindeer.  {Tarandus  arcticvs^^ich.)  A  species  of 
Caribou  confined  almost  entirely  to  the  "Barren  Grounds,"  the 
north-eastern  corner  of  North  America.  It  occurs  also  in  Green- 
land. —  Baird. 

Base.  A  game  of  ball  much  played  in  America,  so  called  from  the 
three  bases  or  stations  used  in  it.  A  country  game  mentioned  in 
Moor's  Suffolk  Words.  Yet  it  is  asserted  by  the  English  cricket- 
players  that  the  game  was  wholly  unknown  in  England  until  intro- 
duced from  this  country.  Of  all  games  of  ball,  this  is  now  played 
more  than  any  other,  and  it  is  only  known  as  "  Base-Ball." 

Base-Burner.  A  sheet-iron  stove  for  burning  anthracite  coal,  which 
is  only  fed  at  the  top,  while  the  fire  is  confined  to  the  base,  or  lower 
part,  of  the  stove. 

Basket  Meeting.  In  the  West,  a  sort  of  picnic,  generally  with  some 
religious  "exercises." 

Bass.    A  name  applied  to  several  species  of  excellent  sea  and  lake  fish. 

See  Black  Bass,  Sea  Bass,  Striped  Bass. 

Basswood.  {Tilia  Americana.)  A  tree  resembling  the  European  lime 
or  linden ;  from  the  use  of  its  inner  bark  for  making  mats  or  cord- 
age, the  tree  is  also  called  hast  or  hass.  The  name,  however,  is  now 
obsolete  in  England.  In  the  United  States,  it  is  also  called  White- 
wood. 

From  its  want  of  strength  (both  in  the  bark  and  wood),  the  name 
of  the  tree  is  made  a  reproach  in  the  following  extract  from  one  of 
Brigham  Young's  "  sermons  !  " 

I  say,  as  the  Lord  lives,  we  are  bound  to  become  a  sovereign  State  in  the  Union, 
or  an  independent  nation  by  ourselves  ;  and  let  them  drive  us  from  this  place  if 
they  can,  —  they  cannot  do  it.  I  do  not  throw  this  out  as  a  banter.  You  Gen- 
tiles and  hickory  and  basswood  Mormons  can  write  it  down,  if  you  please ;  but 
write  it  as  I  speak  it. 


BAT— BAY 


33 


To  bat.  To  hat  the  eyes,  in  Southern  parlance,  is  to  wink.  We  also 
hear  the  expression  "  to  bat  a  man  over  the  head;  "  i.  e.,  to  strike 
him. 

Battery.  A  sort  of  boat  used  for  duck-shooting  in  the  Chesapeake,  in 
which  the  shooter  lies  below  the  surface  of  the  water.  It  is  also 
called,  among  other  local  names,  a  Surface-boat,  Coffin-boat,  Sink, 
or  Box.  — Lewis,  American  Sportsman. 

A  friend  in  Maryland  informs  me  that  the  usual  term  there  is 
Sink-boat,  — so  called,  because  the  whole  body  of  the  boat  is  below 
the  surface,  — one  of  the  common  forms  being  a  hogshead,  ballasted 
so  that  the  upper  end  shall  be  only  an  inch  or  two  above  water. 

To  baulk.  A  horse  in  harness  who  stands  still  and  refuses  to  go  for- 
ward is  said  to  balk.  Baulking  is  one  of  the  most  serious  vices  of  a 
horse.  The  word  is  noticed  by  Webster,  but  not  by  Worcester ;  nor 
is  it  found  in  this  sense  in  the  English  dictionaries  or  provincial 
glossaries.    See  Balk. 

Ner\'ous,  well-bred  horses  are  more  susceptible  of  the  influences  . 
which  induce  baulking  than  are  cold-blooded  and  indolent  ones.  — 
Jennings,  The  Horse  and  his  Diseases,  p.  200. 

Baulky.  A  baulky  horse  is  one  that  stands  still  and  refuses  to  go 
forward. 

Bay.  1.  A  well-known  Southern  tree,  sometimes  called  ^ay-ZawreL  It 
is  of  the  same  family  as  the  Magnolia  grandijiora,  which  it  resem- 
bles except  in  size. 

2.  A  piece  of  low,  marshy  ground,  producing  large  numbers  of 
Bay-trees.    North  Carolina. 

3.  An  arm  of  a  prairie  extending  into,  and  partly  surrounded  by, 
woods. 

Bayberry.  (Myrica  cerifera.)  A  shrub,  with  fragrant  leaves,  having  an 
odor  resembling  that  of  the  bay.  The  berries,  when  boiled  in  water, 
yield  a  fragrant  green  wax,  known  as  "bayberry  tallow,"  used  for 
making  candles,  &c. 

Bay  Laurel.    See  Bay,  above. 

Bay  Rum.  A  liquor  obtained  by  distilling  the  leaves  of  the  bay-tree. 

It  is  chiefly  used  for  the  purposes  of  the  toilet. 
Bay  State.    The  State  of  Massachusetts.    The  original  name  of  the 
colony  was  Massachusetts  Bay.    Hence  among  the  New  England 
people  it  was  usually  called  the  Bay  State. 
Lift  again  the  stately  emblem  on  the  Bay  State's  rusted  shield, 
Give  to  Northern  winds  the  pine-tree  on  our  banner's  tattered  field!  —  Whittier. 
When  first  the  Pilgrims  landed  on  the  Bay  State's  iron  shore, 
The  word  went  forth  that  slavery  should  one  day  be  no  more.  —  Lowell. 

3 


34 


BAY— BE  A 


Bayou.    (Fr.  boj/au,  a  gut.    See  Fr.  hoyau,  voyau;  Fr.  voie^  a  way,  a 
course.)    In  Louisiana,  the  outlet  of  a  lake;  a  channel  for  water. 

Beach-Combers,    1.  The  long  waves  rolling  in  from  the  ocean. 

2.  A  term  much  in  vogue  among  sailors  in  the  Pacific.  "It 
is  applied  to  certain  roving  characters,  who,  without  attaching 
themselves  permanently  to  a  vessel,  ship  now  and  then  for  a  short 
cruise  in  a  whaler,  but  upon  condition  only  of  being  honorably 
discharged  the  very  next  time  the  anchor  takes  hold  of  the  bot- 
tom, no  matter  where  they  are.  They  are,  mostly,  a  reckless, 
rollicking  set,  wedded  to  the  Pacific,  and  never  dreaming  of  ever 
doubling  Cape  Horn  again  on  a  homeward-bound  passage.  Hence 
tlieir  reputation  is  a  bad  one."  —  Melloille,  Omoo,  p.  109. 

Beach  Plum.    See  Sand  Plum. 

Bean.  This  word  unqualified  means,  in  America,  the  various  kinds 
of  kidney-beans  (phaseolus),  called  in  England  French  beans;  w^hile 
the  simple  w^ord  beans,  in  England,  would  imply  the  varieties  of 
broad-bean  (faha). 
Bear.  A  word  to  denote  a  certain  description  of  stock-jobbers.  — John- 
son. The  same  term  is  used  among  the  brokers  and  stock-jobbers 
of  Wall  Street,  New  York.  Their  plans  of  operation  are  as  accu- 
rately described  in  the  annexed  extract  from  Warton  as  they  can 
be  at  the  present  moment :  — 

He  who  sells  that  of  which  he  is  not  possessed  is  proverbially  said 
to  sell  the  skin  before  he  has  caught  the  bear.  It  was  the  practice 
of  stock-jobbers,  in  the  year  1720,  to  enter  into  a  contract  for  trans- 
ferring South  Sea  stock  at  a  future  time  for  a  certain  price ;  but  he 
who  contracted  to  sell  had  frequently  no  stock  to  transfer,  nor  did 
he  who  bought  intend  to  receive  any  in  consequence  of  his  bargain; 
the  seller  was  therefore  called  a  bear,  in  allusion  to  the  proverb,  and 
the  buyer  a  bull,  perhaps  only  as  a  similar  distinction.  The  con- 
tract was  merely  a  wager,  to  be  determined  by  the  rise  or  fall  of 
stock:  if  it  rose,  the  seller  paid  the  difference  to  the  buyer,  propor- 
tioned to  the  sum  determined  by  the  same  computation  to  the  seller. 
—  Dr.  Warton  on  Pope.  The  "  bear  "  pulls  down  (with  his  paws)  ; 
so  the  broker  buying  lowers  the  price. 

There  has  been  a  very  important  revolution  made  in  the  tactics  of  a  certain 
extensive  operator  in  Wall  Street.  The  I  irgest  bull  in  the  street  has  become  a 
bear,  and  the  rank  and  tile  have  been  thrown  into  the  greatest  confusion  and  left 
without  a  leader.  —  Ntio  York  Her(dd. 

My  salary  was  doubled  when  Bullion  &  Co. 

Decided  that  into  the  street  I  should  go. 

And  Httend  all  the  buying  and  selling  of  shares, 

As  well  keeping  track  of  the  bulls  and  the  btars: 


BEA 


'65 


A  few  lucky  hits,  when  the  hears  were  all  short, 
And  a  twist  of  my  own,  where  the  bulls  were  all  caught, 
Gave  me  prestige  and  fame,  so  what  could  I  fear  ? 
I  was  sailing  ahead  on  three  thousand  a  year. 

Reynolds,  Romance  of  Smol'e,  p.  22. 

Bear-Grass.  (Yucca  filament osa.)  Sometimes  called  Silk  Grass,  from 
the  fibres  which  appear  on  the  edges  of  the  leaves.    It  is  not  a  grass. 

Bear  State.  A  name  by  which  the  State  of  Arkansas  is  known  at  the 
West.  I  once  asked  a  Western  man  if  Arkansas  abounded  in  bears, 
that  it  should  be  designated  as  the  "Bear  State."  "Yes,"  said 
he,  "  it  does;  for  I  never  knew  a  man  from  that  State  but  he  was  a 
bar,  and  in  fact  the  people  are  all  barish  to  a  degree." 

To  bear  the  Market.  To  operate  upon  the  stock  market  by  selling  or 
agreeing  to  deliver  a  large  amount  of  a  particular  stock  which  the 
seller  does  not  possess;  to  influence  or  affect  the  price  of  stocks  by 
sensational  reports. 

There  is  no  truth  in  the  startling  developments,  implicating  British  officials, 
in  the '*  Herald's  "  despatch.  .  .  .  His  Lordship  is  wholly  guiltless  of  the  charge 
which  the  "  Herald."  in  its  anxiety  to  bear  the  market,  has  brought  agaiust  him. 
—  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Nov.  29,  18G1. 

Bear-Wallow.    See  Hog-Wallow. 

Beast.  A  common  name  for  a  horse  in  the  Southern  and  Western 
States.  It  is  quite  common  to  see  in  villages  the  invitation  to  trav- 
ellers, "  Entertainment  for  man  and  beast;  "  and  in  the  Bible  we 
read,  "  A  certain  Samaritan  ...  set  him  on  his  own  beast. 

To  beat.  1.  To  excel,  surpass  in  a  contest.  Thus  we  say,  one  racer 
or  steamer  beats  another.  So,  too,  "  It  beats  all  creation,"  i.  e. 
surpasses  every  thing. 

The  Widow  Bedott  is  the  brazen-facedest  critter  t'  ever  lived,  —  it  does  beat 
all.    I  never  see  her  equal.  —  Bedott  Papers,  p.  77. 

2.  To  overcome  with  astonishment,  to  amaze,  astound.  We  some- 
times hear,  especially  from  the  mouths  of  old  people,  such  expres- 
sions as,  "I  felt  6ea^,"  "  I  was  quite  ftea/,"  i.  e.  utterly  astonished. 

There  is  a  common  expression,  "  That  beats  Buck,^^  synonymous 
with  the  Irish,  "  That  bangs  Bannagher." 

Beat,  n.  One  who  excels  or  surpasses  another,  a  superior.  See  Dead- 
Beat. 

Sam  Slick  was  a  queer  chap.  I  never  see  the  beat  of  him.  —  Yankee  TJiWs 
Stories. 

To  beat  all  hollow.    To  beat  thoroughly. 

Beat  'em.    "  Well,  that  is  the  beat  'em;"  i.  e.,  it  beats  all,  it  sur- 


36 


BEA— BEE 


passes  all  others.  The  thing  in  question  may  be  better,  or  it  may 
be  worse  than  any  other. 

Beat  out.    Tired  or  fagged  out. 

Beau.    This  word,  neaily  obsolete  in  England,  is  in  common  use  with 

us  to  mean  a  lover,  sweetheart. 

The  expression  is  quite  familiar  in  a  less  intimate  sense,  also;  as 
for  young  ladies  to  speak  of  the  beaux,  meaning  simply  the  young 
gentlemen  who  used  to  "  wait  on  "  them. 

To  beau.    To  act  in  the  capacity  of  a  gallant  or  beau. 

Well,  I  got  to  beaiiin^  Miss  Patience  about  a  spell ;  and  kept  my  eye  on  Nance, 
to  see  how  the  cat  was  jumpin'.  —  Yankee  HiWs  Stories, 

Beaver-Dam.    The  obstruction  placed  across  a  stream  by  beavers. 

Beaver-Tree.  {Magnolia  glarica.)  Called  also  Beaver-wood,  and 
sometimes  Castor-wood,  probably  from  the  preference  shown  by  the 
beavers  for  the  bark  as  food,  or  for  the  wood  as  useful  in  their 
structures.  The  Hoop-ash  (Celtis  occidentalis) ,  or  Hackberry,  is  also 
called  Beaver- wood. 

Bed-Spread.  In  the  interior  parts  of  the  country,  the  common  name 
for  a  bed-quilt,  counterpane,  or  coverlet.    See  Spread. 

Bee.  An  assemblage  of  people,  generally  neighbors,  to  unite  their 
labors  for  the  benefit  of  an  individual  or  family.  The  quilting-hees 
in  the  interior  of  New  England  and  New  York  are  attended  by 
young  women,  who  assemble  around  the  frame  of  a  bed-quilt,  and 
in  one  afternoon  accomplish  more  than  one  person  could  in  weeks. 
Refreshments  and  beaux  help  to  render  the  meeting  agreeable. 
Apple-bees  are  occasions  when  the  neighbors  assemble  to  gather 
apples  or  to  cut  them  up  for  drying.  The  terms  apple-cut  and  peach- 
cut  are  also  common.  Husking-bees,  for  husking  corn,  are  held  in 
barns,  which  are  made  the  occasion  of  much  frolicking.  Spelling- 
bees  are  assemblages  for  competition  in  spelling,  which  see  else- 
where. In  new  countries,  when  a  settler  arrives,  the  neighboring 
farmers  unite  with  their  teams,  cut  the  timber,  and  build  him  a 
log  house  in  a  single  day;  these  are  termed  raising-bees,  alluding  to 
a  bee-swarm.    See  Spelling-Bee. 

Bee-Hive.  A  mercantile  establishment  in  which  activity  is,  or  is 
assumed  to  be,  exhibited  in  receiving  and  attending  to  many 
customers. 

Beech-Drops.  A  term  applied  to  various  plants  without  green  foliage, 
parasitic  on  the  roots  of  the  beech. 


BEE— BEI 


37 


Beef.  In  Louisiana,  Texas,  and  some  other  parts  of  the  South-west, 
an  ox  is  called  a  heef ;  and  oxen,  beeves:  in  New  York,  and  occa- 
sionally in  New  England,  any  grown  animal  of  the  ox-kind. 

Beef-Cattle.    Oxen  for  the  beef-market;  or  to  be  sold  for  food. 

Beef-Dodger.    Meat  biscuit.    Comp.  Corn-Dodger. 

It  is  a  small  party,  but  great  in  the  requisite  qualifications,  and  goes  unincum- 
bered with  superfluities:  no  wheels,  two  or  three  mules  apiece,  and  pinole,  pem- 
mican,  and  beef-dodgers  for  their  principal  support.  —  Speech  of  Colonel  BerUon, 
May  7,  1853. 

Bee-Gum.  In  the  South  and  West,  a  term  originally  applied  to  a 
species  of  the  gum-tree  from  which  beehives  were  made ;  and  now 
to  beehives  made  of  any  kind  of  boards.    See  Gum. 

Bee-Line.  Bees,  after  having  loaded  themselves  with  honey,  always 
fly  back  to  the  hive  in  a  direct  line.  Hence,  a  bee-line  is  the 
straightest  course  from  one  point  to  another.  It  is  sometimes  called 
an  air-line. 

In  England,  the  expression  "as  the  crow  flies  "  would  convey 
the  same  idea. 

This  road  is  one  of  nature's  laying.  It  goes  determinedly  straight  up  and 
straight  down  the  hills,  and  in  a  bee-line,  as  we  say.  — Mrs.  Clavers. 

The  sweetened  whiskey  I  had  drank  made  me  so  powerful  tliick-l^ged,  that 
when  I  started  to  walk  my  track  warn't  any  thing  like  a  bee-line.  —  The  Ameri- 
cans at  Home,  Vol.  I. 

We  moved  on  like  men  in  a  dream.  Our  foot-marks,  seen  afterwards,  showed 
that  we  had  steered  a  bee-line  for  the  brig.  —  Kane,  Arctic  Explorcctions,  Vol.  I. 
p.  198. 

Sinners,  you  are  making  a  bee-line  from  time  to  eternity;  and  what  yon  have 
once  passed  over  you  will  never  pass  again.  —  Dow's  Sermons,  Vol.  I.  p.  215. 

Bee-Tree.  In  the  South  and  West  a  tree,  often  found  hollow,  in  which 
the  wild  honey-bee  makes  its  hive  or  nest.    See  Gum-Tree. 

Beggar-Ticks.  A  species  of  Bldens  whose  seeds  (fruit)  adhere  to  the 
clothes.  The  term  is  also  applied  to  a  species  of  Desmodium  whose 
pods  break  at  the  joints;  the  latter  is  sometimes  called  Beggar-lice. 
See  Harvest  Lice. 

Behindments.  Arrearages. 

Being.    Pres.  part,  of  the  verb  to  be,  equivalent  to  because. 

This  word  is  noticed  by  Boucher,  as  much  in  use  in  the  Middle 
States  of  America,  and  as  an  idiom  of  the  Western  counties  of  Eng- 
land.   It  is  also  heard  among  the  illiterate  in  New  England. 

The  word  is  used  in  the  same  way  that  we  hear  seeing  as  em- 
ployed in  common  speech;  a  usage  which  we  have  directly  from  tlie 
English  vulgar,  and  which  is  the  idiomatic  form  in  French.    E.  g.: 


38 


BEL 


"Well,  sir,  seein^  as  it's  you;"  seein'  as  how  I  couldn't 
help  it." 

I  sent  you  no  more  peasen,  been  the  rest  would  not  have  suited  you.  —  Boucher's 
Glossary. 

And  beinrje  that  a  barrell  of  furs  was  lost  in  the  shippe,  the  collonie  hath  taken 
order  for  the  recruitinge  of  that  loss.  — Rhode  Island  Records,  1G58. 

The  charge  of  the  matter  shall  be  borne  b}^  the  towne  of  Warwick,  beinge  they 
have  been  at  some  charges  already.  —  Ibid.,  1659. 

"Got  a  prime  nigger,"  said  the  slave-trader;  "an  A  number  one  cook,  and 
no  mistake!  Picked  her  up  real  cheap,  and  I  'U  let  you  have  her  for  eight  hun- 
dred dollars,  beinrj  as  you  're  a  minister."  —  Mrs.  Stowe,  Dred,  Vol  I.  p.  313. 

The  mug  cost  fifteen  pence  when 't  was  new ;  but  bein'  it  had  an  old  crack  in 
it,  I  told  her  she  needn't  pay  but  a  shilling  for  it.  —  Mdjor  Downing. 

Bein"  ye  '11  help  Obed,  I  'II  give  ye  the  honey.  —  Margaret,  p.  20. 

Beliked.    Liked,  beloved.    A  Western  term. 

I  do  believe  me  and  Nancy  was  beliked  by  the  Indians ;  and  many 's  the  veni- 
son and  turkey  they  fotch'd  us  as  a  sort  of  present,  and  maybe  a  kind  of  pay 
for  breadstuffs  and  salt  Nancy  used  to  give  them.  —  Carlton,  The  New  Purchase. 

This  gentleman  is  generall}'  beliked  bv  his  fellow-citizens.  — Baltimore  Cor.  of 
theN.  Y.  Herald. 

Belittle.    To  make  smaller,  to  lower  in  character.  —  Webster.  To 
speak  of  a  thing  in  a  depreciatory  or  contemptuous  way. 

Mr.  Pickering  says:  A  well-known  English  Review,  in  enumer- 
ating the  faults  of  our  writers,  thus  mentions  this,  among  other 
words:  "President  Jefferson  talks  of  belittling  the  productions  of 
nature."  —  Q'^arL  Itev.,  X.  528. 

We  fear  men's  minds  grow  really  belittled,  where  they  ought  to  be  enlarged. 
Brook  Eastford,  p.  124. 

Mr.  Goodrich,  in  his  "  Reminiscences,"  says,  when  he  returned 
to  his  native  place,  after  many  years'  absence  in  Europe:  — 

Every  thing  looked  belittled,  degenerated  in  dimensions.  The  church  seemed 
small,  the  galleries  low,  the  pulpit  mean.  —  Vol.  I.  p.  309. 

"  I  won't  stand  that,"  said  Mr.  Slick,  "  I  won't  stay  here  and  see  you  belittle 
Uncle  Sam  for  nothin'.  He  ain't  worse  than  John  Bull,  arter  all."  — Snm  Slick 
in  England,  ch.  19. 

An  article  in  the  "  New  York  Times,"  Jan.  10,  1857,  relative  to 
Congressional  corruptions  being  made  the  subject  of  discussion  in 
the  House  of  Representatives,  says:  — 

Upon  a  motion  being  made  for  a  committee  of  investigation,  the  usual  efforts 
were  made  to  belitde  the  press,  and  treat  its  censures  with  contempt.  —  N.  Y. 
Times. 

Bellows  Fish.    See  Sea-Devil. 

Bellows-Top.    "  When  egg  was  beaten  in  it  [flip],  it  was  called  bellows- 
top  ;  partly,  perhaps,  from  its  superior  quality  and  partly  from  the 


BEL— BEN 


39 


greater  quantity  of  white  froth  that  swelled  to  the  top  of  it."  — Joel 

Parker,  Centennial  Address,  1873. 
Belly-Bender.    Floating  pieces  of  ice,  or  weak  ice,  which  bend  under 

one,  as  he  passes  from  one  cake  to  another.   Boys  take  great  pleasure 

in  this  precarious  amusement. 
Belly-Bound.    A  sort  of  apple.    (Fr.  telle  et  hon.)  Connecticut. 
Belly-Bumbo.    A  mode  of  sliding  down  hill  by  boys  on  their  sleds, 

when  lying  on  their  bellies.    See  Belly-Guts. 
Belly-Button.    The  navel. 

Belly-Plumper.  (Germ,  jw/owipen,  to  plump;  to  plunge.)  The  same 
as  Belbj-Guts,  No.  1.  Sometimes  when  the  slide  is  without  the  sled. 
Eastern  Massachusetts. 

Belly-Guts.    Move  commorAj  Belly  Gutter.  1.  A  term  applied  by  boys 
to  the  manner  of  sliding  down  hill  on  their  sleds,  when  lying  on 
their  bellies.    Boys  also  characterize  this  sport  by  the  names  of 
lelly-Jlounders,  Jlumps  and  bump.    See  Belly-Plumper,  Belly-Bumbo. 
2.  In  Pennsylvania,  molasses  candy  is  so  called. 

Bell  wort.    The  popular  name  of  plants  of  the  genus  Uvular  ia. 

Belongings.  In  the  "Washington  Union"  is  an  advertisement 
headed  "  Gentlemen's  Belongings  ;  "  from  which  it  appears  that  this 
term  means  the  under-garments  of  gentlemen,  such  as  shirts 
drawers,  stockings,  &c.  The  term  is  merely  a  Saxon  translation 
of  appurtenances. 

Bender.  In  New  York,  a  spree,  a  frolic.  To  "go  on  a  bender  is 
to  go  on  a  spree.  In  this  case,  a  man  comes  under  spiritual  influ- 
ences so  potent,  that,  not  being  able  to  stand  straight  under  them, 
he  must  bend. 

The  friends  of  the  new-married  couple  did  nothing  for  a  whole  month  but 
pmokeand  drink  metheglin  during  the  bender  they  called  the  honeymoon.  — Sain 
aiick,  Human  Nature,  p.  276. 

A  couple  of  students  of  Williams  College  went  over  to  North  Adams  on  a 
bender.    This  would  have  been  a  serious  matter  under  the  best  of  circumstances, 
but  each  returned  with  "a  brick  in  his  hat,"  &c.  —  Newspaper,  April,  1857. 
I  met  her  at  the  Chinese  room; 

She  wore  a  wreath  of  roses, 
She  walked  in  beauty  like  the  night. 

Her  breath  was  like  sweet  posies. 
I  led  her  through  the  festal  hall. 

Her  glance  was  soft  and  tender; 
She  whispered  gently  in  my  ear, 
"  Say,  Mose,  ain't  this  a  bender  ?  " 

Putnam's  Monthly,  Aug.,  1854. 

A  passenger  on  board  a  Mississippi  steamboat,  fast  aground  on  a 
sand-bar,  thus  describes  the  state  of  things:  — 


'40 


BER— BET 


The  captain  and  bar-keeper  were  playing  poker,  .  .  .  the  crew  all  on  a  bender 
in  the  engine-room,  firemen  all  drunk  on  the  boiler-deck,  and  everybody  gener- 
ally enjoying  themselves.  —  Doesticks,  p.  169. 

Bermudian  Vine.    See  Chicken-Grape. 

To  best.  To  get  the  better  of.  "I  've  bested  him  more  than  he  ever 
bested  me." 

Bestowment.  1.  The  act  of  giving  gratuitously;  a  conferring. — 
Webster.  This  word,  which  is  much  used  by  our  theological  writers, 
is  not  in  the  English  dictionaries. 

God  the  Father  had  committed  the  bestowment  of  the  blessings  purchased  to  his 
Son.  —  Edwards  on  Redemption. 
If  we  consider  the  bestowment  of  gifts  in  this  view.  —  Chauncy,  U.  Lab. 

2.  That  which  is  conferred  or  given.  —  Webster. 

They  strengthened  his  hands  by  their  liberal  bestowments  on  him  and  his  fam- 
ily. —  Christian  Magazine,  III.  665. 

The  free  and  munificent  bestowment  of  the  Sovereign  Judge.  —  Theody. 

Mr.  Todd  has  bestoival  in  his  edition  of  Johnson,  but  cites  no 
authority  for  its  use.  Dr.  Webster  thinks  bestowment  preferable  on 
account  of  the  concurrence  of  the  two  vowels  in  bestowal. 
Betterments.  (Generally  used  in  the  plural  number.)  1.  The  im- 
provements made  on  new  lands,  by  cultivation  and  the  erection  of 
buildings.  —  Pickering'' s  Vocabulary. 

2.  The  improvement  received  by  an  estate  from  the  widening  of 
a  highway,  and  also  the  sum  assessed  upon  such  estate  for  such 
improvement. 

"  This  word,"  adds  Mr.  Pickering,  "was  first  used  in  the  State 
of  Vermont.,  but  it  has  for  a  long  time  been  common  in  the  State  of 
New  Hampshire :  and  it  has  been  getting  into  use  in  some  parts  of 
Massachusetts,  since  the  passing  of  the  late  law,  similar  to  the  Bet- 
terment Acts  (as  they  are  called)  of  the  States  above  mentioned.  It 
is  not  to  be  found  in  Mr.  Webste7'\<i  nor  in  any  of  the  English  dic- 
tionaries that  I  have  seen,  except  Ash's;  and  there  it  is  called  '  a 
bad  word.'  It  is  thus  noticed  by  an  English  traveller  in  this 
country,  in  speaking  of  those  people  who  enter  upon  new  lands 
without  any  right,  and  proceed  to  cultivate  them  :  — 

These  men  demand  either  to  be  left  owners  of  the  soil  or  paid  for  their  better- 
ments ;  that  is,  for  what  they  have  done  towards  clearing  the  ground.  —  Kendall, 
Travels  in  the  United  States,  Vol.  III.  p.  160. 

Bettermost.  The  best.  The  word,  w^hich  is  provincial  in  England, 
is  used  in  Xew  England. 

The  bettermost  cow,  an  expression  we  do  not  find  in  Shakspeare  or  Milton.  — 
Mrs.  Kirkland. 


BET— BIG 


41 


Sometimes  is  heard  the  expression  hettermost  best;  as,  "These 
girls  are  dressed  in  their  hettermost  hest.^^ 

Betty.  (Ital.  boccetta.)  A  pear-shaped  bottle  wound  around  with 
straw,  in  which  olive  oil  is  brought  from  Italy.  Called  by  chemists 
a  "  Florence  flask." 

Between  Hay  and  Grass.  Neither  one  thing  nor  another.  Between 
boyhood  and  manhood.  Between  two  stages  of  existence,  of  pro- 
gress, age,  development,  &c. 

Bevel.    A  slope,  or  declivity.    Long  Island.    "  The  road  is  laid  on  a 
i.  e.  higher  in  the  middle.  — Forbi/^s  Vocah.  of  East  Anglia. 

B'hoys,  i.  e.  Boys,  a  name  applied  to  a  class  of  noisy  young  men  of 
the  lower  ranks  of  society  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

The  "New  York  Commercial  Advertiser,"  April  12,  1817,  in 
speaking  of  the  approaching  election,  uses  the  following  lan- 
guage:— 

All  the  b^hoys  wiM  vote, — ay,  more  than  all.  Let  every  Whig  do  his  duty. 
Another  year  with  a  Democratic  mayor,  — and  such  a  mayor  as  the  h^hoys  would 
force  upon  the  city !    Who  can  tell  what  the  taxes  will  be  ? 

Then  come,  every  friend  of  the  Union, 

Come,  old  men,  and  come,  ye  b'hoijs; 
Let 's  go  it  for  old  Rough  and  Ready, 

Who  never  was  scared  at  a  noise !  —  Political  Song. 

Bible  Christians.  The  "  Philadelphia  Mercury  "  thus  gives  a  summary 
of  the  creed  of  this  new  sect:  "  This  denomination  abstain  from  all 
animal  food  and  spirituous  liquors,  and  live  on  vegetables  and  fruits. 
They  maintain  the  unity  of  God,  the  divinity  of  Jesus,  and  the 
salvation  of  man,  attainable  only  by  a  life  of  obedience  to  the  light 
manifested  to  his  mind  and  a  grateful  acknowledgment  of  his  in- 
debtedness to  the  great  Giver  of  all." 

Biddable.  This  Irish  word  is  in  use  in  the  West.  "  White  servants 
are  not  biddable ; "  that  is,  manageable,  obedient,  tractable. 

Teach  your  boys,  too,  to  yoke  up  the  young  steers,  to  use  them  kindly,  with 
patient  perseverance,  to  make  them  as  bidable  [sic]  as  this  boy  has  made  these 
[now  on  exhibition]. — N.  Y.  Tribune,  Sept.  9,  1861,  Letter  from  Watertown^ 
N.  Y. 

Biddy.  An  Irish  servant  girl,  probably  from  ^riW^/e^,  a  common  name 
among  the  class. 

Big.    Great,  fine,  excellent.    The  ^^big  bell,"  the     big  altar,"  and 
the  "  6«/7  desk  "  of  a  church,  are  assuredly  big  vulgarisms.  The 
"  big  horn,"  for  the  last  trumpet,  is  almost  profane. 
"  Hello !  "  sez  he,  "  what 's  that  V  " 


42 


BIG 


"  That  ere,"  sez  I,  " 's  some  o'  the  biggest  whiskey  that  ever  slipped  down  a 
feller's  tliroat,  witiiout  sniellin'  o'  the  customs."  —  N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

Big  Bugs.  People  of  consequence.  Probably  the  origin  of  this  word 
lies  hid  in  some  anecdote  that  would  be  woiih  finding  out. 

Then  we  'II  go  to  the  Lord's  house,  —  I  don't  mean  to  the  meetin'  house,  but 
where  the  nobles  meet,  pick  out  the  big  bugs,  and  see  what  sort  o'  stuff  they  're 
made  of.  —  Sam  Slick  in  England,  ch.  24. 

These  preachers  dress  like  big  bugs,  and  go  ridin'  about  on  hundred-dollar 
horses,  a-spungin'  poor  priest-ridden  folks,  and  a-eaten  chicken-fixens  so  power- 
ful fast  that  chickens  has  got  scarce  in  these  diggins.  —  Carltoti's  New  Purchase, 
Vol.  II.  p.  140. 

The  free-and-easy  manner  in  which  the  hare-brained  Sir  Robert  Peel  described 
some  of  the  big  bugs  at  Moscow  has  got  him  into  difficulty.  — N.  Y.  Times,  Feb- 
ruary, 1857. 

Miss  Samson  Savage  is  one  of  the  big  bugs,  —  that  is,  she 's  got  more  money 
than  a'most  anybody  else  in  town.  —  Btdott  Papers,  p.  301. 

Big  Dog  In  some  parts  of  the  country,  the  principal  man  of  a  place 
or  in  an  undertaking  is  called  the  hig  dog  vnth  a  brass  collar,  as 
opposed  to  the  little  curs  not  thought  worthy  of  a  collar. 

Big  Drink.    1.  A  large  glass  of  liquor. 

2.  A  cant  term  applied,  at  the  South-west,  to  the  Mississippi  River. 

Well,  as  I  was  sayin',  off  I  sot,  went  through  Mississippi,  crossed  the  big  drink, 
come  too  now  and  then,  when  the  chill  come  it  too  strong,  but  couldn't  git  shut 
of  the  ager.  —  N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times,  Frontier  Incident. 

Big  Figure.  To  go  the  big  figure,  or  do  things  on  the  big  figure,  means 
to  do  them  on  a  large  scale.  This  vulgar  phrase  is  used  at  the  West 
and  South. 

Well,  I  glory  in  her  spunk,  but  it 's  monstrous  expensiA^e  and  unpleasant  to  do 
things  on  the  big  figure  that  she 's  on  now.  —  Major  Jones's  Courtship. 

Biggest.  Greatest,  finest,  most  excellent;  as,  "He's  the  biggest 
kind  of  a  musician." 

The  thermal  springs  are  regarded  by  the  trappers  as  the  breathing-places  of 
his  Satanic  majesty;  and  considered,  moreover,  to  be  the  biggest  kind  of  medi- 
cine to  be  found  in  the  mountains.  —  Buxton,  Life  in  the  Far  West,  p.  129. 

Biggest  Toad.  Biggest  toad  in  the  puddle.  A  Western  expression  for 
a  head-man ;  a  leader  of  a  political  party,  or  of  a  crowd.  Not  an 
elegant  expression,  though  sometimes  well  applied.  Thus  a  Western 
newspaper,  in  speaking  of  the  most  prominent  man  engaged  in  the 
political  contest  for  one  of  the  Presidential  candidates  before  Con- 
gress, says  :  "  IVIr.  D.  D.  F.  —  is  the  biggest  toad  in  the  puddle.^' 

Big  Head.    1.  A  swelling  of  the  head  in  cattle. 

2.  A  term  used  in  the  West  to  denote  that  affection  in  youth 
which  has  recently  found  a  more  elegant  designation  in  the  term 


BIG— BIL 


43 


•'Young  America."  It  is  applied  to  boys  who  smoke  cigars,  chew- 
tobacco,  drink  strong  liquors,  gamble,  and  treat  their  parents  and 
superiors  as  their  inferiors.  Of  such  a  boy  it  is  said,  "  He  has  got 
the  hig  head.^^    Also  called  sivell  head. 

Big  Horn.  (Ovis  montana.)  Another  name  for  the  Rocky  Mountain 
Sheep,  an  animal  extensively  distributed  through  North  America 
along  the  highlands  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  from  California  to  the 
parallel  of  68°.  —  i\  F.  Baird. 

Big  Meeting.  Common  in  the  West  for  "  protracted  meeting."  In 
country  towns  where  there  are  no  churches  and  where  preachers  are 
seldom  seen,  the  arrival  of  one  is  a  matter  of  importance  to  the 
whole  surrounding  region.  The  people  assemble  in  great  numbers 
and  from  a  distance,  and,  having  come  so  far,  one  sermon  will  not 
suffice;  so  for  several  days  together  religious  services  are  held. 
This  has  originally  no  reference  to  any  especial  interest  in  the 
hearers,  but  the  transition  to  the  ordinary  "protracted  meeting" 
is  natural. 

Big  Trees.  {Sequoia  gigantea,  Washingtonia,  WelUngtonia.)  The  giant 
pine  trees  of  California  are  universally  known  as  the  Big  Trees. 

Professor  Brewer  saw  trees  on  the  western  flanks  of  the  Sierra 
Madre,  one  of  which  measured  one  hundred  and  six  feet  in  circum- 
ference four  feet  above  the  ground,  and  was  two  hundred  and  seventy- 
six  feet  in  height.  Another  is  spoken  of  which  measured  one 
hundred  and  twelve  in  circumference,  but  had  been  broken  off  at 
the  height  of  three  hundred  feet,  where  it  was  eighteen  feet  in 
diameter.  It  was  conjectured  that,  when  entire,  it  could  not  have 
been  less  than  four  hundred  feet  in  height.  The  Redwood  {Se- 
quoia sempervirens),  another  of  these  giants  of  the  forest,  has  been 
found  growing  to  the  height  of  two  hundred  and  seventy  feet. 

The  industries  of  the  Pacific  coast,  like  the  big  trees,  grow  in  great  clumps; 
and  a  single  axe  well  laid  at  the  roots  will  do  surprising  things  among  them. 
But  the  ground  will  shake  when  these  Bonanza  kings  come  down.  — Providence 
Joumul,  May  5,  1876. 

Bilberry.  {Vaccinium .)  The  popular  name  of  shrubs  belonging  to 
different  species  of  whortleberry. 

Biling,  Bilen.  A  vulgar  pronunciation  of  boiling.  The  phrase  the 
whole  (or  more  commonly  hull)  kit  and  hilin^  means  the  whole  lot, 
applied  to  persons  or  things. 

The  United  States  Marshal,  who  was  looking  for  crooked  whiskey,  was  on  his 
way  to  arrest  the  whvh  biliii'  of  [men]  for  treasonable  proceedings.  — Petroleum 
V.  Nasby. 


44 


BIL— BIT 


Yes,  Evelina,  I 've  been  pisoned,  —  so  are  all  the  Lowerys,  the  whole  hd'ui'  of 
them ;  and  somebody  ought  to  be  hung  for  it,  —  who,  I  can't  say.  —  Grindtr 
Papers^  p.  101. 

Bilk.  Tn  the  Far  West,  the  most  degrading  epithet  that  one  can  apply 
to  another  is  to  call  him  a  hilk. 

The  term  was  entirely  novel  to  me,  and  I  first  asked  its  meaning  of  a  landlord, 
who  explained  to  me  by  saying  that  a  hilk  is  a  man  who  never  misses  a  meal 
and  never  pays  a  cent.  —  McClure,  Rocky  Mountain^  p.  211. 

Bill-Board.    A  board  on  which  to  affix  handbills  or  bulletins. 

A  bill-board  is  the  only  news-sheet  we  know  of  which  is  subject  to  the  editorial 
supervision  of  every  man  who  comes  along;  yet  people  who  fail  ignominiously  in 
their  efforts  to  edit  a  bill-board  are  firmly  convinced  that  they  could  edit  a  news- 
paper. —  Rome  {N.  Y.)  Sentinel. 

Bill-Fish.  (Belone  truncata.)  A  small  sea-fish  fond  of  running  up 
into  fresh  water  during  the  summer,  and  often  taken  a  considerable 
distance  from  the  ocean.    Also  called  Sea-pike,  Silver  Gar-fish,  &c. 

Billy.  A  weapon  used  by  desperadoes,  and  sometimes  carried  by 
policemen.    See  Slung-Shot. 

A  day  or  two  since  a  poor  German  was  taken  to  prison,  and,  on  examining 
him,  it  was  discovered  that  he  was  a  victim  to  the  billy.  —  N.  Y.  Herald. 

Bindweed.  The  popular  name  in  Massachusetts  for  the  convolvulus. 
—  B!gelow''s  Flora.  This  term  is  preferable  to  the  provincial  Eng- 
lish "  Robin  run  over  the  hedge." 

Bindery.    A  place  where  books  are  bound. 

Bird's-eye  Limestone.    The  name  of  a  formation  in  the  New  York 

system  of  Geology. 
Bishop.    An  appendage  to  a  lady's  wardrobe,  otherwise  called  a 
Bustle. 

I  sing  the  bishop,  alias  the  bustle, 

A  theme  transcendent  for  a  human  tongue; 
Prepare,  my  muse,  for  a  heroic  tussel ! 

Let  ever}^  nerve  with  energy  be  strung! 

The  Bustle,  a  Philos.  Poem. 

Mr.  Saxe,  in  his  poem  on  "  Progress,"  says  that  Imperial  Fash- 
ion decides  the  gravest  questions  which  divide  the  world. 

If  wrong  may  not,  hy  circumstance,  be  right,  — 
If  black  cravats  be  more  genteel  than  white  — • 
If,  by  her  bishop,  or  her  "grace,"  alona 
A  genuine  lady,  or  a  church,  is  known. 

Bison.    See  Buffalo. 

Bit.  (Span,  pieza.)  The  name,  in  some  Southern  States,  of  a  silver 
coin  of  the  value  of  one  eighth  of  a  dollar,  the  Spanish  real  (de 


BLA 


45 


plata).   It  is  called  also  an  eleven  penny  hit  or  a  levy.    See  the  article 
Federal  Currency. 
Black,  n.    A  slave. 

Black,  adj.    Pertaining  to,  consisting  in,  favorable  or  unfavorable  to, 
a  negi'o  or  slave. 

They  proclaim  the  emancipation  of  the  -whites  from  slave-holding  thraldom, 
and  predict  that  the  downfall  of  Blach  bondage  is  not  far  distant.  —  The  Inde- 
pendent, Nov.  14,  1861,  Art.  by  H.  Greeley. 

Black  Bass.    1.  A  favorite  game  fish,  found  in  abundance  in  most  of 
our  Northern  lakes  and  Western  rivers. 

2.  On  the  Jersey  coast,  this  name  is  also  given  to  the  Sea  Bass. 
(^Centropristes  nigricans.') 

Blackberry.    This  term  is  universal  in  the  United  States  for  the  Eng- 
lish Bramble-berry. 

Blackberry  Bush.  Bramble-bush. 

Blackfish.    See  Tautaug. 

Blackgum.    (Geim^  Nyssa.)    A  tree  common  to  the  Middle  States. 

Blackie.    A  negro;  formerly  in  the  Southern  States,  a  slave. 

Families  and  hotels  cannot  depend  on  their  servants  \i.  e.  slaves]  remaining  to 
cook  the  morrow's  dinner;  and  helpless  misses  and  masters,  who  have  needed 
Blackie  to  pull  on  their  stockings  and  brush  their  hair,  are  brought  to  contem- 
plate the  awful  time  when  they  must  take  care  of  their  own  hose  and  hair.  — 
N.  Y.  Tribune,  June  13,  1862,  Letter  from  Beaufort,  N.  C 

Black- Jack.    1.  The  Quercus  nigra,  or  Barren  Oak;  its  more  common 
name  is  Scrub  Oak. 

2.  Rum  sweetened  with  molasses.    New  England. 

3.  A  face  blackened  by  difficulty  of  breathing;  as  the  cause  of 
such  a  face,  hanging. 

If  the  rebel  troops  become  guerillas,  they  will  have  to  be  hung.  The  blach- 
jacks  will  be  far  more  fatal  to  them  than  yellow  jack  was  to  our  troops.  —  iV.  Y. 
Observer,  June  5,  1862. 

4.  A  miner's  name  for  an  ore  of  zinc.  It  is  composed  of  sulphur 
and  zinc,  and  chemically  is  sulphuret  of  zinc.  It  is  often  associated 
■with  a  lead  ore  called  galena,  and  its  presence  in  such  cases  is  always 
objectionable  and  lessens  the  value  of  the  lead  ore.  The  Black  Hills^ 
Cor.  of  the  Philadelphia  Times  says : — 

"  We  found  here  a  small  laj'er  of  silver  ore  containing  lead  and  some  copper, 
and  a  large  underlayer  of  blackjack  of  too  poor  a  quality  to  work.  The  green- 
horns here  call  this  blackjack  galena,  and  some  are  actually  putting  it  up  for 
galena." 

Black  Maria.    A  close,  box-carriage,  generally  painted  black,  used 
for  carrying  convicts  to  a  prison  or  penitentiary. 


46 


BLA 


Blackstrap.  Gin  and  molasses.  The  English  sailors  call  the  com- 
mon uines  of  the  Mediterranean  blackstrap.  —  Falconer^s  Marine 
Dictionary. 

Come,  Molly  dear,  no  blackstrap  to-night,  switchel  or  ginger  pop.  — Marrjaret^ 
p.  300. 

Mister,  I  guess  you  never  drink'd  no  blackstrap,  did  you  ?  Why,  bless  you, 
it 's  the  sweetest  drink  that  ever  streaked  down  a  gullet.  —  IlilVs  Yankee  Stories. 

Blackstrap  in  old  times  was  the  common  beverage  of  engine  com- 
panies at  fires  in  Boston,  and  is  thus  poetically  alluded  to  by  one  of 
her  writers :  — 

But  oh !  let  blackstraj)^ s  sable  god  deplore 
Those  engine-heroes  so  renowned  of  yore ! 

Harvard  Rer/ister,  p.  2.35. 

Blackwood.    Hemlock,  pine,  spruce,  and  fir.  Maine. 

Bladder-Tree.  {Straphylea.^  A  handsome  shrub,  from  six  to  ten  feet; 
high,  remarkable  for  its  large  inflated  capsules.  —  Bigdow^s  Flora 
Bostoniensis. 

Bladder-Wort.  (Utricularia  vulgaris.)  The  popular  name  of  an 
aquatic  plant,  appearing  above  water  only  with  its  stalks  and  flowers. 
—  Ibid. 

Blamed.    A  euphemism  for  doomed  or  damned.    New  England. 

Blanket.  A  term  used  distinctively  for  the  clothing  of  an  Indian.  To 
say  of  one's  father  or  mother  that  they  "  wore  the  blanket  "  implies 
that  they  were  but  half-civilized  Indians.  Western. 

Blanket  Coat.  A  coat  made  from  a  blanket,  common  in  the  AVest, 
and  often  seen  with  the  black  stripe  of  the  border  of  the  original 
blanket  crossing  various  parts  of  the  garment.  Such  a  coat,  of  a 
bright  blue,  would  be  deemed  a  great  oddity  in  the  Atlantic  States ; 
in  the  West,  a  green  one  would  be  considered  equally  ridiculous. 
See  Macldnaw  Blanket. 

Blanket  Indian.  A  wild  Indian,  whose  principal  article  of  dress  is 
the  blanket. 

Blatancy.    A  blatant  habit ;  quality  of  being  blatant. 

The  senile  weakness  of  Crittenden,  the  loud-mouthed  blatancy  of  Vallandigham, 
and  the  harmless  venom  of  Cox.  —  X.  Y.  Tribune,  April  15,  1802,  Letter  from 
Washington. 

Blauser.  (Dutch,  blazer,  a  blower.)  The  name  given  by  the  Dutch 
settlers  to  the  hog-nosed  snake,  from  its  habit  of  distending  or 
blowing  up  the  skin  of  its  neck  and  head.  The  other  popular  names 
in  Xew  York  are  Deaf- Adder  and  Buckwheat-nosed  Adder.  —  Nat. 
Hist,  of  New  York. 


BLA— BLO 


47 


Blaze.  In  traversing  the  dense  forests  of  the  West,  a  person  would 
soon  lose  his  way  and  find  it  difficult  to  retrace  his  steps,  without 
some  landmark.  This  is  made  by  cutting  a  piece  out  of  the  side 
of  trees  at  a  sufficient  distance  from  each  other  to  enable  the  trav- 
eller readily  to  discover  them,  and  thus  follow  the  direct  path  oi 
road.  Such  a  mark  is  called  a  hlaze^  and  trees  thus  marked  are 
said  to  be  blazed.  That  horse  has  a  blazed  forehead,"  meaning 
a  white  spot  on  it. 

Tliree  blazes  in  a  perpendicular  line  on  the  same  tree  indicating  a  legislative 
road;  the  single  blaze,  a  settlement  or  neighborhood  road.  —  Carlton,  The  Niia 
Purchase. 

After  traversing  a  broad  marsh,  however,  where  my  horse  seemed  loath  to  ven- 
ture, I  struck  a  burr-oak  opening,  and  soon  found  my  way  by  the  Mazed  trees 
back  to  the  mail  trail.  —  Hoffman,  Winter  in  the  West. 

I  kept  the  banks  of  the  bayou,  and  determined  to  mark  the  tree  with  a  blaze. 
—  A  Stray  Yankee  in  Texas,  p.  63. 

Do  you  see  that  6Za2e  in  the  hemlock  tree?  Well,  he  up  and  as  quick  as  a 
wink  fired  and  liit  it  in  the  centre.  —  S.  Slick,  Human  Nature,  p.  112. 

To  blaze  or  blaze  out.  To  designate  by  blazing  (see  the  preceding 
article) ;  to  mark  out. 

Champollion  died  in  1832,  having  done  little  more  than  blaze  out  the  road  to  be 
travelled  by  others.  —  NotVs  Chronoloijy,  Ancient  and  Scr'qdural,  p.  36. 

Blazing  Star.  (Alefris  farinosa.)  A  plant,  the  root  of  which  is 
greatly  esteemed  by  the  Indians  and  people  of  the  West  for  its 
medicinal  virtues.  It  is  also  called  Devil's  Bit.  Both  names  are 
also  applied  to  other  and  very  different  plants. 

Blickey.  (Dutch,  blik,  tin.)  In  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  a  tin 
pail. 

Blind  Eel.    When  a  fisherman  brings  up  a  piece  of  sea-weed  on  his 

hook,  he  is  said  to  have  caught  a  blind  eel. 
Blizzard.    A  poser.    This  word  is  not  known  in  the  Eastern  States. 

A  gentleman  at  dinner  asked  me  for  a  toast;  and,  supposing  he  meant  to  have 
some  fun  at  my  expense,  I  concluded  to  go  ahead,  and  give  him  and  his  likes  a 
blizzard.  —  CrocketVs  Tour,  p.  16. 

Bloated  Eels.    Eels  skinned  and  eviscerated.  Connecticut. 

To  blind  a  Trail.  To  conceal  a  person's  foot-prints,  or  to  give  them 
the  appearance  of  going  in  a  different  direction;  and,  figuratively, 
to  deceive  a  person  by  putting  him  on  the  wrong  track. 

Block.  A  term  applied  in  America  to  a  square  mass  of  houses  in- 
cluded between  four  streets.  It  is  a  very  useful  one.  The  term  is 
used  in  the  "  London  Quarterly  Review,"  vol.  Ixxxviii.  p.  477,  in  an 
article  on  "  Sanitary  Consolidation."   It  is  also  applied,  sometimes. 


48 


BLO 


to  large  houses  or  other  large  buildings,  which  have  accommodations 
for  several  families,  several  shops,  &c. 

Such  an  average  block,  comprising  two  hundred  and  eighty-two  houses  and 
covering  nine  acres  of  ground,  exists  in  Oxford  Street.  It  forms  a  compact  square 
mass,  or  "insula,"  to  borrow  a  term  from  the  Komans,  favorably  situated  for 
military  engineering. 

This  term  is  not  universal,  for  in  many  cities  square  is  used. 
A  Mock  of  shares  is  a  Wall  Street  phrase,  and  means  a  large 
number  of  shares  in  a  railroad  or  other  stock  company  massed  to- 
gether and  sold  in  a  lump. 
Blockade.    Embarrassment  to  shipping  by  ice;  an  ice-field. 

The  condition  of  the  ice  at  Port  Huron,  Michigan,  is  unchanged.  The  field 
has  reached  St.  Clair  River.  .  .  .  The  blockade  will  remain  until,  &c.  —  Boston 
Journal. 

Block-Island  Turkey.    Salted  codfish.    Common  in  Connecticut  and 

Rhode  Island.    Comp.  Taunton  Turkey. 
Blooded.    Blooded  cattle^  or  stock,  is  a  term  applied  to  horses,  horned 

cattle,  swine,  &c.,  of  choice  breeds. 

Blood  Orange.  An  orange,  the  pulp  and  juice  of  which  are  reddish 
or  blood-like  in  their  color. 

Blood-Root.  (Sanguinaria  Canadensis.)  The  plant  is  so  called  from 
the  blood-red  juice  which  exudes  from  a  fresh  root  when  broken. 
See  Puccoon. 

Blood-Tubs.  A  set  of  rowdies  in  Baltimore,  chiefly  butchers,  who 
got  their  epithet  from  having  on  an  election  day  dipped  an  obnox- 
ious German  head  down  in  a  tub  of  warm  blood,  and  then  di'ove 
him  running  through  the  town.    See  Plug-  Ugly. 

From  the  song  of  the  Irish  Legion,  written  after  the  attack  on 
the  Union  soldiers  while  passing  through  Baltimore,  in  1861:  — 

Blood-Tubs  and  Plug-Uglies,  and  others  galore, 
Are  sick  for  a  thrashing  in  sweet  Baltimore; 
Be  jabers!  that  same  I 'd  be  proud  to  inform 
Of  the  terrible  force  of  an  Irishman's  arm. 

Bloomer.  The  Bloomer  costume  is  one  devised  by  a  Mrs.  Bloomer, 
and  worn  by  some  of  the  more  ardent  advocates  for  woman's  rights. 
It  consists  of  a  short  gown,  reaching  a  little  below  the  knees,  and 
pantalettes. 

To  blow.  1.  To  boast,  brag;  to  "  talk  big."  "  You  blow  behind  my 
back,  but  dare  not  say  any  thing  to  my  face." 

2.  To  expose  one. 

3.  To  flout  at;  to  reproach;  to  censure. 


BLO— BLU 


49 


Blower.  1.  A  plate  of  sheet-iron,  used  to  partially  stop  the  opening 
of  a  grate  or  furnace,  and  thus  increase  the  draft. 

2.  A  braggart;  a  teller  of  incredible  anecdotes,  feats,  and  hair- 
breadth escapes. 

Blowin'  his  Bazoo.    Gasconade ;  braggadocio.  Tennessee. 

Blow  of  Cotton.    In  the  South,  the  bursting  of  the  pods. 

Blow  out.  A  festive  entertainment.  Frequently  used  for  a  party  or 
ball.    "  Mr.  B  gave  a  big  '  blow  out,^  last  night,"  &c. 

To  blow  out.  To  talk  violently  or  abusively.  The  pious  Uncle  Tiif , 
as  related  by  Mrs.  Stowe,  wonders  how  people  get  to  heaven  among 
the  conflicting  doctrines. 

Dere's  de  Methodists,  dey  cuts  up  de  Presbyterians;  de  Presbyterians  pitch 
into  de  Methodists,  and  both  are  down  on  de  Episcopals  ;  while  de  Baptists  tink 
dey  none  on  dem  right ;  and  while  dey 's  all  blowing  out  at  each  other  dat  ar  way, 
I 's  wondering  whar's  de  way  to  Canaan.  — Mrs.  Stowe,  Dred,  Vol.  I.  p.  276. 

To  blow  up.  To  give  one  a  blowing  up  is  to  accuse,  berate,  or 
denounce  him;  to  scold. 

Blowth.  (Ang.-Sax.  Ablossom.)  The  blossoming  of  flowers.  "Ther's 
ben  a  good  blowth  o'  apples  this  year;  "  i.  e.,  the  flowers  are  numer- 
ous. The  word  is  provincial  in  the  west  of  England,  and  is  pre- 
served in  New  England.  'l^ 

The  first  age  after  the  flood  was,  by  ancient  historians,  called  Golden.  Ambi- 
tion and  covetousness  being  as  then  but  green  and  newly  grcfwn  up ;  the  seeds 
and  effects  whereof  were  as  yet  but  potential,  and  in  the  blowth  and  bud.  — 
Raleigh,  Hist,  of  the  World,  Part  1,  book  1,  ch.  9,  p.  107,  edit.  1677. 

Blue.  1.  Gloomy,  severe;  extreme,  ultra.  In  the  former  sense,  it  is 
applied  especially  to  the  Presbyterians,  to  denote  their  severe  and 
mortified  appearance.  Thus,  beneath  an  old  portrait  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  in  the  Woodburn  Galleiy,  is  the  following  inscrip- 
tion :  — 

A  true  blue  Priest,  a  Lincey  Woolsey  Brother, 
One  legg  a  pulpit  holds,  a  tub  the  other ; 
An  Orthodox  grave,  moderate  Presbyterian, 
Half  surplice  cloake,  half  Priest,  half  Puritan. 
Made  up  of  all  these  halfes,  hee  cannot  pass 
For  any  thing  entirely  but  an  ass. 

In  the  latter  sense,  it  is  used  particularly  in  politics. 

The  bluest  description  of  old  Van  Rensselaer  Federalists  have  followed  Colo- 
nel Prentiss  (in  Otsego  County).  —  N.  Y.  Tiibune. 

2.  A  synonyme  in  the  tippler's  vocabulary  for  drunk.  To  drink 
*'  till  all 's  blue  "  is  to  get  exceedingly  tipsy. 

Blue  Backs.    A  term  applied  to  the  paper  money  of  the  Confederate 

4 


50 


BLU 


government  in  contradistinction  to  the  Greenbacks  of  the  North. 
When  they  depreciated,  they  became  known  as  shucks. 

Blue-Berry.  (Vaccinium  tenellum.)  A  fruit  resembling  the  whortle- 
berry in  appearance  and  taste. 

Blue-Blood.    An  aristocrat;  one  of  high  family. 

"  The  Nation  "  itself  declares  that  Professor  Seelye  was  elected  to  Conj^ess  by 
a  thoroup^hl}^  blue-blood  Massachusetts  community.  —  Let.  of  Gail  Hamilton  in 
N.  Y.  Tnbune.  The  writer  adds,  "  No  sooner  did  Professor  Seelye  deliver  an 
opinion  opposed  to  that  of  'The  Nation,'  than  that  journal — to  use  a  pioneer 
[backwoodsman's]  but  picturesque  Western  phrase  —  sat  up  on  its  hind  legs  and 
howled." 

Blue-blooded.  Proud  of  assumed  high  descent;  regarding  one's  self 
as  of  good  birth. 

This  high-toned  and  blue-blooded  Christian  statesman  was  [so  thought  or  said 
"  The  Nation  "]  the  victim  of  disease.  —  Ibid. 

Blue-Book.  A  printed  book  containing  the  names  of  all  the  persons 
holding  office  under  the  government  of  the  United  States,  with  their 
place  of  birth,  amount  of  salary,  &c.  It  answers  to  the  Red-Book 
of  England  and  Canada. 

Blue  Curls.  (Trichostema  dicliotomum.)  From  the  shape  and  color  of 
its  flowers.  A  common  plant  resembling  pennyroyal,  and  hence 
called  bastard  pennyroyal. 

Blue-Fish.  {Temnodon  saltator.)  A  salt-water  fish  of  the  mackerel 
order,  but  larger  in  size.  It  is  one  of  the  most  voracious  fishes  on 
the  Atlantic  coast.  It  bites  readily  at  any  object  drawn  rapidly 
through  the  water;  as  a  bone  squid  or  metal  spoon,  a  minnow,  white 
rag,  and  in  fact  any  conspicuous  bait.  On  the  Jersey  coast,  these 
fish  are  called  Horse-mackerel;  and  in  Virginia,  Salt-water  Tailors. 
Another  name  is  the  Skip-jack.  On  the  Jersey  coast,  the  name 
Blue-fisli  is  applied  to  the  Weak-fish,  Squeteauge,  or  Chickwit. 
See  Horse- Mackerel. 

Blue-Grass.  The  name  of  the  grass  of  the  rich  limestone  land  of  Ken- 
tucky and  Tennessee.  It  affords  pasture  for  ten  or  eleven  months 
in  the  year,  and  flourishes  in  the  partial  shade  of  the  woods  in  which 
there  is  no  undergrowth.  The  change  from  the  fertile  soil  upon 
which  this  grass  flourishes  to  that  which  is  pooi-er  is  sudden  and 
well  marked.  Hence  the  term  "  Blue-grass  "  is  applied  both  to  the 
region  and  its  inhabitants.  "  Grape-vine,"  for  similar  reasons,  is 
used  in  opposition  to  "Blue-grass,"  although  not  with  equal  pro- 
priety, as  the  vine  does  grow  well  on  either  soil,  while  the  blue-grass 
does  not.  —  Oweii's  Geological  Survey  of  Kentucky. 


BLU 


51 


A  look  at  the  Blue-Grass  region  of  Kentucky  will  of  itself  make  one  forget  the 
fatigues  of  a  journey  from  New  York.  "  God's  own  country  "  was  the  charac- 
terization given  by  one  gentleman.  Here  are  the  celebrated  stock  farms,  where 
the  racehorses  of  the  country  are  bred.  —  Corr.  N.  Y.  Post,  June,  1877. 

In  Maryland  and  some  other  States,  the  term  is  applied  to  a  spe- 
cies of  grass  that  volunteers  and  causes  much  trouble;  being  injuri- 
ous to  wheat  and  clover,  and  hard  to  eradicate.  In  Connecticut, 
Quickgrass,  or  TicitcJigrass. 

Blue  Hen.    A  popular  name  applied  to  the  State  of  Delaware. 

Blue  Hen's  Chickens.  The  sobriquet  or  cant  name  of  the  people  of 
Delaware. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  there  lived  in  Sussex 
County  of  that  colony  a  gentleman  of  fortune,  named  Caldwell,  who 
was  a  sportsman  and  breeder  of  fine  horses  and  game-cocks.  His 
favorite  axiom  was,  that  the  character  of  the  progeny  depends  more 
on  the  mother  than  on  the  father,  and  that  the  finest  game-cocks 
depended  on  the  hen,  rather  than  on  the  cock.  His  observation 
led  him  to  select  a  blue  hen  and  he  never  failed  to  hatch  a  good 
game-cock  from  a  blue  hen's  egg.  Caldwell  distinguished  himself 
as  an  officer  in  the  First  Delaware  Regiment  for  his  daring  spirit. 
The  high  state  of  its  discipline  was  conceded  to  his  exertions,  so 
that  when  officers  were  sent  on  recruiting  service  it  was  said  that 
they  had  gone  home  for  more  of  Caldwell's  game-cocks ;  but,  as  Cald- 
well insisted  that  no  cock  could  be  truly  game  unless  its  mother 
was  a  blue  hen,  the  expression  Blue  Hen^s  ChicJcens  was  substituted 
for  game-cocks.  —  Delaware  Slate  Journal,  July,  1860. 

Let  the  word  be  Forward !  Until  you  see  the  Stars  and  Stripes  floating  over 
Sumter,  and  every  other  fort  in  the  harbor  in  the  city  of  Charleston.  Delaware's 
honor  is  in  your  hands.  .  .  .  Blue  Hen's  Chickens  to  the  front !  Forward! 
March!  —  Delaware  Inquirer,  May  5,  1801. 

Blue  Laws.  Where  and  how  the  story  of  the  Xew  Haven  Blue  Laws 
originated  is  a  matter  of  some  curiosity.  According  to  Dr.  Peters, 
the  epithet  blue  was  applied  to  the  laws  of  New  Haven  by  the  neigh- 
boring colonies,  because  these  laws  were  thought  peculiarly  sangui- 
nary; and  he  says  that  blue  is  equivalent  to  bloody.  It  is  a  sufficient 
refutation  of  this  account  of  the  matter  to  say  that,  if  there  was 
any  distinction  between  the  colony  of  New  Haven  and  the  other 
united  colonies  of  New  England  in  the  severity  of  their  punishments, 
New  Haven  was  the  last  of  the  number  to  gain  this  bad  pre-emi- 
nence. Others  have  said  that  certain  laws  of  New  Haven,  of  a 
more  private  and  domestic  kind,  were  bound  in  a  blue  cover;  and 
hence  the  name.    This  explanation  has  as  little  probability  as  the 


52 


BLU 


preceding  for  its  support.  It  is  well  known  that,  on  the  restoration 
of  Charles  II.,  the  Puritans  became  the  subject  of  every  kind  of 
reproach  and  contumely.  Not  only  what  was  deserving  of  censure 
in  their  deportment,  but  their  moi-ality,  was  especially  held  up  to 
scorn.  The  epithet  Uue  was  applied  to  any  one  who  looked  with 
disapprobation  on  the  licentiousness  of  the  times.  The  Presbyte- 
rians, under  which  name  all  dissenters  were  often  included,  as  they 
still  dared  to  be  the  advocates  of  decency,  were  more  particularly 
•  designated  by  this  term;  their  religion  and  their  morality  being 
marked  by  it  as  mean  and  contemptible.    Thus  Butler  :  — 

For  his  religion,  it  was  fit 

To  match  his  learning  and  his  wit ; 

'Twas  Presbyterian  true  blue.—  Hudib.,  Canto  I. 

That  this  epithet  of  derision  should  find  its  way  to  the  colonies 
was  a  matter  of  course.  It  was  here  applied  not  only  to  persons, 
but  to  customs,  institutions,  and  laws  of  the  Puritans,  by  those  who 
wished  to  render  the  prevailing  system  ridiculous.  Hence  probably 
a  belief  with  some,  that  a  distinct  system  of  laws,  known  as  the 
Blue  Laws,  must  have  somewhere  a  local  habitation.  —  Praf.  Kings- 
ley'' s  Hist.  Discourse. 

Blue  Law  State.  Connecticut. 

Blue-Lights.  During  the  war  of  1812,  while  the  British  fleet  lay  off 
New  London,  blue  lights  were  often  seen  at  night  near  the  shore, 
which  were  attributed  by  Commodore  Decatur  (whose  vessels  lay 
there  for  security)  to  persons  who  were  friendly  to  the  British,  and 
hence  traitors.  The  conclusion  was  an  unjust  one,  as  no  American 
was  ever  discovered  or  even  suspected  of  burning  them.  Hence, 
says  Mr.  Goodrich,  "  Blue-lights,  meaning  treason  on  the  part  of 
Connecticut  Federalists  during  the  war,  is  a  standard  word  in  the 
flash  dictionary  of  Democracy."  "  Even  to  this  day,"  he  says  else- 
where, "Connecticut  Blue-Lights  are  the  grizzly  monsters  with 
which  the  nursing  fathers  and  mothers  of  Democracy  frighten  their 
children  into  obedience  —  just  before  elections!" — Recollections, 
Vol.  1.  p.  439  and  484. 

Horace  Greeley,  and  a  train  of  real  blue  light  Clayites  from  your  State,  have 
arrived  this  morning,  and  make  their  head-quarters  at  the  Franklin.  Horace  has 
fastened  on  his  armor  with  rivets  and  hammer,  and  the  Taylor  men  will  find  him 
a  regular  ''barnburner!  "  —  New  York  Herald. 

Blue-Nose.    The  slang  name  for  a  native  of  Nova  Scotia. 

"  Pray,  sir,"  said  one  of  my  fellow-passengers,  "can  you  tell  me  why  the  Nora 
Scotians  are  called  '  Blue-Noses  ? '  " 


BLU 


53 


"It  is  the  name  of  a  potato,"  said  I,  "which  they  produce  in  great  perfection, 
and  boast  to  be  the  best  in  the  world.  The  Americans  have,  in  consequence, 
given  them  the  nickname  of  Blue.-Noses.'"  —  Sam  Slick. 

The  sort  o'  trash  a  feller  gits  to  eat  doos  beat  all  nater. 

I 'd  give  a  year's  pay  for  a  smell  o'  one  good  blue-nose  later. 

Lowell^  The  Biylow  Papers. 
Do  you  know  the  reason  monkeys  are  no  good?    Because  they  chatter  all  day 
long,  —  so  do  the  niggers,  —  and  so  do  the  Blue-Noses  of  Nova  Scotia.  —  Sam 
Slick. 

After  a  run  [in  the  steamer]  of  fourteen  days,  we  entered  the  harbor  of  Hali- 
fax, amid  the  hearty  cheers  of  a  large  number  of  Blue-Noses.  —  Sir  George  Simp- 
son's Overland  Journey,  Vol.  I.  p.  19. 

Blue  Perch.    See  Bur  gall. 

Blue  Pill.    A  bullet. 

Between  blue  j^iUs,  halters,  and  the  penitentiary,  we  shall  soon  work  off  this 
element  of  rascaldom  and  horse-thieves. — N.  Y.  Tnbune,  Let.  from,  Missouri, 
Nov.  19,  1861. 

Blue-Skins.  A  nickname  applied  to  the  Presbyterians,  from  their 
alleged  grave  deportment. 

Blue-Stocking.  The  American  avocet  (Recurvirostra  Americana) .  A 
common  bird  in  the  Northern  States. 

Bluets.  (Oldentandriaccerulea.)  A  delicate  little  herb,  producing  in 
spring  a  profusion  of  light-blue  flowers  fading  to  white,  with  a 
yellowish  eye.  —  Gray,  The  Houstonia  of  Linnaeus. 

Blue  Weed.  (Chicorium.)  Wild  endive,  bearing  a  large  dark-blue 
flower.    New  England. 

Bluff,  n.  A  high  bank,  almost  perpendicular,  projecting  into  the  sea. 

In  America,  it  is  applied  to:  1.  A  high  bank,  presenting  a  steep 
front  along  a  river,  in  the  interior  of  the  country.  Hence  it  is  also 
used  as  a  geological  term  to  denote  the  lacustrine  formation  where 
these  high  banks  occur. 

Here  you  have  the  advantage  of  mountain,  bluff,  interval,  to  set  off  the  view. 
—  Margaret,  p.  282. 

2.  A  game  of  cards,  alias  Poker. 

To  bluff  off.  To  put  off  a  troublesome  questioner  or  dun  with  a  grufE 
answer ;  to  frighten  a  person  in  any  way,  in  order  to  deter  him  from 
accomplishing  his  ends. 

"I  goes  you  five  dollars,  this  time,"  says  Jim,  posting  at  the  same  time  the 
tin. 

"I  sees  dat,  and  I  goes  you  ten  better,"  said  Bill;  "you  ain't  a-goin'  to  bluff 
dis  child,  nshow  you  can  fix  it." 


64 


BLU— BOA 


"  I  sees  you  again,"  said  Jim,  "  and  goes  you  forty  better ;  dis  Orleans  nigger 
won't  stay  stumped,  dat  I  tells  you,  sartin."  —  N.  Y.  Sjnnt  of  the  Times. 

In  the  course  of  the  dispute,  Jim  let  out  some  offensive  remark,  which  brought 
a  rejoinder  from  Joe.  The  former  tried  the  bluffiufj  system;  but  Joe  said  he  had 
stood  enough,  and  would  put  up  with  no  more  insults  from  his  bullying  neighbor. 
—  Southern  Sketches,  p.  137. 

To  bluff  on  Poker  is  to  bet  on  a  worthless  hand  as  if  it  were  a  good 
hand,  and  force  your  antagonist  to  back  down  in  fear;  so  to  hluff  a 
man,  and  to  hluff  him  off,  are  slightly  different,  the  latter  probably 
being  English,  the  former  the  technical  form  of  "Bluffing  oif," 
which  the  game  brings  about. 

Blummeohies.  (Dutch.)  This  Dutch  word  for  small  flowers  is  still 
preserved  in  the  New  York  markets. 

Blummies.  (Dutch.)  Flowers.  In  the  State  of  New  York,  and  par- 
ticularly in  the  city  and  along  the  Hudson  and  Mohawk  Rivers. 

A  gentleman,  ruralizing  along  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  stopped 
to  pick  some  wild  flowers  near  where  sat  an  aged  man,  and  said:  — 

"These  flowers  are  beautiful,  — it  is  a  treat  for  one  from  the  city  to  gaze  on 
them !  " 

"  Flowers  ?"  replied  the  old  man,  with  an  air  of  bewilderment.  "Flowers! 
what  be  they  ?  " 

"  Why,  these!  "  replied  I,  stooping  and  picking  some. 

"  Oh,  the  blummies  !   Yes,  the  blummies  be  very  thick  hereabouts !  "  he  replied. 

Blur-eyed.  Blear-eyed.  "  The  &^Mr-e?/ec?  slanderer. "  —  N.Y.  Tribune, 
June  14,  1862. 

To  board  round.  To  supply,  to  receive  board  in  rotation;  as,  "  to 
board  round."  "  They  will  board  him  round."  In  New  England, 
formerly  a  general  expression,  relating  to  a  custom  once  prevalent  in 
rural  districts,  when  the  school-teacher  received  board  in  different 
families  from  which  children  were  sent  to  school. 

Boards.  In  the  South-west,  boards  are  strips  of  wood  from  two  to 
four  feet  in  length,  riven  from  blocks,  and  differing  only  in  size 
from  shingles.  All  sawed  stuff,  which  at  the  North  is  called  hoards, 
is  here  caUed  plank. 

Boatable.  Navigable  for  boats  or  small  river-craft.  —  Webster.  This 
useful  word  has  only  recently  been  adopted  into  the  English  Dic- 
tionaries. 

The  inhabitants  of  this  State  shall  have  liberty  ...  to  fish  in  all  boatable  and 
other  waters,  not  private  property.  —  Constitution  of  Vermont.  1786,  ch.  ii. 

The  Seneca  Indians  say,  they  can  walk  four  times  a  day  from  the  boatable 
waters  of  the  Alleghany  to  those  of  the  Tioga.  —  Morse's  Geography. 


BOA— BOB 


55 


This  word,  says  Dr.  Webster,  though  of  modern  origin,  is  well 
formed  according  to  the  English  analogies,  like  fordable^  creditable^ 
&c.  The  advantage  of  using  it  is  obvious,  as  it  expresses  an  impor- 
tant distinction  in  the  capacity  of  water  to  bear  vessels.  Navigable 
is  a  generic  term,  of  which  boatable  is  the  species;  and  as  the  use 
of  it  saves  a  circumlocution,  instead  of  being  proscribed,  it  should 
be  received  as  a  real  improvement.  —  Letter  to  J.  Pickering  on  his 
Vocabulary,  p.  6. 

The  objection  to  this  word  is  that  it  is  a  hybrid,  composed  of  a 
Saxon  noun  and  a  Latin  ending.  It  is  like  fordable,  but  not  like 
creditable^  which  is  all  Latin.  We  should  hardly  use  the  word  trust- 
able.    We  can  well  enough  do  with  trustful. 

Boating.    Transporting  in  boats.  — Webster. 

Bob.  A  knot  of  worms  or  chicken-guts  on  a  string,  used  in  fishing 
for  eels,  and  in  the  South  for  trout.  The  bob  is  frequently  made 
of  colored  rags,  red,  black,  &c. ;  and,  for  large  trout,  it  is  a  bait 
equivalent  to  the  artificial  fly. 

Bobolink.  {Icterus  agripennis.)  A  lively  little  bird,  so  called  from 
its  notes,  which  in  the  fall  frequents  the  wild  rice  of  shallow  rivers 
and  marshes,  where  it  becomes  very  fat.  It  is  highly  esteemed  by 
epicures.  Other  popular  names  by  which  it  is  known  in  different 
parts  of  the  country  are  Rice-bird,  Rice-bunting,  Reed-bird,  Meadow- 
bird,  May-bird,  Butter-bird,  American  Ortolan,  and  lastly — and 
most  inappropriately  —  Skunk  Blackbird. 

The  happiest  bird  of  our  spring  is  the  Bobolink.  This  is  the  chosen  season  of 
revelry  for  him.  He  comes  amidst  the  pomp  and  fragrance  of  the  season;  his  life 
seems  all  sensibility  and  enjoyment,  all  song  and  sunshine. — W.  Irving,  Wol- 
fert's  Roost. 

Philosophers  may  teach  thy  whereabouts  and  nature, 

But  wise,  as  all  of  us,  perforce,  must  think  'em, 
The  school-boy  best  has  fix'd  thy  nomenclature, 

The  poets,  too,  must  call  thee  Bob-o-Linkiun.  —  Hoffman,  Poems. 

Merrily  swinging  on  briar  and  weed, 
Near  to  the  nest  of  his  little  dame, 
Over  the  mountain  side  or  mead, 

Robert  of  Lincoln  is  telling  his  name, 
Bob-o^ -link,  boh-o' -link, 
Spink,  spank,  spink.  —  W.  C.  Bryant. 

Bob-Sled.  A  sled  much  used  for  the  transportation  of  large  timber 
from  the  forest  to  a  river  or  public  road.  .  Maine.  Its  peculiarity 
consists  in  its  having  two  pair  of  bobs  or  short  runners.  So  is  also 
the  Bob-sleigh. 


56 


BOC— BOG 


Bockey.  (Dutch,  hukaal.)  A  bowl  or  vessel  made  from  a  gourd.  A 
term  peculiar  to  the  city  of  New  York  and  its  vicinity. 

Booking.  So  called  from  the  name  of  the  town  in  Essex  County, 
England,  where  made.  A  kind  of  baize  or  woollen  cloth,  either 
plain  or  stamped  with  colored  figures,  used  to  cover  floors  or  to 
protect  carpets.    It  is  also  called  Jioor-cloth. 

I  knew  that  the  large  cloth  which  covered  the  middle  of  the  floor,  and  which 
the  Avonieu  call  a  bockinu,  had  been  brouglit  and  nailed  down  there,  after  a  solemn 
family  council,  as  the  best  means  of  concealing  the  darns  ...  in  the  carpet.  — 
Mrs.  Siowe  {House  and  Home  Papers).,  Atlantic  Montldy,  Jan.,  1864,  p.  43. 

Bodette.  (Fr.  beaudette.)  In  Canada,  the  common  name  for  a  cot- 
bedstead. 

Bodewash.  (Fr.  bois  de  vache.)  Dried  cow-dung,  used  for  fuel  on 
the  treeless  plains  of  the  Far  West.  Also  called  Buffalo  Chips,  which 
see. 

Body-Bolt.    A  king-bolt. 

The  front  wheels  of  the  wagon  became  detached,  and  the  body-iolt  .  .  .  was 
driven  into  the  ground  up  to  its  head.  — The  Press,  Philadelphia,  Nov.  17, 1869. 

Bogue.  "  I  don't  git  much  done  without  I  bogue  right  in  along  with 
my  men." 

Bogus,  n.    A  liquor  made  of  rum  and  molasses.    Comp.  Calibogus. 

Bogus,  adj.    Counterfeit,  false. 

The  "  Boston  Courier  "  of  June  12, 1857,  in  reporting  a  case  before 
the  Superior  Court  in  that  city,  gives  the  following  as  the  origin  of 
this  word:  "  The  word  bogus  is  a  corruption  of  the  name  of  one 
Borghese.,  a  very  corrupt  individual,  who,  twenty  years  ago  or  more, 
did  a  tremendous  business  in  the  way  of  supplying  the  gi-eat  West, 
and  portions  of  the  South-west,  with  counterfeit  bills  and  bills  on 
fictitious  banks.  The  Western  people  fell  into  the  habit  of  shorten- 
ing the  name  of  Borghese  to  that  of  Bogus ;  and  his  bills,  as  well 
as  all  others  of  like  character,  w^ere  universally  styled  by  them 
"  io^Wd- currency. "  By  an  easy  and  not  very  unnatural  transition, 
the  word  is  now  applied  to  other  fraudulent  papers,  such  as  sham 
mortgages,  bills  of  sale,  conveyances,  &c. 

"  Look  at  these  bank-bills,"  said  the  stranger ;  "  keep  those  that  are  good,  and 
return  me  the  bad." 

"I  guess  the  whole  pile  are  bogus,''''  said  Confidence  Bob,  as  he  turned  over 
his  roll.  — North,  The  Slave  of  the  Lamp,  p.  33. 

The  wide-awake  citizens  of  Boston  have  been  sadly  bitten  by  a  bogus  issue  of 
the  old  Pine-Tree  Shilling  currency,"  got  up  by  a  smart  Gothamite.  — American 
Notes  and  Queiits,  July,  1857. 


BOG— BON 


57 


The  Know-Nothings  of  Massachusetts  must  behave  themselves  better  than 
they  did  in  their  visit  to  the  Catholic  nunnery,  or  they  will  be  repudiated  b}' 
their  brethren  in  other  States,  as  bogus  members  of  the  order.  — N.  Y.  Herald. 

Not  one  cent  should  be  given  to  pay  the  members  of  the  boyiis  legislature  of 
Kansas,  or  for  the  support  of  the  bogus  laws  passed  by  them.  —  Boston  Atlas. 

Bogusly.    In  a  false  way. 

I  and  my  assistants  [in  Tennessee]  are  loyal  to  the  United  States ;  that  when 
this  office  came  under  the  rebel  government,  and  the  oath  was  sent  to  us,  we 
filed  it  bofjously  [sic],  and  sent  it  to  Richmond  without  swearing  to  it. — N.  Y. 
Herald,  May  2,  18G2,  Washington  Letter. 

Boiled  Shirt.    A  white  shirt.  Western. 

In  order  to  attend  the  Governor's  reception,  I  borrowed  a  boiled  shirt.,  and 
plunged  in  with  a  Byron  collar,  and  polished  boots,  and  also  the  other  necessary 
apparel.  —  McClure,  The  Eocky  Mountains,  p.  412. 

'Twas  only  last  night,  sure,  they  gave  me  a  call 

To  deliver  a  lecture  at  Hibernia  Hall. 

I  put  on  a  biled  shirt,  and  hastened  there  quick, 

But  the  blackguards  did  serve  me  the  divil's  own  trick.  —  Ed.  Burton's  Songs. 

Bois  d'Arc.  (Madura  aurantiaca.)  The  Osage  orange  of  Missouri 
and  Arkansas,  which  see. 

The  bows  [of  the  Comanches]  are  made  of  the  tough  and  elastic  wood  of  the 
bois  d'arc,  or  Osage  orange,  strengthened  and  reinforced  with  the  sinews  of  the 
deer  wrapped  firmly  around  them.  —  Marcy,  Exp.  of  the  Red  River,  p.  98. 

Bois  de  Vache.    See  Buffalo-Chips. 

Bolivar  Hat.  A  Leghorn  bonnet  with  a  broad  brim,  worn  a  few  yeara 
since. 

To  bolt.  To  omit  voting  for;  to  reject;  to  desert  a  political  party 
suddenly;  as,  "Mr.  B  was  dissatisfied  with  the  political  plat- 
form, and  hotted.''^ 

We  may  bolt  particular  candidates  on  those  tickets.  Bolt  a  fraudulent  nomi- 
nation, scratch  every  unworthy  candidate,  but  sustain  the  Union  ticket  and 
cause.— iV.  Y.  Tribune,  Oct.  3,'l8Gl. 

This  sense  of  the  word  is  derived  from  its  sense  as  meaning  to 
spring  aside;  to  be  off  from. 

Bombo.  An  animal  of  North  Carolina,  said  to  resemble  the  hedge- 
hog, and  by  some  called  a  Badger. 

When  the  people  [of  North  Carolina]  entertain  their  friends,  they  fail  not  to 
set  before  them  a  capacious  bowl  of  Bombo,  so  called  from  the  animal  of  that 
name.  —  Westover  Papers,  p.  28. 

Bonanza.  (Span,  prosperity;  success.)  In  California  and  Nevada, 
a  rich  mine;  a  lucky  hit;  a  successful  enterprise,  particularly  in 
gold  and  silver  mining. 


58 


BON— BOO 


The  principal  place  for  mining  is  at  the  foot  of  a  naked  granite  mountain,  the 
so-called  Bonanza.  —  Wizlizemis,  Northern  Mexico,  1847. 

The  contract  for  the  Legislative  printing,  awarded  by  the  Controller  to  Par- 
menter,  of  Tro}',  has  been  generally  regarded  here  as  in  the  nature  of  a  big 
bonanza.  — N.  Y.  Tribune,  March  2,  1876. 

The  recent  rapid  decline  in  Bonanza  stocks  in  the  San  Francisco  market  has 
occasioned  considerable  uneasiness  among  the  holders  of  these  securities.  .  .  . 
A  reporter  interviewed  Mr.  Flood  on  the  subject.  The  Bonanza  king  was  bitterly 
indignant  at  the  means  employed  to  depreciate  his  mines.  —  Boston  Post,  May  5, 
1876. 

The  buyer  of  lottery  tickets  is  ever  hopeful  of  a  big  bonanza,  that  he  may 
recover  the  thousands  of  dollars  sunk  during  many  years  of  indulging  in  this 
folly.  —  Boston  Herald,  March,  1875. 

To  bone.    To  apply  one's  self  closely.    "  To  ^one  into  it. " 

Bone.  A  term  well  understood  in  New^  York,  and  perhaps  in  other 
large  commercial  cities ;  it  means  a  fee  paid  by  passengers  to  cus- 
tom-house officers  for  permission  to  pass  their  baggage  with  a  slight 
examination.  If  the  bone  is  large,  the  trunks  may  not  be  opened 
at  all. 

Bones.  Substitutes  for  castanets,  so  called  from  the  substance  from 
which  they  are  made.  Among  "  negro  minstrels,"  one  is  always  a 
performer  on  these  instruments,  whence  he  is  styled  "  Brudder 
Bones 

'T  was  the  finest  place  for  miles  around, 

And  ole  galls  wouldn't  all  come  down. 
And  they  'd  so  light  on  every  night 

To  the  old  banjo's  sweet  sound. 
The  fiddle  there,  and  den  de  bones. 

And  de  merry  tambourine, 
Oh,  wish  dat  I  could  see  again 

De  ole  plantation  green.  — Negro  Melody. 

Boneset.  {Eupatorium  perfoliatum.')  The  popular  name  of  a  medi- 
cinal plant.  So  called  because  it  was  popularly  reported  to  be  a 
specific  for  the  Dengue,  or  Breakhone  fever. — Rafinesque^s  Med. 
Flora,  I.  179.    Its  properties  are  sudorific  and  tonic. 

Bony-Fish.    See  Menhaden. 

Booby-Hut.  A  carriage-body  put  upon  sleigh-runners.  New  Eng- 
land. It  is  a  slight  alteration  of  the  term  hoohy-hutch,  used  in  the 
east  of  England  to  denote  a  clumsy,  ill-contrived,  covered  carriage 
or  seat. 

Boodle.  (Fr.  hotel,  boteau,  a  bundle;  Germ,  beutel.)  "The  whole 
kit  and  boodle  of  them,"  i.  e.  all,  the  whole.  New  England.  Per- 
haps from  the  O.  Eng.  bottel,  a  bunce,  or  a  bundle,  as  of  straw. 
See  Caboodle. 


BOO— BOS 


59 


Toboo-hoo.    To  cry  aloud;  to  bawl,  bellow,  roar. 

The  little  woman  boo-hoo'd  right  out,  threw  herself  incontinently  full  on  his 
breast,  hung  around  his  neck,  and  went  on  in  a  surprising  way  for  such  a  mere 
artificial  as  an  actress.  — Field,  Drama  in  Pokerville. 

0  ye  rash  and  inconsiderate  children  of  iniquity !  You  will  go  down  to  your 
graves  boo-hooing  like  a  kicked  boob}^,  soul-shattered,  body-tattered,  looking  as 
though  you  had  made  your  escape  from  a  regiment  of  wild-cats.  — Dow''s  Sermons, 
Vol.  II.' p.  277. 

Bookstore.  A  place  where  books  are  kept  and  sold.  It  is  the  com- 
mon term  in  the  United  States  for  what  is  called,  in  England,  a 
hooksellerh  shop. 

Boonder  or  Bounder.    A  scrubbing-brush.    New  York. 

To  boost.  To  lift  or  raise  by  pushing.  —  Webster.  Chiefly  used  by 
Northern  boys,  who  apply  it  to  the  act  of  shoving  a  person  by  the 
posteriors  up  a  tree  or  over  a  fence.  "  Boost  me  up  this  tree,  and 
I  '11  hook  you  some  apples." 

He  clambered  back  into  the  box  (in  the  theatre),  the  manager  assisting  to  boost 
him  with  the  most  friendly  solicitude.  —  Field,  Drama  in  Pokerville. 

1  have  often  noticed  the  alacrity  with  which  the  policemen  of  New  York  pilot 
unprotected  females  across  the  street,  and  boost  them  into  stages.  —  Doesticks. 

It  is  just  as  difficult  to  boost  a  sinner  up  to  heaven  without  corresponding  effort 
on  his  part,  as  it  would  be  for  a  child  to  shoulder  a  sack  of  Turk's  Island  salt.  — 
Dow's  Sermons. 

Office-seekers  ask  you  to  give  them  a  boost  into  the  tree  of  office.  And  what 
do  they  do?  They  eat  the  apples,  and  then  throw  the  cores  at  your  heads.  — 
Dow^s  Sermons. 

Lord  Palmerston  was  boosted  into  power  by  the  agricultural  interests  of  Eng- 
land.—  New  York  Herald. 

To  boot.    To  "  boot  a  man  "  is  to  kick  him. 

Bootee.    A  kind  of  short  or  half  boot.  —  Worcester, 

Boot-Lick.  One  who  cringes  to  and  flatters  a  superior  for  the  purpose 
of  obtaining  favors;  a  lickspittle,  a  toady. 

Borning-Ground.  Native  soil.  West  Indies,  as  given  in  Thome's 
Report,  &c. 

Bosaal.  (Span,  hozal,  a  muzzle.)  A  peculiar  kind  of  halter,  used  in 
breaking  and  riding  unruly  horses. 

Boss.  The  o  pronounced  like  a  in  all.  (Dutch,  baas.)  A  master, 
an  employer  of  mechanics  or  laborers.  Hence  we  hear  of  a  boss- 
carpenter,  a  5o.<?.s--bricklayer,  />o.s.s-shoemaker,  &c.,  instead  of  master- 
carpenter,  &c.    The  word  probably  originated  in  New  York,  and  is 


60 


BOS 


now  used  in  many  parts  of  the  United  States.  The  blacks  often 
employ  it  in  addressing  white  men  in  the  Northern  States,  as  they 
do  massa  (master)  in  the  Southern  States. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  journeymen  boot  and  shoemakers  in  New 
York,  April  9,  1850,  it  was 

"  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  meeting  that  it  is  very  desirable  that 
the  boot  and  shoemakers  form  an  incorporated  company  for  the  purpose  of  secur- 
ing to  its  members  constant  employment  and  direct  patronage  of  shoe-buyers, 
and  independence  from  the  tyrannical  dictation  of  intermediate  capitalists  or 
bosses''^ 

It  isn't  saj'ing  much  for  your  boss  politicianer  that  he  chose  you,  when  I  was  on 
his  list  for  promotion.  —  J.  Neal,  Peter  Brush. 

The  Eternal  City  is  in  a  very  curious  position.  The  Pope  has  returned  to  his 
ancestral  liome ;  but  he  has  nothing  in  his  pocket,  and  Rothschild  refuses  to  let 
him  have  any  more  money.  A  thousand  years  ago,  and  the  boot  would  have  been 
on  t'other  leg.  .  .  .  To-day  it  is  very  different.  The  Father  of  Holiness  is  the 
dependent  of  the  Jew,  and  Rothschild  is  the  real  Pope  and  boss  of  all  Europe.  — 
Neio  York  Herald,  May  24,  1850. 

A  correspondent  of  the  "  Xew  York  Times,"  Oct.  21,  1876,  on 
board  the  U.  S.  ship  "  Franklin,"  thus  wrote  of  a  notorious  char- 
acter whom  they  were  carrying  to  Xew  York  from  Spain:  — 

We  are  conveying  no  less  public  celebrity  than  Boss  Tweed ;  .  .  .  but  the 
slippery  old  eel  may  again  evade  the  clutches  of  the  law,  and  want  to  know 
"what  we  are  going  to  do  about  it."    The  old  Boss  looks  quite  jolly,  &c. 

The  candidates  named  by  John  Kelley,  the  Boss  of  Tammany  Hall,  for  city 
officers,  furnish  a  bone  of  contention  among  Democrats. — New  Yoi'k  papers, 
Oct.,  1876. 

Boss.  (Lat.  hos.)  Among  the  hunters  of  the  prairies,  a  name  for 
the  buffalo. 

Boss,  adj.  Some  late  writers  are  so  fond  of  this  word,  that  they 
use  it  as  an  adjective.  Thus  one  says  :  "Veteran  Hatch  caught 
the  boss  string  of  trout,"  meaning  probably  a  very  large  lot. 

To  boss.  To  rule  over  ;  to  direct.  To  "Joss  a  job"  is  to  super- 
intend it 

Let  his  Woman's  Rights  companion 

Boss  the  house  and  take  the  money,  — 

Boss  them,  and  cut  off  the  dead-heads 

When  she  made  it  pay  expenses.  —  Pluribustah. 

"  What  detains  yon  at  court  ?  "  said  a  lawyer  to  an  unsophisticated  country- 
man attending  in  a  court-room  in  Arkansas. 

"  Why,  sir,"  said  the  countryman,  "  I 'm  fotched  here  as  a  jury,  and  they  say 
if  I  go  home  they  will  have  to  find  me,  and  they  moutn't  do  that,  as  I  live  a  good 
piece." 

"  What  jury  are  you  on  ?  "  asked  a  lawyer. 
"What  jury?" 


BOS— BOU 


61 


"  Yes,  what  jury  ?    Grand  or  traverse  jury  ?  " 

"  Grand  or  travis  jury  ?    Dad-fetched  if  I  know." 

"Well,"  said  the  lawyer,  "  did  the  judge  charge  you  ?  " 

"  Well,  squire,"  said  he,  "the  little  fellow  that  sits  up  in  the  pulpit,  and  kinder 
bosses  it  over  the  crowd,  gin  us  a  talk ;  but  I  don't  know  whether  he  charged  any 
thing  or  not." 

The  crowd  broke  up  in  a  roar  of  laughter,  and  the  sheriff  called  court.  —  Nat. 
Intelligencer,  Xov.  3,  1856- 

Bossy.  A  familiar  name  applied  to  a  calf.  In  Dorsetshire,  England, 
a  spoilt  child  is  called  a  bossy  calf.    Cf .  fioaxos. 

Bothersome.    Inconvenient;  vexatious. 

The  entente  conliale  does  not  include  this  particular  point  of  policy,  as  it  might 
prove  a  trifle  bothersome.  — N.  Y.  Tribune. 

The  great  naval  expedition  has  been  a  laughably  bothersome  subject  to  the  New 
York  press.  —  Winstead  Herald,  Oct.  1,  1861. 

Bottom  Dollar.  The  last  dollar.  When  a  man's  money  is  gone,  he 
will  say,  "I 've  seen  my  bottom  dollar.'^ 

The  brother  of  Miss  Kate  Field,  having  witnessed  the  opening  of 
Parliament,  said  to  her  :  — 

I  saw  the  whole  play;  admired  the  Queen's  dignity,  and  you  may  bet  your 
bottom  dollar  I  don't  want  to  go  again.  —  London  Truth,  Feb.  8,  1877. 

Bottom  Fact.    An  undoubted  fact;  that  which  is  unquestionable. 

"  The  Methodist  "  newspaper,  in  speaking  of  raising  money  for 
churches,  says:  — 

'*  Take  it  altogether,  there  is  no  way  to  raise  money  for  the  church  without 
giving  it.  And  here  is  the  '■bottom  fact ''  in  the  trouble:  we  want  the  church 
to  have  the  money;  but  we  want  somebody  else  to  pay  it." 

The  public  has  a  large  interest  in  the  case  of  the  election  of  Senator  Grover 
[of  Oregon].  Curiosity  has  been  on  the  tiptoe  these  many  weeks  to  know  the 
bottom  facts  in  it  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  March  17,  1877. 

Bottom-Laiids.  In  the  Western  States,  this  name  is  given  to  the  rich 
flat  land  on  the  ba^lks  of  rivers,  which  in  New  England  is  generally 
called  "  interval  land,"  or  simply  "  interval."  —  Pickering'' s  Vocab., 
Webster. 

Our  sleigh,  after  winding  for  some  time  among  this  broken  ground,  and  passing 
over  one  or  two  small  but  beautiful  pieces  of  bottom-land  among  the  ravines, 
reached  at  last  the  top  of  the  bluff.  — Hoffman. 

To  bouge.  (Old  Fr.  bour/e,  swelling.  —  Cotcjrave.')  To  swell  out,  to 
bulge.  This  old  word  is  noticed  by  Dr.  Johnson.  It  is  nearly  ob- 
solete in  England,  but  is  preserved  in  the  interior  of  New  England. 

When  the  sun  gets  in  one  inch,  it  is  ten  o'clock;  when  it  reaches  the  stone  that 
bouyes  out  there,  it  is  dinner-time.  —  Margaret,  p.  6. 


G2 


BOU 


Boughten.  Wliich  is  bought.  This  is  a  common  word  in  the  interior 
of  New  Enghmd  and  Now  York.  It  is  applied  to  articles  purchased 
from  the  shops,  to  distinguish  them  from  articles  of  home  manu- 
facture. Many  farmers  make  their  own  sugar  from  the  maple-tree, 
and  their  coftee  from  barley  or  rye.  West  India  sugar  or  coffee  is 
then  called  boughten  sugar,  &c.  "  This  is  a  home-made  carpet;  that 
a  boughten  one,"  i.  e.  one  bought  at  a  shop.  In  the  north  of  Eng- 
land, bakers'  bread  is  called  bought-hread. 

I 'm  going  to  buy  a  dress  and  half  a  dozen  pairs  of  stockings.  Common  ones 
I  knit,  but  I  took  a  notion  for  some  bouf/hten  ones  for  best.  —  Grinder  Papers, 
p.  20. 

To  bounce.  A  word  now  extensively  used  for  the  forcible  excluding 
of  a  troublesome  or  noisy  person  from  a  house  or  bar-room,  a  car, 
&c.,  sometimes  with  the  addition  "out."  —  "I  daresn't  go  in 
there,  the  bar-tender 's  drunk,  and  I  might  get  bounced.'^  The 
word  may  be  found  in  the  police  reports.    See  Bounce  in  Addenda. 

Bound.  1.  Determined,  resolved.  A  vulgarism  not  peculiar  to  the 
United  States. 

A  handsome  nigger 's  bound  to  shine, 
Like  dandy  Jim  of  Caroline.  —  Song. 
I 'm  on  the  way  to  be  as  sombre  and  solemn  as  you  are,  but  I 'm  bound  to  have 
a  good  time  first.  —  Mrs.  Stowe,  Dred. 

You  see,  my  buck  brethren,  that  the  women  are  bound  to  get  the  better  of  us. 
If  the}'  can't  do  it  in  one  way,  they  will  in  another.  In  them  you  behold  the  wild- 
cat, the  lamb,  and  the  dove.  They  first  let  loose  their  untamed  feline  propensi- 
ties ;  next  they  give  the  juvenile  sheep  a  trial;  and,  if  that  fail,  they  rel}'  upon 
the  loving  pigeon.  —  Dow's  Sermons. 

2.  Certain.  To  a  limited  extent,  bound  has  been  made  sjTiony- 
mous  wdth  sure,  certain.  Thus  it  is  said  of  a  young  man  of  talent, 
"  He  is  bound  to  succeed;  "  of  a  candidate  for  political  office,  "  He 
is  bound  to  be  elected;"  of  a  young  and  growing  village,  "  It  is 
bound  to  become  a  large  place."  This  is  a  revival  of  the  old  sense  of 
the  term,  which  has  been  obsolete  or  provincial  in  England,  and  has 
no  sanction  from  Johnson,  Richardson,  or  any  of  our  leading  lexi- 
cographers. —  Webster. 
Bounty-Jumper.  A  term  applied  during  the  late  civil  war  to  men  who 
received  a  bounty  when  enlisting;  who  then  ran  away,  enlisted  in 
another  State,  and  received  a  second  bounty.  Instances  are  known 
where  men  received  three  bounties  in  this  way. 

My  song  is  of  a  fast  yonng  man  whose  name  was  Billy  Wires ; 
He  used  to  run  with  the  machine,  and  go  to  all  the  fires : 
But  as  he  loved  a  soldier's  life,  and  wished  strange  things  to  see, 
So  the  thought  struck  him  that  he  would  go  and  jump  the  Bounti-e. 

Song  of  the  Bounty-Jumper, 


BOU— BOW 


68 


Bourbon.  1.  Whiskey  from  Bourbon  County,  Kentucky.  A  terra 
generally  used  to  distinguish  the  better  kinds  of  whiskey,  which  are 
mostly  made  from  corn  instead  of  rye. 

2.  A  political  name  for  a  Democrat,  especially  of  one  factious  or 
turbulent. 

The  Bourbon  in  South  Carolina,  as  everywhere  else,  makes  a  tremendous 
racket,  but  he  dwindles  when  the  vote  is  taken.  —  N.  Y.  Herald,  May  17, 1877. 

It  seems  hardly  credible,  yet  the  Mississippi  journals  assert  that  ex-Governor 
Humphreys  is  almost  certain  to  be  the  Democratic  candidate  for  Governor  of  that 
State.    He  is  an  irredeemable  Bourbon.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  June  15,  1877. 

The  temper  of  it  [Senator  Morton's  letter]  may  repel  or  harden  the  hearts  of 
the  fire-eating  Bourbons.  —  Cor.  Washington  Star. 

Bow-dark  Tree.  (Fr.  hois  d^arc.)  The  Osage  orange  {Madura 
aurantiaca).  A  Western  tree,  much  used  by  the  Indians  to  make 
bows  from.    See  Osage  Orange. 

Bower.  In  the  game  of  euchre,  the  two  highest  cards  are  called 
bowers.  The  knave  of  trumps  is  the  right  bower  ;  the  knave  of  the 
suit  of  the  same  color,  the  left  bower.  The  name  comes  from  the 
German  packs  of  cards,  in  which  the  card  corresponding  to  our  knave 
is  a  peasant,  called  bauer. 

But  the  hands  that  were  played 

By  that  heathen  Chinee, 
And  the  points  that  he  made 
Were  quite  frightful  to  see,  — 
Till  at  last  he  put  down  a  right  bower, 
Which  the  same  Nye  had  dealt  unto  me. 

Bret  Harte,  The  Heathen  Chinee. 

Bowie.    A  bowde-knife. 

He  has  already  made  12,000  pikes  and  a  number  of  bowies.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune, 
June  12,  1862,  Despatch  from  Richmond. 

Bowie-Knife.  (Pron.  boo-ee.)  A  knife  from  ten  to  fifteen  inches 
long,  and  about  two  inches  broad,  so  named  after  its  inventor. 
Colonel  Bowie.  They  are  worn  as  weapons  by  persons  in  the  South 
and  South-western  States  only,  and  concealed  in  the  back  part  of 
the  coat  or  in  the  sleeve.  Bon  Gaultier,  in  his  American  Ballads, 
describes  a  scene  in  Congress,  where  a  young  member  turning  to  Mr. 
Clay  asks,  "  What  kind  of  a  Locofoco 's  that?  "  alluding  to  a  con- 
spicuous character  who  had  just  entered. 

"Young  man,"  quoth  Clay,  "  avoid  the  way  of  Slick  of  Tennessee. 
Of  gougers  fierce,  the  eyes  that  pierce,  the  fiercest  gonger  he ; 
He  chews  and  spits  as  there  he  sits,  and  whittles  at  the  chairs, 
And  in  his  hand,  for  deadly  strife,  a  bowie-knife  he  bears." 
I  advise  you,  one  and  all,  to  enter  every  election  district  in  Kansas,  and  vote 


64 


BOW— BOY 


at  the  point  of  the  bowie-knife  and  revolver.    Neither  give  nor  take  quarter,  as 
our  case  demands  it.  —  Speech  of  Gen.  Strinffelloio  in  the  Kansas  Legislature. 
There  's  some  men  here  as  I  iiave  got  to  shoot, 

There 's  some  men  here  as  I  have  got  to  stick, 
Let  any  on  you  jest  my  words  dispute, 
I  '11  put  this  bowie-knife  into  him,  slick. 

Sony  of  the  Border  Ruffian. 
Bowling- Alley.    A  i^lace  for  playing  at  bowls,  or  ten-pins.    In  Eng- 
land, long  bowling,  as  described  by  Strutt,  was  played  on  the 
ground ;  our  game  is  played  on  a  plank  flooring.    There  were  other 
differences,  which  it  is  not  necessary  to  specify. 
Bowman.    A  term  used  in  Virginia  for  a  military  body-servant. 

Each  captain  and  lieutenant  was  entitled,  and  I  believe  is  so  now,  to  select  from 
the  rank  of  his  company  a  soldier  to  wait  on  him,  to  carry-  messages,  to  cater  for 
him,  and  to  cook  for  him;  and  the  soldier  thus  selected  was  called  bowman. 
The  term  is  very  ancient,  and  traces  as  far  back  as  before  the  invention  of  gun- 
poAvder  and  muskets.  — Sketches  of  Virginia. 

Bowman's  Root.  (Glllenia  trifoUata.)  A  medicinal  plant;  also  called 
Indian  physic. 

Box.  1.  A  boat  for  duck-shooting.    See  BatterTj. 

2.  An  incision  made  in  trees  so  as  to  hold  a  quantity  of  the  sap 
exuding  into  it,  as,  in  North  Carolina,  for  collecting  turpentine.  — 
OlmstecVs  Sea-Board  Slave  States. 

To  box.  In  North  Carolina,  to  make  the  box,  or  bowl-like  incisions 
in  trees.  —  Olmsted. 

Box-Car.  A  house-car,  so  called;  a  close  car  used  to  convey  merchan- 
dise on  railroads. 

Box-Coat.  A  heavy  overcoat,  originally  worn  by  coachmen;  when 
not  in  use,  usually  carried  by  teamsters  and  drivers  under  their  hox 
or  seat. 

Box-Elder.    (Negundo  aceroides.)    Sometimes  ash-leaved  maple. 
Box-Settle.    A  settle  whose  seat  is  the  cover  of  a  box  (i.  e.  a  bunk). 
0.  W.  Holmes. 

Box-Turtle.  A  species  of  tortoise,  the  lower  shell  of  which  has,  in 
one  variety  two  parts,  in  another  variety  three  parts,  joined  by  a 
sort  of  ligamentous  hinge.  It  moves  so  as  to  enclose  the  body  as  if 
in  a  box. 

Boy.  At  the  South,  the  universal  name  for  a  black  male  servant. 
In  Ireland,  the  wwd  denotes  an  unmarried  man  in  any  menial  em- 
ployment, whatever  his  age.  In  many  languages,  as  in  Hebrew, 
Greek,  Latin,  and  French,  the  same  word  expresses  a  male  child 
and  a  serving-man;  just  as  "girl"  and  "maid"  denote  a  female 
servant. 


BRA~BRE 


65 


Brack.  A  break  or  crack,  a  flaw.  —  HalUwell.  This  old  word  is  still 
used  in  New  England,  as  it  is  by  early  English  authors,  of  a  break 
or  flaw  in  a  piece  of  cloth.    See  Brash. 

Having  a  tongue  as  nimble  as  his  needle,  with  servile  patches  of  glavering 
flattery  to  stitch  up  the  bracks,  &c.  —  Antonio  and  Mellida,  1602. 

The  calico  was  beautiful,  M'hile  not  a  brack  could  be  found  in  it.  —  New 
England  Tales. 

Brahma.  Brahma  fowls.  From  Brahmapootra,  a  river  in  India. 
Also  called  Bramans. 

Brainy.  Having  brains;  clear-headed.  A  fresh,  clean  brainy.,  cour- 
ageous man.  —  Albany  Journal.,  March,  1877. 

Branch.  A  brook.  Almost  every  stream  in  the  South  is  known 
either  as  a  river,  a  bayou,  or  a  branch ;  bayou  being  synonymous 
with  creek,  and  branch  with  brook.  "  ^rancA-water "  is  distin- 
guished from  "  well-water." 

The  pasturage  of  the  prairies  was  scanty  and  parched;  and  most  of  the 
branches,  or  streams,  were  dried  up.  —  W.  Irving^s  Tom-  on  the  Prairies. 

Bran-Duster.  A  sort  of  bolt  in  which  the  bran  is  freed  from  adhering 
flour. 

Brash.  Brittle.  In  New  England,  this  word  is  used  in  speaking  of 
wood  or  timber  that  is  brittle.  In  New  York,  it  is  often  heard  in 
the  markets,  applied  to  vegetables.  Ex.  :  "  These  radishes  are 
6ras^,"  i.  e.  brittle.  In  many  parts  of  England,  twigs  are  called 
brash.    See  Brack. 

Brave.    An  Indian  warrior;  a  term  borrowed  from  the  French. 

The  Count  promised  himself  many  hardy  adventures  and  exploits  in  company 
with  his  youthful  brave,  when  we  should  get  among  the  buffaloes  in  the  Pawnee 
hunting-grounds.  — Irviny's  Tour  on  the  Prairies. 

Breachy.  A  term  applied  to  unruly  oxen  in  New  England,  particu- 
larly to  such  as  break  down  fences  or  through  enclosures.  It  is 
provincial  in  the  south  of  England  in  the  same  sense. 

Bread-Root.  (Psoralea  esculenta.)  A  plant  resembling  the  beet  in 
form,  which  is  found  near  the  Rocky  Mountains,  sometimes  grow- 
ing from  twenty  to  thirty  inches  in  circumference.  It  contains  a 
white  pulpy  substance,  sweet  and  palatable.  — Scenes  in  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  p.  50. 

Bread-Stuff.  Bread-corn,  meal,  or  flour;  bread.  —  Webster,  Pickering. 
This  very  useful  word  is  American.  Mr.  Pickering  says,  "  It  was 
first  used  in  some  of  the  official  papers  of  our  government,  soon  after 
the  adoption  of  the  present  Constitution.  ...    It  has  probably 

5 


66 


BRE 


been  more  readily  allowed  among  us,  because  we  do  not,  like  the 
English,  use  the  word  corn  as  a  general  name  for  all  sorts  of  grain, 
but  apply  it  almost  exclusively  to  Indian  corn,  or  maize."  He  cites 
the  following  authorities  :  — 

The  articles  of  exports  .  .  .  arebreadstuffs ;  that  is  to  say,  bread-grains,  meals, 
and  bread.  —  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  State  {Mr.  Jefferson)  on  Commercial 
Jtestrictions,  Dec.  16,  1793. 

One  great  objection  to  the  conduct  of  Britain  was  her  prohibitory  duty  on  the 
importation  of  breadstuff,  &c.  —  Marshall,  Life  of  Washinyton,  Vol.  V.  p.  519. 

In  Jamaica,  the  term  bread-kind  is  applied  to  esculent  roots,  &c., 
substituted  for  bread. 

Break.  A  regular  sale  of  tobacco  at  the  "breaking"  or  opening  of 
the  hogsheads.    Local  in  Virginia. 

Break.  A  break  in  the  stock-market.  A  Wall  Street  phrase  :  where 
stock  is  kept  up  by  artificial  means,  and  a  money  stringency,  or 
similar  cause,  makes  it  difficult  to  carry  a  load,  the  attack  of  a  bear 
clique  or  the  actual  inability  to  holders  will  produce  a  decline  in 
value.  The  market  breaks  down. — Medbery,  Men  and  Mysteries 
of  Wall  Street. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Cuyler  visited  the  Stock  Exchange  about  the  time  of  the  Erie 
break,  and  reported  his  vieAvs  to  a  religious  paper.  .  .  .  The  clerical  looker-on 
took  a  cheerful  view  of  things,  and  was  confident  that  a  fair  proportion  of  these 
keen  stock-heroes  were  not  unfitted  for  spiritual  communion.  — Ibid.,  p.  .327. 

Break-Back.  A  term  applied  to  a  peculiar  roof,  common  in  the  coun- 
try, where  the  rear  portion  is  extended  beyond  the  line  of  the  oppo- 
site side,  and  at  a  different  angle.  The  addition  thus  acquired  is 
used  as  a  wash-room,  a  storehouse,  or  for  farming  implements. 

The  house  of  neighbor  B  was  a  low  edifice,  two  stories  in  front ;  the  rear 

being  called  a  break-back,  that  is  sloping  down  to  a  height  of  ten  feet.  —  Good- 
rich's Reminiscences,  Vol.  I.  p.  78. 

Breakbone.    A  species  of  fever. 

The  warm  weather  is  adding  to  this  the  typhoid,  the  bilious,  and  another  fever 
to  which  the  natives  [of  the  South-western  States]  give  the  name  (said  to  be 
very  graphic)  of  5reflZ.-i6o?ie,  in  which  every  bone  in  the  body  feels  as  if  it  were 
broken.  It  is  a  cousin-german  to  the  typhus. — Y.  Tribune,  May  IG,  18G2, 
Letter  from  Cincinnati. 

Breakbone  Fever.  A  term  commonly  used  to  denote  the 
"  Dengue,"  a  malarious  fever  of  the  South.  It  is  so  called  either 
from  the  "pain  in  the  bones,"  of  which  the  patients  complain,  or 
from  the  great  debility  which  follows  the  attack;  both  reasons  have 
been  assigned  for  the  appellation. 


BRE— BRI 


67 


Break-down.  1.  A  riotous  dance,  with  which  balls  are  often  termi- 
nated in  the  country. 

Take  up  the  carpet  —  move  the  bed  —  call  the  fiddler,  and  let's  have  a  regular 
hreak-doicn.  —  Southern  Sketches,  p.  60, 

Come,  hold  on,  boys,  don't  clear  out  when  the  quadrilles  are  over,  for  we  are 
going  to  have  a  break-down  to  wind  up  with.  — New  England  Tales. 

2.  A  dance  in  the  peculiar  style  of  the  Negroes. 

3.  Failure  of  an  attempt ;  withdrawing  from  what  one  had  begun. 

The  District  Attorney  entered  a  nolle  prosequi  in  its  [a  court's]  indictment 
of  ...  It  would  be  interesting  after  this  flat  break-down.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune, 
May  11,  1877. 

To  break  down.  To  produce  strong  emotion  in ;  greatly  move;  as, 
"  He  broke  right  down,"  i.  e.  was  deeply  affected. 

Oh,  you  don't  know  what  a  new  life  it  put  into  me  and  my  husband.  It  was 
such  a  kind,  touching  letter,  it  broke  us  both  down,  and  tilled  us  with  joy.  —  Lett, 
in  Home  Missionary,  May,  1877. 

Breakish.    Frail;  brittle.    See  Breaks/. 

To  break  out  in  a  New  Spot.    To  do  some  new  thing;  to  do  some- 
thing else. 
Breaky.    As  breakish.    New  England. 
Bream.    See  Sunjish. 
Breezy.  Noisy. 

Brewis.  In  the  North  of  England,  a  pottage  made  of  slices  of  bread 
with  fat  broth  poured  over  them.  — Halliwell. 

In  New  England,  the  term  is  applied  to  crusts  of  rye  and  Indian 
or  other  bread  softened  with  milk  and  eaten  with  molasses. 

Brick  in  the  Hat.  "  He  has  got  a  brick  in  his  hat  "  is  an  expression 
applied  to  an  intoxicated  person;  meaning  he  is  top-hea\^,  and 
cannot  walk  steady. 

Brickley,  for  brittle.  (Du.  brickie.)  Used  in  Georgia.  —  Sherwood's 
Gazetteer. 

Brief.  Rife,  common,  prevalent.  This  word  is  provincial  in  Eng- 
land, and  is  much  used  by  the  uneducated  in  the  interior  of  New 
England  and  in  Virginia,  when  speaking  of  epidemic  diseases.  It 
is  probably  a  corruption  of  rife. 

Bright.  Intelligent,  quick,  having  an  active  mind.  A  term  often 
applied  to  children;  as,  "  Although  he  has  had  but  little  schooling, 
our  Jonathan  is  a  bright  lad." 

Brill.  Rough  edge  of  tin,  &c.,  made  by  cutting;  a  burr.  Eastern 
Massachusetts. 


68 


BRI— BRO 


Britishers.  The  use  of  this  word  is  often  by  British  writers  ascribed 
to  the  Americans.  The  charge  is  unjust.  We  never  heard  an 
American  call  an  Englishman  a  "Britisher;"  yet,  by  English 
authors,  it  is  constantly  put  in  the  mouth  of  Americans.  Thus 
Lord  Macaulay,  in  his  journal,  says :  — 

An  American  has  written  me  from  Arkansas,  and  sent  me  a  copy  of  Bancroft's 
"History."  Very  civil  and  kind;  but  by  some  odd  mistake  he  directs  to  me  at 
Abbotsford.  Does  he  think  that  all  Britishers  who  write  books  live  togetherV  — 
Life  and  Letters,  Vol.  II.  p.  250. 

Broadbill.  {Anafi  marila.)  The  common  name  of  a  wild  duck,  which 
appears  on  our  coast  in  large  numbers  in  October.  On  the  Chesa- 
peake it  is  called  Black-head;  and  in  Virginia,  Raft-duck. 

Broad-Horn.  A  name  by  which  the  flat-boats  on  the  Mississippi  were 
formerly  known.    See  Fiat-Boat. 

At  Wheeling,  I  embarked  in  a  flat-bottomed  family  boat,  technically  called  a 
broad-horn,  a  prime  river  conveyance.  —  W.  Irving,  Wolfei-t's  Boost,  p.  258. 

"Been  boating,  Ben,  since  I  met  you  ?  "  I  inquired,  after  a  short  pause. 

"  Well,  yes,  mostly,"  answered  Ben,  deliberately.  "Drove  a  pretty  fair  busi- 
ness last  year;  only  sunk  one  broad-horn,  and  that  war  snagged  on  the  Missis- 
sippi." —  Ben  Wilson's  Jug  Race. 

I 'm  the  man  that,  single-handed,  towed  the  broad-horn  over  a  sand-bar,  — the 
identical  infant,  who  girdled  a  hickory  by  smiling  at  the  bark ;  and  if  any  one 
denies  it,  let  him  make  his  will  and  pay  the  expenses  of  a  funeral.  —  Thorp,  in 
Harper'' s  Mag. 

Brogues.    (Dutch,  hroek.)  Breeches. 

[General  Von  Poffenburgh's]  men  being  thus  gallantly  arrayed,  —  those  who 
lacked  muskets  shouldering  spades  and  pickaxes,  and  every  man  being  ordered 
to  tuck  in  his  shirt-tail  and  pull  up  his  brogues,  &c.  —  Knickerbocker,  N.  Y. 

Broncho.    A  native  California  horse. 

If  low  in  purse,  [the  miner]  traverses  the  mountains  on  foot;  but,  if  able  to 
own  an  animal,  he  has  a  broncho  (native  or  Californian)  pony,  mule,  jack  on 
which  he  carries  his  outfit,  consisting  of  grub,  pan,  spade,  blanket,  and  revolver. 
—  McClure,  The  Rocky  Mountains,  p.  319. 

The  emigrants  travelled  in  an  old  wagon,  drawn  by  a  pair  of  broncho  or  native 
horses,  and  would  probably  be  six  or  eight  months  on  the  road  [to  Missouri].  — 
Nordhoff's  California,  p.  138. 

Broom-Corn.  {Sorghum  saccharatum.)  A  species  of  com  which 
grows  from  six  to  eight  feet  high,  from  the  tufts  of  which  brooms 
are  made.  Very  different  plants  are  used  for  this  purpose  in 
Em'ope,  and  the  English  broom  is  as  unlike  ours  as  possible. 

Brother  Jonathan.  The  origin  of  this  term,  as  applied  to  the  United 
States,  is  given  in  a  recent  number  of  the  "  Xorv\'ich  Courier." 
The  editor  says  it  was  communicated  by  a  gentleman  now  upwards 


BRO 


69 


of  eighty  years  of  age,  who  was  an  active  participator  in  the  scenes 
of  the  Revolution.    The  story  is  as  follows:  — 

When  General  Washington,  after  being  appointed  commander  of  the  army  of 
the  Revolutionary  war,  came  to  Massachusetts  to  organize  it  and  make  prepara- 
tions for  the  defence  of  the  country,  he  found  a  great  want  of  ammunition  and 
other  means  necessary  to  meet  the  powerful  foe  he  had  to  contend  with,  and 
great  difficulty  to  obtain  them.  If  attacked  in  such  condition,  the  cause  at  once 
might  be  hopeless.  Qn  one  occasion,  at  that  anxious  period,  a  consultation  of 
the  officers  and  others  was  had,  when  it  seemed  no  way  could  be  devised  to  make 
such  preparation  as  was  necessary.  His  Excellency  Jonathan  Trumbull  the 
elder  was  then  governor  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  on  whose  judgment  and  aid 
the  general  placed  the  greatest  reliance,  and  remarked:  "We  must  consult 
'  Brother  Jonathan  '  on  tiie  subject."  The  general  did  so,  and  the  governor  was 
successful  in  supplying  many  of  the  wants  of  the  army.  When  difficulties 
afterwards  arose,  and  the  army  was  spread  over  the  country,  it  became  a 
by-word.  We  must  consult  Brother  Jonathan.  The  term  Yankee  is  still  applied 
to  a  portion;  but  Brother  Jonathan  has  now  become  a  designation  of  the  whole 
country,  as  John  Bull  has  for  England. 

Brotus.  (Pron.  brought  us.)  A  word  found  exclusively  in  the  mouths 
of  negro  market  women  and  itinerant  street  hucksters  and  school- 
boys, in  Charleston,  S.C., —  who  always  ask  for  it  in  their  pur- 
chases of  peanuts,  plums,  chinquapins,  chestnuts,  &c.  Brotus  means 
the  superfluity  of  a  helping,  —  the  running  over  of  a  measure  which 
has  been  "heaped  up  and  shaken  down."  It  is  the  extra  and 
gratuitous  surplusage  which  the  vendor  of  peaimts  gives  her  cus- 
tomer for  his  patronage.  In  New  Orleans,  the  Creole  word  (in  Gumbo 
French)  which  exactly  represents  brotus  is  lagniappe  (lan-yap). 

Broughtens  up.  Bringing  up,  educating.  A  vulgar  corruption,  often 
used  jocosely. 

I 'm  a  Yankee,  said  Slick,  and  I  ain't  above  ownin'  to  it,  and  so  are  you ;  but 
you  seem  ashamed  of  your  hraaghtens  up.,  and  I  must  say  you  are  no  great  credit 
to  them.  —  S.  Slick,  Human  Nature,  p.  83. 

Brown.    A  colored  person  of  lighter  hue  than  a  black. 

The  jealousy  between  the  blacks  and  browns,  which  has  done  so  much  mischief 
in  the  West  Indies,  is  not  fostered  by  American  people  of  color.  —  The  Inde- 
pendent, April  10,  1862. 

Brown.  To  do  a  thing  up  brown  is  to  do  it  to  perfection.  A  com- 
mon vulgarism,  derived  from  the  kitchen. 

"  Well,  I  think  Ellen 's  a  dmn'  it  up  brown  !  There  '11  be  another  weddin'  soon, 
I  guess."  —  Southern  Sketches,  p.  57. 

From  Jefferson  Davis's  Proclamation,  freely  paraphrased  from 
Vanity  Fair :  — 

To  pay  his  best  in  duty  bound  each  faithful  rebel  knave  is, 
So  let  the  thing  be  done  up  brown,  for  things  look  black, 

Jeff.  Davis. 


70 


BRO— BUG 


John  Bull,  slyly  winkin',  then  said  unto  he: 
"  My  dear  Times,  my  old  covey,  go  pitch  into  he  ; 
Let  us  wallop  great  Doodle  now  when  he  is  down; 
If  we  wallops  him  well,  we  will  do  Jiiui  up  brownV 

The  London  Times  on  American  Affairs,  1861. 

Brown-Bread     Bread  made  of  rye  meal  and  Indian  meal  (maize) 

baked  very  slowly  in  an  iron  vessel.  Much  used  in  New  England; 
hence,  in  other  States,  it  is  generally  called  Boston  Brown  Bread. 

Brown  Stone.  A  dark  variety  of  the  red  sandstone,  now  so  fashion- 
able as  a  building  material  that  its  imitations  in  paint  and  mastic 
outdo  the  original  in  darkness,  and  rows  of  houses  in  some  of  our 
cities  are  now  to  be  seen  almost  black. 

Brown  Thrasher.  {Turdus  rufus.)  The  popular  name  of  the  Ferru- 
ginous Thrush,  called  also  the  Brown  Thrush.  It  is  also  called  the 
Ground  Mocking-bird.  In  Maryland,  it  is  called  the  French  Mock- 
ing-bird. 

I  love  the  city  as  dearly  as  a  hroicn  thrasher  loves  the  green  tree  that  shel- 
tered its  young.  —  C.  Mathews,  Works,  p.  125. 

Brummagen.  A  worthless  copper  coin,  said  to  have  been  made  for- 
merly in  Birmingham,  England.  Hence,  any  thing  of  no  worth; 
factitious ;  spurious. 

This  silence  on  the  part  of  the  Rebel  President  as  to  the  cause  of  the  war,  and 
the  sole  reason  for  setting  up  his  h'ummayen  government,  &c.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune, 
Nov.  28,  1861. 

Bruug,  for  hrought.  Used  by  ignorant  persons,  especially  by  blacks,  at 
the  South. 

Brush,  for  brusJiwood ,  is  an  Americanism,  and  moreover  is  not  con- 
fined to  undergi'owth,  but  comprises  also  branches  of  trees. 

In  Maryland,  the  term  is  applied  to  w'hatever  wood,  in  clearing 
up  w^ood-land,  cannot  be  cut  into  cord-ivood.  It  is  piled  up  into 
brush-heaps,  suffered  to  dry,  and  is  then  burned. 

Bubber.  A  stout  or  stoutly  mammalated  old  woman.  Used  in 
Salem,  Mass.,  in  1820,  and  since.  "  Bubber  Jones."  (Fr.  poitron, 
old  woman;  Old  Fr.  pect,  poitron ;  Lat.  pectus,  the  breast.) 

Bubbler.  A  fish  found  in  all  the  waters  of  the  Ohio  River.  Its  name 
is  derived  from  the  singular  gmnting  noise  which  it  makes,  a  noise 
which  is  familiar  to  eveiy  one  who  has  been  much  on  the  Ohio.  — 
FlinVs  Mississippi  Valley. 

Buccaneer.    A  long  musket,  a  term  applied  to  it  by  the  early  settlers 
of  Xew  England. 
One  Woodcock  discharged  his  long  musquet,  called  in  those  days  a  buccaneer, 


BUG 


71 


at  a  single  Indian,  and  broke  his  thigh-bone.  —  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  1  Ser.  Vol.  X. 
p.  139. 

Buck.  (Swed.  hock,  Du.  bok,  a  he-goat.)  1.  A  frame  or  stand  of 
peculiar  construction,  on  which  wood  is  sawed  for  fuel.  In  New 
England  it  is  called  a  Saw-horse.    See  Sawbuck. 

2.  The  Pennsylvanian  does  not  saw  wood;  he  '■^  bucks  "  it. 

Buck.  A  "  buck  nigger  "  is  a  term  often  vulgarly  applied  to  a  negi'O 
man.  Western.  So  in  London,  a  '■'■buck  sweep,"  among  the 
populace. 

During  the  discussion  preceding  the  Presidential  election,  in  1860, 
one  argument  against  the  Republican  ticket  was,>  "  Should  you  like 
to  have  your  sister  marry  a  big  buck  nigger?  " 

The  Indians  [of  Utah]  wander  about  in  squads,  the  bucks  and  the  squaws,  as 
they  are  designated,  always  separate.  —  McClure,  Rocky  Mountains,  p.  151. 

To  buck.  1.  Used  instead  of  butt,  applied  to  animals  pushing  with 
their  head  and  horns,  and  metaphorically  of  players  at  football  and 
such  games,  pugilists,  &c.    Comp.  Bunt. 

2.  To  rear  up,  applied  to  horses  and  mules.  Western. 

As  if  some  devilish  infection  pervaded  the  atmosphere,  one  of  our  horses,  a 
Kiyuse,  or  native  pony,  took  a  fit  of  bucking  soon  after  we  left,  and  was  particular 
to  select  the  most  dangerous  portions  of  the  road  for  the  display  of  his  skill  in 
that  line.  — McClure,  Rocky  Mountains,  p.  301. 

A  correspondent  of  the  "  Chicago  Tribune,"  writing  from  Texas, 
has  a  word  of  caution  to  those  who  have  to  travel  on  horseback  in 
that  country :  — 

"  In  this  event,"  writes  he,  "  do  not  select  a  mustang  .  .  .  unless  you  want  to 
be  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  bucking.  The  mustang  is  the  onlv  animal  in  the 
world  that  can  buck,  and  it  ought  to  be  a  source  of  thanksgiving  that  such  is  the 
case.  The  buck  consists  of  the  mustang's  springing  forward  with  quick,  short, 
plunging  leaps,  and  coming  down  stiff-legged,  with  his  head  between  his  fore- 
legs, and  as  near  the  ground  as  possible." 

Buck  Beer.  (German,  hock  bier.)  The  strongest  kind  of  German 
beer,  said  to  be  so  called  from  causing  the  drinker  to  caper  like  a 
goat  (hock).    It  is,  of  course,  intoxicating. 

Bucket.  The  term  is  applied,  in  the  South  and  West,  to  all  kinds  of 
pails  and  cans  holding  over  a  gallon. 

Buckey.    An  alewife.    Western  Connecticut.    See  Aleimfe. 

Buckeye.  1.  (jEscuIus  glabra.)  A  small  tree  growing  on  the  river 
banks  from  West  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  to  Michigan  and  Ken- 
tucky, the  bark  of  which  exhales  an  unpleasant  odor.  Other  species 
have  the  same  name.  The  word  is  in  some  places  applied  to  the 
horse-chestnut. 


72 


BUG 


2.  A  native  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  in  which  the  j^sculus  glabra 
abounds. 

A  newspaper  correspondent,  speaking  of  the  Western  soldiers, 
says : — 

The  Hoosiers  and  Buckeyes  hankered  after  the  hot  wheaten  cake  with  which 
their  States  are  always  so  abundantly  supplied. 

Buckeye  State.  The  State  of  Ohio ;  so  called  from  the  Buckeye-tree, 
which  abounds  there. 

When  President  Hayes  visited  Providence,  on  the  28th  June, 
1877,  after  being  introduced  by  Mayor  Doyle,  he  was  greeted  with 
cheers,  and  spoke  as  follows:  — 

It  is  with  the  greatest  pleasure  that  I  meet  you  here.  For  the  past  hour  I  have 
been  shaking  hands,  but  we  have  found  it  impossible,  in  this  retail  way,  to  greet 
all  the  people  of  the  State.  We  have,  accordingly,  thought  it  best  to  exchange 
greetings  with  you  by  wholesale.  I,  therefore,  ask  every  lady  and  gentleman  to 
consider  that  here  and  now  I  give  you  a  hearty  Buckeye  shake. 

Buck  Fever.  Agitation  of  inexperienced  hunters,  caused  by  seeing 
a  deer,  or  other  large  game. 

Smith  blazed  away  at  the  deer ;  but  where  the  ball  went,  mercy  knows.  The 
animal  dashed  forward  and  went  crashing  up  the  hillside.  Smith  acknowledged 
to  a  severe  attack  of  the  buck  fever.  — Hammond,  Wild  Northern  Scenes,  p  127. 

The  sensation  is  also  called  the  Buck-ague,  the  term  used  by  Mr. 
Kendall,  who  was  so  agitated  that  he  missed  several  fine  shots  at 
deer. 

There  is  a  very  common  disease  prevalent  among  young  and  inexperienced 
hunters  in  Texas,  which  is  known  as  the  Buck-ague.  —  Santa  Fe  Expedition, 
Vol.  II.  p.  321. 

Buck-Fly.    An  insect  which  torments  the  deer  at  certain  seasons. 

Buckra.  A  white  man.  A  term  universally  applied  to  white  men  by 
the  blacks  of  the  African  coast,  the  West  Indies,  and  the  Southern 
States.  In  the  language  of  the  Calabar  coast,  buckra  means  devil; 
not,  however,  in  the  sense  we  apply  to  it,  but  that  of  a  demon,  a 
powerful  and  superior  being.  The  term  swanga  buckra,  often  used 
by  the  blacks,  means  an  elegantly  dressed  white  man  or  dandy.  I 
am  indebted  to  the  Bev.  J.  L.  Wilson,  who  is  familiar  with  the 
African  language  alluded  to,  for  the  etymology  of  this  word. 

Which  country  you  like  best?  Buckra  country  very  good,  plenty  for  yam 
(food),  plenty  for  bamboo  (clothing).  Buckra  man  book  larn.  Buckra  man  rise 
early,  —  he  like  a  cold  morning;  nigger  no  like  cold.  —  Cai'michaeVs  West  Indies^ 
Vol.  I.  p.  311. 

Great  way  off  at  sea. 

When  at  home  I  binny, 

Buckra  man  take  me 

From  de  coast  of  Guinea.  —  Song. 


BUG— BUF 


73 


Sometimes  the  negro  owns  a  spider,  and  generally  a  coffee-pot  and  mill,  which 
as  before  have  been  broken  to  use  in  the  buckrd's  house.  —  Atlantic  Monthly, 
June,  1877,  p.  678. 

Buck-Shot.    Large  shot,  or  small  bullets,  used  in  deer-shooting. 

The  reason  that  so  many  more  of  the  King's  troops  were  wounded  than  killed 
in  the  late  action  [of  Breed's  Hill]  in  New  England  is  that  the  Americans  use 
a  small  shot,  called  buckshot,  which  is  much  smaller  than  the  soldiers'  bullets.  — 
Letter  from  an  English  Officer,  in  General  Gage's  Ai-my,  in  Gaines's  Mercury, 
Aug.  14,  1775. 

Buckskins.  A  term  applied  to  the  American  troops  during  the  Rev- 
olutionary war.  The  Marquis  de  Chastellux,  in  his  Travels  in  North 
America,  in  1780-82,  says:  "  The  name  of  Buckskin  is  given  to  the 
inhabitants  of  Virginia,  because  their  ancestors  were  hunters,  and 
sold  buck  or  rather  deer  skins." 

As  applied  to  certain  American  soldiers,  we  are  inclined  to  believe 
that  from  their  wearing  garments  made  of  dressed  deerskins  the 
term  was  applied  to  them. 

Cornwallis  fought  as  long 's  he  dought, 

An'  did  the  buckskins  claw  him.  —  Burns. 

Bucktails.  The  name  of  a  political  party  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
which  sprung  up  about  the  year  1815.  Its  origin  is  thus  described 
by  Mr.  Hammond:  "  There  was  an  order  of  the  Tammany  Society 
who  wore  in  their  hats,  as  an  insignia,  on  certain  occasions,  a  portion 
of  the  tail  of  the  deer.  They  were  a  leading  order,  and  from  this 
circumstance  the  friends  of  DeWitt  Clinton  gave  those  who  adopted 
the  views  of  the  members  of  the  Tammany  Society,  in  relation  to 
him,  the  name  of  Bucktails ;  which  name  was  eventually  applied  to 
their  friends  and  supporters  in  the  country.  Hence  the  party  op- 
posed to  the  administration  of  Mr.  Clinton  were  for  a  long  time 
called  the  '  Bucktail  Party.'  "  —  Polit.  Hist,  of  New  York,  Vol.  I. 
p.  450. 

That  beer  and  those  bucktails  I  never  forget; 

But  oft,  when  alone  and  unnoticed  by  all, 
I  think,  Is  the  porter  cask  foaming  there  yet. 

Are  the  bucktails  still  swigging  at  Tammany  Hall  ? 

Halleck's  Fanny. 

Buffalo.  1.  {Bison  Americanus.)  This,  the  most  gigantic  of  the  in- 
digenous mammalia  of  America,  once  overspread  the  entire  Northern 
half  of  the  American  continent.  At  the  time  of  the  discovery  by 
the  Spaniards,  an  inhabitant  even  down  to  the  shores  of  the  Atlan- 
tic, it  has  been  beaten  back  by  the  western  march  of  civilization, 
until,  at  the  present  day,  it  is  only  after  passing  the  giant  Missouri 
and  the  headwaters  of  the  Mississippi  that  we  find  the  American 
Bison  or  Buffalo  —  S.  F.  Baird. 


74 


BUF 


The  term  buffalo  is  often  used  independently  for  "  buffalo  robe," 
whence  a  story  is  told  of  two  Englishmen  just  arrived  at  Boston. 
They  ordered  a  sleigh,  having  heard  of  such  a  thing  in  a  general 
way,  without  being  conversant  with  the  particulars.  "Will  you 
have  one  buffalo  or  two?"  asked  the  hostler.  "Why,"  said  the 
cockney,  looking  a  little  frightened,  "  we  '11  have  only  one  the  first 
time,  as  we  're  not  used  to  driving  them!  " 

Edward  Everett  used  to  tell  this  story  somewhat  differently.  The 
sleigh  being  ordered,  the  stable-keeper  said  to  the  hostler,  "  Put  ir* 
a  buffalo.  Bill."  "  Well,"  said  the  Englishman,  "  if  you  've  got  a 
horse,  I 'd  rather  drive  him." 

He  tears  along  behind  him  a  sleigh  of  the  commonest  construction,  furnished 
with  an  ancient  and  fragmentary  buffalo,  which  serves  for  robe  and  cushion  both. 
—  The  Upptr  Ten  Thousand,  p.  17. 

2.  A  sort  of  fresh-water  fish  resembling  the  Sucker.  It  is  found 
in  the  Mississippi  and  other  Southern  rivers. 

Buffalo-Eeiry.  (Shepherdia  argentm.)  A  small  tree  growing  in 
thickets  on  the  banks  of  streams  in  the  valleys  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains. Its  scarlet  berries  are  eaten  by  the  Indians. 

Buffalo-Bush.  A  shrub  growing  near  Humboldt  River,  Utah.  Its 
fruit  is  called  Bull-berry. 

Buffalo-Chips.  The  dry  dung  of  the  buffalo,  used  for  fuel  on  the 
prairies,  and  hence  called  by  the  French  bois  de  cache.  The  dung 
of  cattle  is  extensively  used  for  the  same  purpose  in  other  parts  of 
the  world.  In  Armenia,  according  to  Mr.  Curzon,  it  is  collected 
from  the  cattle- yards  and  mixed  with  chopped  straw  by  tramping 
on  it  with  the  naked  feet  while  it  is  in  a  moist  state.  It  is  then 
cut  into  square  blocks  and  treasured  up  for  winter's  use,  forming 
the  exclusive  fuel,  under  the  name  of  tezek,  for  all  classes.  In 
Thibet  it  is  used  under  the  name  of  arghol.  Hue,  in  his  travels  in 
Mongolia,  describes  its  use  there.  In  fact,  throughout  all  Tartary 
or  Turkestan,  where  there  is  a  deficiency  of  wood,  this  article  is  in 
universal  use  for  fuel.  On  the  woodless  plains  of  Texas,  New 
Mexico,  and  Chihuahua,  travellers  use  dry  cattle-dung  for  fuel, 
gathering  it  up  near  springs  frequented  by  cattle. 

We  were  fortunate  enough  to  find  some  lodge-poles,  which,  eked  out  hybois  de 
vache  ior  fuel,  served  to  give  us  a  capital  roast  of  buffalo-meat. — Stansbun/s 
Salt  Lake  Exp.,  p.  37. 

Buffalo-Clover.  (  Trifolium  rejlexum  and  stoloniferum.)  The  Western 
species  of  clover. 

Buffalo-Gnat  A  small  black  insect  found  on  the  prairies,  which  not 
only  attacks  the  face  and  hands,  but  insinuates  itself  under  the 


f 


BUF— BUI 


75 


clothing,  upon  the  arms  and  breast.  Its  bite  is  poisonous,  hence  it 
is  more  dreaded  than  the  mosquito.  —  Gregg^  Com.  of  the  Prairies^ 
Vol.  II.  p.  28. 

Buffalo-Grass.  (Sesteria  dacty hides.)  A  species  of  short  grass  from 
two  to  four  inches  high,  covering  the  boundless  prairies  on  which 
the  buffaloes  feed.  A  remarkable  characteristic  of  some  varieties 
of  this  grass  is  that  "the  blade,  killed  by  the  frost  of  winter,  is 
resuscitated  in  spring,  and  gradually  becomes  green  from  the  root 
up,  without  casting  its  stubble  or  emitting  new  shoots."  —  Colonel 
Dodge.  "  The  buffalo  grass  of  the  high  plains  and  the  gramma  grass 
are  identical,  though  entirely  different  in  growth  and  appearance." 
—  Plains  of  the  Great  West,  p.  32. 

Buffalo-Nut.    (Pyrularia  oleifera.)    Oil  nut.  Western. 

Buffalo-Robe.    The  skin  of  the  buffalo,  dressed  for  use. 

Not  having  time  to  robe  myself  exactly  for  a  daylight  street-walk,  I  donned  a 
buffalo-robe,  slipped  on  my  boots,  and  put  out.  —  Life  on  the  Prairies. 

Buffalo-Wallow.  A  depression  in  a  prairie  caused  by  heavy  rains. 
The  water  being  soon  absorbed,  the  ground  opens  in  cracks ;  when 
another  hard  rain  comes,  it  is  again  absorbed,  leaving  wider  cracks 
than  before.  This  process  is  repeated  until  quite  a  depression  is  made 
in  the  soil,  which  has  become  so  hardened  that  it  will  retain  water. 
When  the  buffalo  is  shedding  his  hair,  for  the  want  of  trees  he  rolls 
and  rubs  himself  in  these  water-holes,  which  are  his  especial  delight. 
Sometimes  the  prairie  will  be  dotted  for  a  mile  with  these  holes, 
which  are  from  five  to  ten  feet  in  length  and  from  six  inches  to  two 
feet  in  depth.  —  Dodge,  Plains  of  the  Great  West,  p.  27. 

Bug.  In  the  United  States,  coleopterous  insects  are  generally  called 
bugs;  thus  May  bug,  June  bug.  Golden  bug,  &c.  In  England,  they 
are  called  beetles,  and  the  word  bug  is  restricted  to  the  species  found 
in  bedding.  The  Spanish  word  chinch  is  in  more  general  use  at  the 
South. 

Bug  Juice.    Bad  whiskey. 

We  have  taken  wood,  eggs,  cabbages,  lumber,  saur  krout.  coon-skins,  and  bug 
juice  on  subscriptions  in  our  time,  and  now  a  man  writes  us  to  know  if  we  would 
like  to  send  our  paper  six  months,  for  a  large  owl.  If  we  come  across  any  fellow 
who  is  out  of  owl  we  '11  do  it.  —  Osborne  (Kansas)  Farmer: 

Bugle-Weed.  (Lycopus  Virginicus.)  A  plant  which  has  much  reputa- 
tion for  its  medicinal  properties.  It  is  also  known  as  the  Virginian 
Water-horehound. 

To  build  a  Fire,  instead  of  to  make  a  fire,  is  a  common  phrase,  origi- 
nating, probably,  in  the  backwoods,  where  large  fires  are  made  of 
logs  piled  one  above  the  other. 


76 


BUI— BUL 


To  build  up.    To  erect;  and,  metaphorically,  to  establish. 

In  this  manner,  it  was  thought  we  should  sooner  build  up  a  settlement,  as  the 
phrase  goes.  In  America,  the  reader  should  know,  every  thing  is  built.  The 
priest  builds  up  a  flock  ;  the  speculator,  a  fortune ;  the  lawyer,  a  reputation ;  and 
the  landlord,  a  settlement.  —  Coo/;er,  Sntnnstoe. 

Mr.  R.  has  never  done  any  thing  to  the  "Courier"  and  "Enquirer"  to  make 
them  hunt  him  down  or  cast  ridicule  on  him,  while  endeavoring  to  build  up  for 
himself  an  unsullied  character  among  his  fellow-men.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  1848. 

To  build  clothes.  Tailors  use  this  expression  for  making  clothes. 
"  Guess  we  can  build  you  a  neat  pant  off  these  goods,  sir." 

Cf.  Ger.  bilden. 

Bulger.    Something  uncommonly  large,  a  whopper.  Western. 

We  soon  came  in  sight  of  New  York ;  and  a  bulger  of  a  place  it  is.  —  Crockett, 
p.  37. 

Bull.  A  stock-exchange  term  for  one  who  buys  stock  on  speculation 
for  time,  i.  e.  agrees  with  the  seller,  called  a  "  bear,"  to  take  a  cer- 
tain sum  of  stock  at  a  future  day  at  a  stated  price;  if  at  that  day 
stock  fetches  more  than  the  price  agreed  on,  he  receives  the  differ- 
ence; if  it  falls  or  is  cheaper,  he  either  pays  it,  or  becomes  a  "  lame 
duck."  This  description  of  a  bull,  from  Grose's  Slang  Dictionary, 
corresponds  precisely  with  the  bulls  of  Wall  Street,  who  speculate  in 
stocks  in  the  same  manner.    See  Lame  Duck  and  Bear. 

There  was  a  smive  qui  peut  movement  to-day  in  the  stock-market;  and  the 
clique  of  bulls,  finding  it  impossible  to  stem  the  rush,  gave  up  the  attempt  to  sus- 
tain the  market,  and  lei  things  go  down  with  a  run.  .  .  .  Such  a  state  of  the 
market  as  is  now  exhibited  is  nearly  as  bad  for  the  bears  as  the  bulls.  — jV.  Y. 
Tnbune,  Dec.  10,  1845. 

Bull-Bat.  {Caprimulgus  Americanus .)  Night-hawk;  whippoorwill.  A 
gang  of  blackguard  boys  in  Washington  City  have  adopted  this  very 
appropriate  name. 

Bull-Boat.  A  boat  made  of  ox-hides,  used  for  crossing  rivers  in  the 
Far  West. 

We  obtained  hides,  and,  by  the  aid  of  some  Indians,  constructed  a  bull-boat,  by 
taking  willow  rods  and  laying  a  keel  and  ribs  between  two  stakes  driven  in  the 
ground,  .  .  -  and  then  cross-sticks,  tied  with  thongs,  making  the  skeleton  of  a 
canoe.  Three  hides  were  sewed  together,  and  stretched  over  the  willow-work.  — 
—  Stansbury's  Salt  Lake,  p.  21. 

Bull  Briar,  Bamboo  Briar.  A  large  briar  in  the  alluvial  bottoms  of 
the  South-west,  the  root  of  which  contains  a  farinaceous  substance 
from  which  the  Indians  make  bread. 

BuUdose,  Bulldoze.    To  intimidate. 

The  origin  of  this  term  has  been  furnished  me  by  Dr.  J.  Dickson 
Bruns,  of  New  Orleans.  BuUdose  originated  in  Louisiana  with  the 
"  Union  Rights  Stop  "  Leagues  (Xegi-o),  whose  enthusiasm  on  the 


BUL 


77 


suffrage  question  led  them  to  form  oath-bound  societies,  which  scru- 
tinized closely  the  politics  of  disaffected  brethren ;  and  if  any  Negro 
were  found  voting,  or  was  suspected  of  an  intention  to  vote  the 
Democratic  ticket,  he  was  first  warned,  then  flogged,  and,  if  these 
milder  measures  failed  to  convert  him  to  the  true  faith,  shot. 

Give  him  a  hulldose  meant  give  him  a  flogging, — a  "  cowhid- 
ing,"  —  the  cow's  hide  (a  strip  of  untanned  hide,  rolled  into  a 
whip)  standing  for  the  bull's  hide,  — the  "  koorbatch  "  of  Egypt, 
made  there  of  the  hide  of  the  rhinoceros. 

Hence,  from  the  noun,  buUdose,^^  the  verb  "to  buUdose,^^  — 
erroneously  spelled  "  bulldoze,^'  —  and  its  participle  "  bulldosing.'^ 

The  ' '  New  York  Tribune  ' '  gives  the  following  explanation  of  the 
term  :  — 

The  term  Bulldozers,  which  is  so  variously  printed  in  the 
New  Orleans  despatches,  is  the  name  applied  to  an  organization  of 
armed  white  men,  whose  ostensible  business  it  is  to  keep  the 
Negroes  from  stealing  the  cotton  crop.  On  election  day,  however, 
the  Bulldozers  "  go  gunning  for  Negroes  who  manifest  a.  disposi- 
tion to  vote  the  Republican  ticket. 

Bulldozing.    Intimidating  by  violent  means. 

There  was  a  bad  case  of  "  hulldozing  "  in  Cincinnati  on  Monday  night.  A 
handful  of  bold  Democrats  had  gathered  to  let  out  their  pent-up  desire  for  Tilden 

or  blood.  .  .  .  Mr.  C  was  in  the  chair,  and  was  warming  up  the  faithful  with 

an  address,  when  the  Republicans  crowded  around  him  in  so  threatening  a  manner 
that  he  mounted  the  table,  shook  his  address  in  their  faces,  and  declared,  like  a 
true  hero,  that  he  was  not  to  be    intimidated."  —  iV.  Y.  Tribune,  Dec,  1876. 

We  are  told,  and  there  is  cause  to  believe,  that  the  record  of  neither  party  in 
Louisiana  is  perfectly  clean,  and  that  upon  both  sides  there  has  been  no  lack  of 
"bulldozing." — N.  Y.  Times. 

"But  you  shall  go  to  school,"  said  a  Chicago  man  to  his  youthful  son,  one 
morning  this  week,  "and  I  want  no  more  argument  about  it." 

Then,  as  the  paternal  reached  for  something  hanging  up  behind  the  stove,  the 
boy  looked  him  sadly  in  the  ej^e,  and  inquired  :  "  Father,  would  you  bulldoze  me 
into  it  ?"  —  Chicago  Journal, 

The  "Providence  Journal,"  Jan.  31,  1877,  alluding  to  the  win- 
tering of  the  Russian  ships  of  war  in  New  York,  says  :  — 

The  Russian  fleet  is  not  engaged  in  a  hulldozing  mission  in  American  waters, 
but  in  the  safer  occupation  of  keeping  out  of  the  way 

To  bulldoze.    To  intimidate  by  violent  and  unlawful  means. 

The  "  New  York  Tribune  "of  Dec.  23,  1876,  in  an  article  entitled 
"  Not  to  be  Bulldozed, says  :  — 

If  the  State  of  Connecticut  .  .  .  had  any  apprehensions  lest,  in  the  present  un- 
loosing of  tongues  in  Congress,  their  representatives  .  .  .  might  be  intimidated, 


78 


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or  bulldozed,  or  terrorized,  or  choked  down  by  usurpation  and  tyranny.  Senator 
Eaton  dispelled  it  in  his  coiu-ageous  utterances  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate. 

The  "Providence  Press,"  in  its  New  Year's  Address  for  1877, 
when  speaking  of  the  political  situation  in  several  of  the  Southern 
States,  says  :  — 

Louisiana,  too,  was  mixed, 

And  ere  they  f^ot  the  matter  fixed, 

Bulldozin(j  had  been  introduced, 

And  many  from  their  homes  vamoosed. 

A  man  and  a  brother  was  bulldozed  into  buyin;^  a  large  number  of  small  flags 
by  a  gang  of  street  Arabs  in  City  Hall  Park.  This  intimidation  was  doubtless  a 
delicate  compliment  to  the  Southern  atmosphere  that  visited  the  citv  yesterday. 
N.  Y.  Herald. 

The  "  Xew  York  Herald,"  March  7,  1877,  in  speaking  of  the 
new  cabinet  of  President  Hayes  and  the  desire  of  the  party  leaders 
to  dictate  who  shall  compose  it,  says  :  — 

If  he  yields,  he  will  only  be  nominal  President;  not  even  a  peer  of  the  party 
leaders,  but  a  bulldozed  vassal.  ...  If  he  has  strength  of  character  and  tact, 
the  bulldozers  cannot  subdue  him.  ...  If  he  gives  up  Mr.  Evarts,  he  can 
make  a  stand  on  nobody,  and  the  bulldozers  will  dictate  his  cabinet. 

The  carpet-bagger  and  bulldozer  are  not  successful  agents  of  civilization.  — 
N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Bullionist.  One  that  favors  coin  instead  of  paper,  as  a  monetary 
currency. 

Bullion  State.  The  State  of  Missouri;  so  called  in  consequence  of 
the  exertions  made  by  its  Senator,  Mr.  Benton,  in  favor  of  gold  and 
silver  currency,  in  opposition  to  banks  and  a  paper  currency.  The 
honorable  Senator  was  hence  often  nicknamed  Old  Bullion^  and  the 
State  he  represented  the  Bullion  State. 

At  the  Democratic  meeting  in  New  Y^'ork,  June  12,  1848.  to  ratify 
the  nomination  of  General  Cass,  the  Hon.  James  Bowlin,  of  Mis- 
souri, in  denouncing  the  Whig  party,  said  :  — 

I  deny  that  the  election  of  1840  was  carried  by  the  people.  It  was  carried  by 
duplicity.  It  was  carried  by  the  imfortunate  state  of  the  times,  which  was  not 
the  result  of  Democratic  rule,  and  by  false  charges  against  the  American  Democ- 
racy;  and,  thank  God,  in  my  own  State,  in  the  Bullion  State,  they  did  not 
succeed  in  depreciating  our  majority. — N.  Y.  Herald,  June  13,  1848. 

Bull-Lion.    John  Bull;  England. 

This  profuse  magnanimous  Lion,  or  Bull-Lion,  [talks]  as  if  it  were  gloni'  to 
adore  guineas,  and  shame  to  be  fond  of  dollars,  — as  if  Bull-Lion,  as  he  is,  would 
not  give  Magna  Charta.  Milton,  Shahspeare,  and  even  Bacon,  for  the  convenience 
and  profit  of  a  single  cotton  crop.  —  X.  Y.  Tribune,  June  1,  1862. 

Bull-Nut.    A  large  kind  of  hickory-nut. 

Bull's-Eye.    A  small  and  thick  old-fashioned  watch. 


BUL— BUM  79 

Bully,  a^/y.    Fine,  capital.    The  highest  term  of  commendation.    A  ^  w t'x.-^^  ^ 

low  word,  used  in  the  same  manner  as  the  English  use  the  word  J^^'^dj^  lO  Uj-  3 
crack ;  as,  "  a  hullij  horse,"  a  hilly  picture."  ^'q  ^I^^pJ^ 

The  bully  steamboat  "  Crystal  Pal.ace"  passed  up  to  St.  Louis  on  Monday. 
We  have  no  doubt  she  left  papers.  —  Cairo  City  Times,  1855. 

I  don't  want  no  better  friend  than  Buck  Fanshaw.  .  .  .  Take  him  all  round, 
pard,  there  never  was  a  hullier  man  in  the  mines.  .  .  .  No  man  ever  know'd 
Buck  to  go  back  on  a  friend.  —  Mark  Twain,  Roughing  It,  p.  333. 

The  Mississippi  boatman,  when  engaged  in  a  race,  exclaims:  — 

Now  is  the  time  for  a  bully  trip, 

So  shake  her  up  and  let  her  rip.  —  Boatman'' s  Song. 
Ha !  Bully  for  me  again,  when  my  turn  for  picket  is  over  ; 
And  now  for  a  smoke,  as  I  lie,  with  the  moonlight  in  the  clover. 

Shanley,  The  Brier-wood  Pipe. 

The  following  stanza  is  from  a  poem  on  American  affairs  that 
appeared  in  England  during  the  late  civil  war.  It  has  reference  to 
blockade  runners  sent  by  John  Bull  from  England. 

So  he  sent  not  a  vessel  across  the  broad  sea, 
Vich  vas  hawful  'ard  times  for  poor  Jefferson  D., 
And  wrote  unto  Doodle,  "Hold  on,  and  be  true!  " 
And  Jonathan  answered  Bull,  "  Bully  for  you.'''' 

You're  doin'  the  politics  bully,  as  all  our  family  agree; 

Just  keep  your  old  goose-quill  a-floppin,  and  give  'em  a  good  one  for  me. 

Carlton,  Home  Ballads,  p.  86. 

Bullyrag.  To  revile  in  vulgar  terms ;  to  abuse  or  scold  vehemently. 
—  Forbi/^s  Glossary. 

I  don't  want  nothing  better 'n  this;  I  don't  git  enough  to  eat  gin'ally, — and 
here  they  can't  come  and  pick  a  feller  and  bullyrag  him  so.  —  Mark  Twain,  Tom 
Sawyer,  p.  118. 

Bummer.  An  idle,  worthless  fellow  without  any  visible  means  of 
support.  A  word  much  used  by  our  soldiers  during  the  late  civil 
war.  The  "  New  York  Herald,"  May  2,  1876,  thus  describes  the 
individual:  The  army  ftwrnmer  is  usually  a  "  General"  who  has  been 
in  the  Quartermaster's  or  Commissary  Department,  and  whose  rank 
represents  influence  about  the  War  Office,  and  days  and  nights  of 
hard  duty  about  Willard's  and  the  Arlington.  Since  the  war,  he 
has  been  very  "  loyal."  lie  has  "  sustained  "  tlie  Union,  and  "  sup- 
ported "  the  government.  Unable  to  earn  an  honest  living,  with- 
out brains  for  any  position  higher  than  that  of  a  car  conductor,  he 
lives  by  lobbying.  He  knows  the  inside  of  every  office,  the  favorite 
wine  of  a  secretary,  and  the  kind  of  dinner  fancied  by  this  states- 
man or  the  other.  So,  in  time,  he  finds  himself  in  the  enjoyment 
of  a  good  income,  for  which  he  does  nothing  but  eat  and  drink  and 


80 


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talk.  He  is  a  disgrace  to  the  army,  whose  uniforai  he  wears  for 
his  own  gain. 

When  it  was  reported  that  the  Federal  government  refused  to  recof^nize  Con- 
federate prisoners  as  "  prisoners  of  war,"  General  Jackson  and  myself  advocated 
that  the  Confederate  government  should  then  proclaim  a  '*war  to  the  knife," 
neither  asking  nor  granting  quarter.  We  thought  that  the  war  would  thereby 
sooner  come  to  an  end,  with  less  destruction  of  life;  we  thought  also  that  such  a 
mode  of  warfare  would  inspire  terror  to  the  armed  invaders  and  rcluce  the  num- 
ber of  army  followers,  bummers,  &c.,  who  were  the  curse  of  all  armed  invasions. 

—  Extract  of  Letter  from  General  Beaureyard  to  the  Governor  of  Tennessee, 
N.  Y.  Herald,  April' 30,  1875. 

So  long  as  substantial  citizens  choose  to  leave  politics  to  shoulder-hitters,  rum- 
sellers,  and  bummers  of  every  degree,  so  long  will  they  be  robbed  at  every  turn. 

—  N.  Y.  Commercial  Adv.,  Sept.  9,  1874. 

In  speaking  of  the  order  of  General  Grant  sending  General  Custer 
to  his  regiment,  the  "  Xew  York  Herald,"  May  4,  1876,  says:  — 

This  action  of  the  President  in  the  case  of  General  Custer  is  unfortunate.  If  he 
had  any  thing  against  the  General,  he  should  have  ordered  him  before  a  Court  of 
Inquiry.  But  because  Custer  has  evidence  of  the  corruption  of  certain  army 
bummers,  he  is  sent  to  his  regiment  under  circumstances  that  amount  to  a  humil- 
iation. 

A  bill  is  before  the  Legislature  of  Illinois,  with  a  view  to  control  the  operations 
of  the  bummer  element  in  the  primary  meetings  of  political  parties.  —  Boston 
Herald,  April  8,  1877. 

"  The  Bar-tender's  Story,"  portraying  a  frequenter  of  the  bar- 
room, says: — 

For  he  got  to  increasin'  his  doses. 

And  took  'em  more  often,  he  did; 
And  it  growed  on  him  faster  and  faster, 

Till  into  a  bummer  he  slid. 

Bummerism.    Character  of  a  bummer ;  bummers  collectively  regarded. 

If  Deputy  Sheriffs  might  attend  without  scandal;  if  beautiful  bummerism, 
feminine  and  fair,  &c.  —  Philadelphia  Press,  Jan.  5,  1870. 

Bumper.  That  part  of  the  frame  of  a  railroad  car  which  is  provided 
with  springs  for  an  elastic  material  to  meet  the  shock  of  the  sim- 
ilar part  of  the  next  car.  In  England,  they  use  the  words  buffer 
and  hunter. 

Bumptious.  Self-conceited;  forward;  pushing.  —  Halliwell.  See 
Gumptiom. 

Sir  E.  L.  B.  Lytton,  in  "My  Xovel,"  gives  an  amusing  disquisi- 
tion on  the  words  gumption  and  bumptious :  — 

"  She  vias  always  — not  exactly  proud-like  —  but  what  I  call  gumptious." 
"I  never  heard  that  word  before,"  said  the  parson.      Bumptious,  mdeed, 
though  I  believe  it  is  not  in  the  dictionary,  has  crept  into  familiar  parlance, 
especially  amongst  young  folks  at  school  and  college." 


BUN 


81 


Bumptious  is  bumptious,  and  gumptious  is  gumptious,"  said  the  landlord. 
"Now,  the  town  beadle  is  humptioiis,  and  Mrs  Avenel  is  gumptious." 
"  She  is  a  very  respectable  woman,"  said  Mr.  Dale. 

"In  course,  sir;  all  gumptious  folks  are;  they  value  themselves  on  their 
respectability,  and  look  down  on  their  neighbors." 

Parson.  "  Gumptious  —  gumption.  I  think  I  remember  the  substantive  at 
school;  not  that  m}-  master  taught  it  to  me.    Gumption  —  it  means  cleverness." 

Landlord.  "  There 's  gumption  and  gumptious  !  Gumption  is  knowing;  but 
when  I  say  that  sum  uu  is  gumptious,  I  mean  —  though  that 's  more  vulgar  like 
—  sum  un  who  does  not  think  small  beer  of  hisself.    You  take  me,  sir  V  " 

To  bunch.    To  bring  together;  to  corral,  which  see. 

The  horses  not  captured  by  the  Indians  have  been  hunched  at  either  end  of  the 
hostile,  and  I  doubt  if  there  will  be  regular  coaches  for  a  month  to  come.  — 
3IcClure,  Rocky  Alountains,  p.  99. 

B  *nch-Grass.  A  species  of  Festuca  which  grows  on  the  plains  of  New 
Mexico. 

1  »  bundle.  Mr.  Grose  thus  describes  this  custom:  "  A  man  and 
woman  lying  on  the  same  bed  with  their  clothes  on ;  an  expedient 
practised  in  America  on  a  scarcity  of  beds,  where,  on  such  occasions, 
husbands  and  parents  frequently  permitted  travellers  to  bundle  with 
their  wives  and  daughters."  — Dictionary  of  the  Vulgar  Tongue. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Peters,  in  his  "  General  History  of  Connecti- 
cut "  (London,  1781),  enters  largely  into  the  custom  of  bundling  as 
practised  there.  He  says:  "  Notwithstanding  the  great  modesty  of 
tlie  females  is  such  that  it  would  be  accounted  the  greatest  rude- 
ness for  a  gentleman  to  speak  before  a  lady  of  a  garter  or  leg,  yet  it 
is  thought  but  a  piece  of  civility  to  ask  her  to  bundle. The  learned 
and  pious  historian  endeavors  to  prove  that  bundling  was  not  only  a 
Christian  custom,  but  a  very  polite  and  prudent  one. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Emmons  asks,  — 

Is  not  this  custom,  which  has  no  name  in  the  dictionary,  but  which  is  com- 
monly called  bundling,  a  sinful  custom  V —  Works,  Vol.  I.  p.  81. 

The  Rev.  Andrew  Barnaby,  who  travelled  in  New  England,  in 
1759-60,  notices  this  custom,  which  then  prevailed.  He  thinks  that 
though  it  may  at  first  "  appear  to  be  the  effects  of  grossness  of  char- 
acter, it  will,  upon  deeper  research,  be  found  to  proceed  from  sim- 
plicity and  innocence." —  Travels,  p.  144. 

Van  Corlear  stopped  occasionally  in  the  villages  to  eat  pumpkin-pies,  dance  at 
country  frolics,  and  bundle  with  the  Yankee  lasses.  —  Knickerbocker,  New  York. 

Bundling  is  said  to  be  practised  in  Wales.  —  WrigWs  Dictionarg. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  custom  in  former  times,  I  do  not 
think  bundling  is  now  practised  anywhere  in  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Masson  describes  a  similar  custom  in  Central  Asia:  "  Many 

6 


82 


BUN 


of  the  Afglian  tribes  have  a  custom  in  wooing  similar  to  what  in 
Wales  is  known  as  hundling-up,  and  which  they  term  namzat  haze. 
The  lover  presents  himself  at  the  house  of  his  betrothed  with  a 
suitable  gift,  and,  in  return,  is  allowed  to  pass  the  night  with  her, 
on  the  understanding  that  innocent  endearments  are  not  to  be 
exceeded." — Journeys  in  Beloochistan,  Afghanistan,  ^c,  Vol.  III. 
p.  287. 

Buncome,  Bunkum.  Judge  Halliburton,  of  Nova  Scotia,  thus  ex- 
plains this  very  expressive  word,  which  is  now  as  well  undeintcod 
as  any  in  our  language:  "All  over  America,  everyplace  likes  to 
hear  of  its  member  of  Congress,  and  see  their  speeches;  and,  if  they 
don't,  they  send  a  piece  to  the  paper,  inquirin'  if  their  members 
died  a  natural  death,  or  was  skivered  with  a  bowie-knife,  for  they 
hante  seen  his  speeches  lately,  and  his  friends  are  anxious  to  know 
his  fate.  Our  free  and  enlightened  citizens  don't  approbate  silent 
members;  it  don't  seem  to  them  as  if  Squashville,  or  Punkinsville, 
or  Lumbertown  was  right  represented,  unless  Squashville,  or  Pun- 
kinsville, or  Lumbertown  makes  itself  heard  and  known,  ay,  and 
feared  too.  So  every  feller,  in  bounden  duty,  talks,  and  talks  big 
too,  and  the  smaller  the  State,  the  louder,  bigger,  and  fiercer  its 
members  talk.  Well,  when  a  crittur  talks  for  talk's  sake,  jist  to 
have  a  speech  in  the  paper  to  send  to  home,  and  not  for  any  other 
airthly  puppus  but  electioneering,  our  folks  call  it  Bunkum.''^ 

The  origin  of  the  phrase,  "talking  for  Buncombe,"  is  thus  re- 
lated in  Wheeler's  History  of  North  Carolina:  "  Several  years  ago 
in  Congress,  the  member  from  this  district  arose  to  address  the 
House,  without  any  extraordinary  powers,  in  manner  or  matter,  to 
interest  the  audience.  Many  members  left  the  hall.  Very  naively 
he  told  those  who  remained  that  they  might  go  too ;  he  should  speak 
for  some  time,  but  '  he  was  only  talking  for  Buncombe.''  " 

Mr.  Goodrich,  in  his  pleasant  "  Reminiscences,"  in  describing 
his  native  valleys,  says:  — 

On  every  side  the  ear  was  saluted  by  the  mocking  screams  of  the  red-headed 
woodpecker,  the  cawing  of  congresses  of  crows,  clamorous  as  if  talking  to  buii- 
combe.  —  Yo\.  I.  p.  101. 

Mr.  Saxe,  speaking  of  the  Halls  of  Congress,  says:  — 

Here,  would-be  Tullys  pompously  parade 

Their  tumid  tropes  for  simple  buncombe  made, 

Full  on  the  chair  the  chilling  torrent  shower, 

And  work  their  word-pumps  through  the  allotted  hour. 

Progress,  A  Poem. 


BUN 


83 


Come  on,  ye  stump  men  eloquent,  in  never-ending  stream, 
Let  office  be  your  glorious  goal,  and  hunkum  be  3'our  theme ; 
The  vast  and  vaulted  capitol  shall  echo  to  \o\xy  jaws. 
And  universal  Yankeedom  shall  shout  in  your  applause. 

Dr.  Bigelow,  Am.  Rejected  Addresses,  The  American  Congress. 
The  House  of  Representatives  broke  down  upon  the  corruption  committee's  bill 
to  protect  the  integrity  of  members  of  Congress,  having  first  passed  it  for  bun- 
combe.—N.  Y.  Tribune,  March  2,  1857. 

Here  is  an  amusing  biography  of  General  Houston,  bulky  in  size,  capital  in 
paper,  and  evidently  got  up  for  buncombe.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Our  people  talk  a  great  deal  of  nonsense  about  emancipation,  but  they  know 
it 's  all  buncombe.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature,  p.  175. 

Bunkum  is  also  used  as  an  adjective. 

General  Sibley  was  within  thirty  miles  of  Fort  Craig,  with  twenty-five  hundred 
Texans,  with  artillery,  and  had  issued  a  bunkum  proclamation.  — N.  Y.  Tribune, 
Feb.  11,  1862,  Despatch  from  Kansas. 

Bungay.    Go  to  Bungay!    A  mild  way  of  saying,  "Go  to  h — 
Bungay  being  a  place  where  there  is  supposed  to  be  less  caloric. 
New  England. 

Bungo.    (Span,  bongo.)    A  kind  of  boat  used  at  the  South. 

The  most  urgent  steps  were  being  taken  to  press  every  bungo  and  canoe  to  the 
immediate  relief  of  the  people  along  the  coast,  in  order  to  embark  them  without 
delay.  —  N.  0.  Picayune. 

Bungtown  Copper.  A  spurious  coin,  of  base  metal,  a  very  clumsy 
counterfeit  of  the  English  halfpenny  or  copper.  It  derived  its  name 
from  the  place  where  it  w^as  first  manufactured,  then  called  Bung- 
town,  now  Barneysville,  in  the  town  of  Rehoboth,  Mass.  The 
Bungtown  copper  never  was  a  legal  coin.  The  British  halfpenny  or 
copper  was.    The  term  is  used  only  in  New  England. 

These  flowers  wouldn't  fetch  a  Bungtown  copper.  —  Margaret,  p.  19. 

Anti-slavery  professions  just  before  an  election  ain't  worth  a  Bungtown  copper. 
—  Biglow  Papers,  p.  147. 

The  last  thing  I  remember  [having  been  tipsy]  was  trying  to  pay  my  fare  with 
a  Bungtown  copper.  —  Doesticks,  p.  62. 

Bunk.  1.  (Ang.-Sax.  f/enc,  a  bench,  a  form.)  A  wooden  case,  used 
in  country  taverns  and  in  offices,  which  serves  alike  for  a  seat  dur- 
ing the  day  and  for  a  bed  at  night.  The  name  is  also  appliod  to 
the  tiers  of  standing  bed-places  used  in  the  lowest  class  of  lodging- 
houses. 

Dr.  Jamieson  has  the  word  bunker,  a  bench  or  sort  of  low  chests, 
that  serve  for  seats,  —  also,  a  seat  in  the  window,  which  serves  for 
a  chest,  opening  with  a  hinged  lid.  —  Etym.  Diet.  Scottish  Language. 
Ithers  frae  off  the  bunkers  sank, 

We  e'en  like  the  coUops  scor'd.  — Ramsay's  Poems,  Vol.  I.  p.  280. 


84 


BUN— BUR 


In  some  parts  of  Scotland,  a  hunker  or  bunkart,  which  Dr.  Jamie- 
son  thinks  to  be  the  same  word,  means  an  earthen  seat  in  the 
fields.  In  the  north  of  England,  a  seat  in  front  of  a  house,  made 
of  stones  or  sods,  is  called  a  hink. 

2.  Bunk,  also  applied  to  berths  in  second-class  steamboats.  In 
some  of  them,  the  engine-house  has  a  bunk-room,  and  those  who 
sleep  there  at  night  are  termed  bunkers.  The  same  language  ap- 
plies to  the  "  cribs  "  of  rowdy  clubs;  and  the  word  "  to  bunk  "  has 
become  very  generally  engrafted  upon  our  common  language  of  the 
streets. 

3.  A  piece  of  wood  placed  on  a  lumberman's  sled  to  enable  it  to 
sustain  the  end  of  heavy  pieces  of  timber.  —  Maine. 

To  bunk.    1.  To  retire  to  bed  in  a  bunk. 

2.  Among  lumbermen,  to  pile  wood  deceitfully  so  as  to  increase 
the  apparent  quantity  in  the  survey. 

Bunker.  {Alosa  menhaden.)  The  Menhaden  or  Mossbunker,  an  abbre- 
viation of  the  latter,  which  see;  also  Menhaden. 

In  an  article  on  the  Long  Island  Fishery,  the  "  Sag  Harbor  Ex- 
press ' '  says :  — ■ 

During  the  last  two  weeks,  the  bunker  or  menhaden  fishery  has  been  very 
brisk.  During  the  last  week,  the  Sterling  Oil  Works  at  Cedar  Point  took  in 
800,000  fish,  and  in  three  days  of  the  same  week  Wells's  factory  took  1.000.000. 
The  "Greenport  Times  "  states  that  large  quantities  of  bunkers  are  taken  in 
pounds,  as  high  as  50,000  being  secured  in  some  of  them  at  a  single  lift. 

Bunkum.    See  Buncome. 

Bureau.  1.  The  name  commonly  given,  in  America,  to  a  chest  of 
drawers. 

2.  A  subdivision  of  one  of  the  government  departments,  as  the 
"  Indian  Bureau,"  the  "  Pension  Bureau,"  &c. 

Burgall.  (Ctenolahrus  cceruleus.)  A  small  fish,  very  common  in  Xew 
York;  also  found  on  the  coast  of  New  England,  and  as  far  south  as 
Delaware  Bay.  The  usual  length  is  about  six  inches,  though  they 
are  sometimes  found  twelve  inches.  Other  names  for  the  same  fish 
are  Nibbler,  from  its  nibbling  off  the  bait  when  thrown  for  other 
fishes;  Chogset,  the  Indian  name;  and  in  'New  England,  those  of 
Blue  Perch  and  Conner. 

Burgaloo.    Pear.    See  Virgalieu. 

To  burgle.    To  commit  burglary ;  to  break  into ;  to  rob. 

Robbed.  The  Waverly  National  Bank  burgled. — Phila.  Press,  March  15, 
1870. 

To  burn  up.     In  correct  English,  papers,  haystacks,  briars,  &c.,  are 


BUR— BUS 


85 


burned  up.  The  grass  is  also  said  to  be  burned  up  by  drought ;  but 
it  is  hardly  proper  to  say  that  such  a  man  was  ruined  by  being 
burned  up.  "Mr.  Smith's  factory  was  burned  up,^^  it  should  be 
"  burned  down;  "  and,  applied  to  a  man,  "  burned  out." 
Burr-Oak.  (Quercus  rnacrocarpa.)  A  beautiful  tree,  more  than  sixty 
feet  in  height,  laden  with  dark  tufted  foliage.  It  is  found  mostly 
beyond  the  Alleghanies,  in  the  fertile  districts  of  Kentucky  and 
West  Tennessee,  and  in  Upper  Louisiana  near  the  Missouri.  It  is 
also  called  Overcup  White  Oak.  —  Michaux. 

The  trees,  with  very  few  exceptions,  were  what  is  called  the  burr-oak,  a  small 
variety  of  a  very  extensive  genus;  and  the  spaces  between  them,  always  irregu- 
lar and  often  of  singular  beauty,  have  obtained  the  name  of  "openings."  — 
Cooper,  The  Oak  Openings. 

Burr-Stone.     A  species  of  silex  or  quartz  occurring  in  amorphous 

masses,  partly  compact,  but  containing  many  irregular  cavities. 

It  is  used  for  mill-stones.  —  Cleveland^  Mineralogy. 
Bursted.    A  form  of  the  past  tense  and  participle  frequently  employed 

instead  of  the  correct  form,  burst.     So  "bust''  and  "busted." 

Vulgar. 

Bush.  (Dutch,  bosch,  a  wood.)  The  woods,  a  forest,  or  a  thicket  of 
trees  or  bushes.  This  term,  which  is  much  used  in  the  Northern 
States  and  Canada,  probably  originated  in  New  York. 

Bush-Bean.  (Phaseolus  vulgaris.)  The  useful  vegetable,  brought 
originally  from  Asia  and  long  cultivated  in  Europe,  called  in  Eng- 
land Kidney-bean  and  French  Bean.  With  us  they  are  also  called 
String-beans  and  Snap-beans,  or  Snaps. 

Bush-Meeting.  Gatherings  in  the  woods  for  the  purpose  of  religious 
worship.  A  few  rough  benches  are  put  up  at  some  convenient 
point,  and  the  meeting  lasts  from  early  morning  till  late  at  night. 
Distinguished  from  camp-meetings  in  the  fact  of  lasting  only  one  day 
(the  Sabbath  usually),  having  no  tents  put  up,  and  being  in  every 
respect  more  impromptu.  At  present  they  are  done  away  with  in 
many  places,  except  at  the  South  among  the  Negroes,  to  whom  there 
can  be  no  more  delightful  frolic  than  a  bush-meetin\ 

Bushwhacker.  1.  One  accustomed  to  beat  about  or  travel  through 
bushes;  a  clodhopper,  raw  countryman,  greenhorn. 

Do  you  think  all  our  eastern  dignitaries  combined  could  have  compelled  3'oung 
bushwhackers  to  wear  coats  and  shoes  in  recitation-roomsV —  Carlton,  New  Pur- 
chase, Vol.  II.  p.  87. 

The  Van  B  s  of  Nyack  were  the  first  that  did  ever  kick  with  the  left  foot; 

they  were  gallant  bushwhackers  and  hunters  of  raccoons  by  moonlight.  —  Knicker- 
bocker''s  New  York. 


86 


BUS 


Every  bush  whacker  and  forest  ranj^er  thought  he  knew  where  to  find  the  trees. 
—  S.  Slick.  Nature  and  Human  Nature,  p.  15. 

2.  Ill  the  late  civil  war,  an  irregular,  or  guerilla  Confederate 
soldier. 

Should  guerillas  or  bushwhackers  molest  our  march,  or  should  the  inhabitants 
burn  bridges,  or  otherwise  manifest  local  hostility,  then  army  commanders  should 
order  and  enforce  a  devastation  more  or  less  relentless.  —  General  Sherman's 
Field  Order,  Nov.  9,  1864. 

3.  A  scythe  or  other  instrument  used  for  cutting  brush  or  bushes. 
I  know  not  the  victim  soon  destined  to  fall  before  the  keen-edged  bushwhacker 

of  Time,  or  I  would  point  him  out.  —  Dow's  Sermons,  Vol.  I. 

Bushwhacking.    1.  Travelling  or  pulling  through  bushes. 

The  propelling  power  of  the  keel-boat  is  by  oars,  sails,  setting-poles,  the  cor- 
delle,  and,  when  the  waters  are  high  and  the  boat  runs  on  the  margin  of  the 
bushes,  bushwhacking,  or  pulling  up  by  the  bushes.  —  Flint's  Hist,  and  Geogr.  of 

Mississippi  Valley. 

2.  Fighting  in  guerilla  style,  much  in  vogue  at  the  South  during 
the  late  civil  war. 

The  tiends  in  small  parties  select  a  position  behind  fences,  trees,  «Scc.,  fire 
upon  the  Union  troops  as  they  pass,  and  then  run.  .  .  .  This  infernal  ^ws^wAacA;- 
ing  shall  not  be  practised  on  the  men  of  my  command,  without  my  enforcing  the 
severest  retaliation.  —  Colonel  Deitzler,  in  N.  Y.  Herald,  June  29,  1802. 

Bust.    A  burst,  failure.    The  following  conundrum  went  the  rounds 
of  the  papers  at  the  time  the  Whig  party  failed  to  elect  Mr.  Clay 
to  the  Presidency:  "  Why  is  the  Whig  party  like  a  sculptor?  Be- 
cause it  takes  Clay,  and  makes  a  hust.''^ 
2.  A  frolic;  a  spree.  Vulgar. 

In  old  times,  Joshua  sent  Jericho  on  a  bust  with  his  horns. — N.  Y.  Herald, 
Jan.  11,  1862. 

And  when  we  get  our  pockets  full 

Of  this  bright,  shinin'  dust. 
We  'II  travel  straight  for  home  again. 

And  spend  it  on  a  bust.  —  California  Song. 

To  bust.    To  burst ;  to  fail  in  business.    This  "snilgar  pronunciation 

of  the  word  burst  is  very  common. 

I  was  soon  fotch'd  up  in  the  victualling  line  —  and  I  busted  lor  the  benefit  of 
my  creditors.  — C.  Neal,  Dolhj  Jones. 

When  merchants  fondly  trust  !o  paper, 
And  find  too  late  that  banks  betray, 
What  art  can  help  them  through  the  scrape,  or 
Suggest  the  means  wherewith  to  pay  ? 

The  only  way  to  stop  each  croaker. 

And  pay  the  banks  to  whom  they  trust; 
To  bring  repentance  to  the  broker. 

And  wring  his  bosom,  is  "  to  bust.''''  — N.  Y.  Evening  Post. 

Buster.    1.  A  roistering  blade,  a  dashing  fellow. 


BUS— BUT 


87 


I  went  on,  larning  something  every  day,  until  I  was  reckened  a  buster,  and 
allowed  to  be  the  best  bar -hunter  in  my  district.  —  Thorpe,  Big  Bear  of  Arkansas. 

Applied  also  to  any  large  person,  especially  to  overgrown  children. 
"  Ain't  he  a  6M5/er."  "  Come  here,  buster, in  the  sense  of  "sonny," 
"  who 's  your  daddy  ?  " 
2.  A  frolic,  a  spree. 
Bust-Head,  i.  e.  Burst-head.    Common  whiskey. 
Butcher-Eird.    See  Nine-Killer. 

Butt.    1.  The  small  pipe  affixed  to  the  hose  of  a  fire-engine. 

2.  The  buttocks.  The  word  is  used  in  the  West  in  such  phrases 
as,  "I  fell  on  my  "He  kick'd  my  In  the  west  of 
England,  it  denotes  a  buttock  of  beef. 

3.  A  sort  of  flat  and  short  hinge,  that,  when  folded,  hutts  on 
itself. 

To  butt.    To  oppose.  South-west. 

Butte.  (French.)  This  word  is  of  frequent  occurrence  in  books  that 
relate  to  the  Rocky  Mountain  and  Oregon  regions,  "where,"  says 
Colonel  Fremont,  "  it  is  naturalized,  and,  if  desirable  to  render  into 
English,  there  is  no  word  which  would  be  its  precise  equivalent. 
It  is  applied  to  the  detached  hills  and  ridges  which  rise  abruptly, 
and  reach  too  high  to  be  called  hills  or  ridges,  and  not  high  enough 
to  be  called  mountains.  Knob,  as  applied  in  the  Western  States, 
is  their  most  descriptive  term  in  English;  but  no  translation  or 
paraphrasis  would  preserve  the  identity  of  these  picturesque  land- 
marks." —  Exped.  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  p.  145. 

Sir  George  Simpson,  in  his  "  Overland  Journey,"  when  travers- 
ing the  Red  River  country,  speaks  of  a  conspicuous  landmark  in  the 
sea  of  plains,  known  as  the  Butte  aux  Chiens,  .  .  .  towering  with 
a  height  of  about  four  hundred  feet  over  a  boundless  prairie  as  level 
and  smooth  as  a  pond.  — Vol.  1.  p.  54. 

On  entering  the  broken  ground,  the  creek  turns  more  to  the  westward,  and 
passes  by  two  remarkable  buttes  of  a  red  conglomerate,  which  appear  at  a  dis- 
tance like  tables  cut  in  the  mountain  side.  —  Ruxton^s  Mexico  and  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, p.  241. 

Butter-Bird.   See  Bobolink. 

Butter-Bush.  The  Cephalanthus  Canadensis,  or  butter-bush,  grows  in 
swamps  and  low,  wet,  marshy  grounds  in  almost  every  part  of  the 
United  States.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  July  24,  1861.  This  is  a  corrup- 
tion of  Button-Bush,  which  vsee. 

Butter-Fish.    (Murcenoides.)    So  called  from  the  slime  with  which 


88 


BUT— BUY 


it  is  covered,  rendering  it  difficult  to  handle.  Found  all  along  our 
coast. 

Perch  are  found  about  the  rocks,  and  lump  or  hutter-fish  are  sometimes  caught. 
—  Thaxter,  J.  of  Shoals,  p.  88. 

Butterine.  Another  name  for  oleomargarine,  or  butter  made  of  fat, 
and  greasy  or  oily  substances.    See  Oleomargarine. 

Butternuts.  A  term  a})plied  to  the  Confederate  soldiers  during  the 
late  civil  war,  so  called  from  the  color  of  their  clothes,  a  cinnamon 
color,  which  color  is  obtained  from  the  skins  of  the  hutte.rnut. 

We  marvelled  as  we  went  by  that  no  ambitious  butternut  discharged  his  rifle 
or  shot-gun  at  the  fleet  as  it  passed;  but  he  did  not.  — N.  Y.  Tribune,  June  11, 
1862,  Letter  from  Tennessee. 

The  butternut  gentry  .  .  .  about  four  hundred  of  them  [here  prisoners]  are  in 
the  camp  hospitals.  —  The  Independent,  March  22,  1862,  Letter  from  Chicago. 

Button-Bush.  (Cephalanthus  occidentalis.)  A  shrub  which  grows 
along  the  water-side,  its  insulated  thickets  furnishing  a  safe  retreat 
for  the  nests  of  the  blackbird.  Its  flowers  appear  at  a  distance  like 
the  balls  of  the  sycamore  tree;  hence  its  name.  —  Bigelow. 

Buttoning  up.  A  Wall  Street  phrase.  When  a  broker  has  bought 
stock  on  speculation  and  it  falls  suddenly  on  his  hands,  whereby 
he  is  a  loser,  he  keeps  the  matter  to  himself,  and  is  reluctant  to 
confess  the  ownership  of  a  share.  This  is  called  buttoning  up.  —  A 
Walk  in  Wall  Street,  p.  47. 

Buttonwood  or  Button-Tree.  (Platanus  occidentalis.)  The  popular 
name,  in  New  England,  of  the  sycamore-tree;  so  called  from  the 
balls  it  bears,  the  receptacle  of  the  seeds,  which  remain  on  the 
trees  during  the  winter.  —  Michaux's  Sylva.  Sometimes  called  But- 
ton-ball tree. 

Buyer's  Option.  A  purchaser  of  stocks  at  the  broker's  board,  buyer'' s 
option,  thirty,  sixty,  or  ninety  days,  can  call  for  the  stock  any  day 
within  that  time,  or  wait  until  its  expiration.  He  pays  interest  at 
the  rate  of  six  per  cent  up  to  the  time  he  calls.  A  purchase  on 
buyer'' s  option  is  generally  a  fraction  above  the  cash  price. 

To  buy  in.  The  act  of  purchasing  stock  in  order  to  meet  a  "  short " 
contract,  or  to  enable  one  to  return  stock  which  has  been  borrowed. 
Medbery,  Men  and  Mysteries  of  Wall  Street. 

To  buy  one's  Time.  An  apprentice  "buys  his  time;  "  i.  e.,  he  pays 
his  employer,  to  whom  he  is  bound,  a  certain  sum  of  money,  to 
release  him  before  his  term  of  apprenticeship  has  expired. 

To  buy  or  sell  Flat.  A  broker's  phrase,  meaning  to  buy  or  sell  divi- 
dend-making stocks,  or  securities  having  interest  coupons  attached. 


BUZ— CAB 


89 


■without  making  account  of  the  interest  accrued  since  the  last  pre- 
ceding payment  of  dividend  or  interest. 
Buzzer.    A  pickpocket. 

While  the  [New  York]  police  had  no  right  to  arrest  pickpockets  unless  they 
caught  them  committing  a  theft,  yet  as  they  had  the  power  to  do  so,  they  exer- 
cised it,  find  many  were  the  car-buzzers  they  led  captives  to  police  head-quarters. 
Galaxy  for  1867,  p.  634. 

By  and  again.    Occasionally,  now  and  then.    A  Southern  expression. 

"  By  and  then  "  is  given  in  "  Robinson  Crusoe  "  as  Friday's  corruj)- 

tion  of  by  and  by. 
By  and  large.    From  every  point  of  view ;  on  the  whole ;  after  due 

consideration. 

Taken  by  and  large,  it  [General  Sherman's  prediction]  was  a  good  philosophi- 
cal forecast.  —  Boston  Journal. 

Taken  by  and  large,  it  has  been  a  profitable  season  for  business.  —  State  of  the, 
Markets. 

By-Bidder.    A  person  employed  at  public  auctions  to  bid  on  articles 

put  up  for  sale,  to  enhance  the  price. 
By  Sun.    Before  sunset.  Georgia. 

By  the  Name  of.  Some  persons  will  say,  "  I  met  to-day  a  man  hy 
the  name  of  Smith."  An  Englishman  would  say  "  of  the  name," 
&c. ;  except  in  such  phrases  as  "he  went  by  the  name  of  Smith. 

c. 

Cabbage-Tree.  (Palma  altisdma.)  A  palm-tree  found  in  East  Florida. 
From  its  pith  very  good  sago  is  made,  and  its  long  trunks  serve  for 
pipes  to  convey  water  underground.  —  Bartrani's  Florida  Journal. 
This  name,  according  to  locality,  is  given  to  all  palms  that  bear  an 
esculent  shoot.    See  Palm  Cabbage. 

Caberos.  (Span,  cabestro,  a  halter.)  A  rope  made  of  hair,  used  for 
catching  wild  horses  and  cattle.  It  is  used  in  the  same  manner  as 
the  "lariat,"  which  is  made  of  raw  hide.  These  two  words  are  in 
common  use  in  Louisiana  and  Texas,  and  imply  what  is,  at  the 
North,  termed  a  lasso. 

Bill  Stone  had  his  rifle  for  himself  and  a  strong  caberos  for  his  horse,  and  so 
did  n't  bother  anybody  about  feeding.  — iV^.  F.  Spititof  the  Times,  Western  Tale. 

Cablegram.    Telegram  by  the  Atlantic  Cable. 

Cablegrams  received  by  the  State  Department  indicate  that  there  is  no  longer 
any  possibility  of  averting  war  between  Russia  and  Turkey. — Telegraphic 
Report,  Ap-il  21,  1877. 


90 


CAB— CAC 


Caboodle.  The  whole  caboodle  is  a  common  expression,  meaning  the 
whole  lot.  It  is  used  in  all  the  Northern  States  as  well  as  in  some 
of  the  Southern.    The  word  boodle  is  used  in  the  same  manner. 

They  may  recoinineiid  to  the  electors  of  Hamilton  County  to  disregard  so  much 
of  the  law  as  constitutes  two  election  districts  of  Hamilton  County.  Having  done 
this,  Medary  will  be  looking  out  for  a  job  ;  Olds  will  be  often  in  Fairlield  cozeii- 
ing  for  a  nomination  to  Congress ;  and  the  whole  caboodle  will  act  upon  the  rec- 
ommendation of  the  "  Ohio  Sun,"  and  endeavor  to  secure  a  triumph  la  the  old 
fashion  way.  —  Oliio  State  Journal. 

Up  with  the  stripes  and  stars,  and  down  with  stars  and  bars, 

Let  the  cry  of  the  Eagle  still  be  Union. 
Hail  Columbia,  Yankee  Doodle,  God  bless  the  whole  caboodle. 

Christt/s  Songster. 

When  Josiah  Allen's  wife  visited  Stewart's  great  store  in  Xew 
York,  she  says,  in  describing  her  visit,  — 

I  walked  up  to  the  counter  as  collected  lookiu'  as  if  I  owned  the  whole  caboodle 
of  them,  and  New  York  village  and  Jonesville.  —  Bttsy  Bobbet,  p.  351. 

Caboose  Car.  The  last  car  of  a  freight-train  on  a  railway  for  the 
conductor's  use. 

Cacao.  The  fruit  of  the  cacao-tree  {Theohroma  cacao),  of  which  choco- 
late is  made;  hence  also  called  Chocolate-nuts,  commonly  spelled 
and  pronounced  Cocoa. 

Cache.  (French.)  A  hole  in  the  ground  for  hiding  and  preserving 
provisions  which  it  is  inconvenient  to  carry.  Travellers  across 
the  prairies,  hunters,  and  the  settlers  in  the  Far  West,  often  resort 
to  this  means  for  preserving  their  provisions. 

The  term  cache  is  also  used  to  designate  other  means  of  preserving 
articles  of  various  kinds.  See  in  "  Harper's  Mag."  for  Nov.,  1869, 
description  and  illustrative  woodcut  of  a  cache,  which  was  a  plat- 
form on  which,  supported  on  branches  of  trees,  provisions,  &c.,  were 
kept  from  the  reach  of  bears  and  other  animals. 

I  took  advantage  of  a  detached  heap  of  stones,  to  make  a  cache  of  a  bag  of 
pemmican.  —  Back,  Journal  of  an  Arctic  Voyage. 

The  cache,  which  I  had  relied  so  much  upon,  was  entkely  destroyed  by  the 
bears.  —  Br.  Kane,  Arctic  Explorations,  Vol.  I. 

To  cache.    To  hide  or  conceal  in  the  ground. 

We  returned  to  camp,  and  cached  our  meat  and  packs  in  the  forks  of  a  cotton- 
wood-tree,  out  of  reach  of  wolves.  —  Ruxtow s  Adventures  in  New  Mexico. 

When  Dr.  Hovey's  party  reached  Mann's  Fort,  they  were  well-nigh  exhausted. 
The  fort  was  vacant,  but  after  much  search  they  found  plenty  of  salt  pork 
which  had  been  cached  by  its  former  occupants.  — New  York  Tribune. 

Cachunk !  A  word  like  thump  !  describing  the  sound  produced  by 
the  fall  of  a  heavy  body.    Also  written  kerchunk!    A  number  of 


CAC— CAL 


91 


fanciful  ouomatopoetic  words  of  this  sort  are  used  in  the  South  and 
West;  in  all  of  which  the  first  syllable,  which  is  unaccented,  is  sub- 
ject to  the  same  variety  of  spelling.  These  words  are  of  recent 
origin. 

Cacique  or  Cazique.  (W.  Ind.  cazic,  cachic.)  A  chief  or  king  among 
the  aborigines  of  the  West  India  Islands.  This,  like  other  terms 
of  the  sort,  has  been  extended  by  the  whites  beyond  its  original 
limits. 

Cack.    A  small  shoe  ;  a  shoe  for  a  child.  Massachusetts. 
Cacomite.    A  name  for  the  bulbous  root  of  a  species  of  Tigridia  from 

which  a  good  flour  is  prepared,  in  Mexico. 
Cade.    A  calf;  a  pet. 

Cadeau.  (Fr.)    A  present  ;  gift  ;  compliment. 

A  present,  a  gift,  as  some  wretched  beings  affecting  to  adorn  English  say,  a 
cadeau.  — N.  Y.  Tribune,  Dec.  30,  1861. 

Cahoot.  (Perhaps  Fr.  capute,  a  hut,  a  cabin.)  It  is  used  in  the  South 
and  West  to  denote  a  company,  or  partnership.  Men  who  live  in 
the  same  hut  or  shanty,  or  who  make  one  family,  are  "  in  cahoot.^ ^ 

Pete  Hopkins  ain't  no  better  than  he  should  be,  and  I  wouldn't  swar  he  wasn't 
in  cahoot  with  the  devil.  —  Chronicles  of  Pineville. 

I 'd  have  no  objection  to  go  in  cahoot  with  a  decent  fellow  for  a  character,  but 
have  no  funds  to  purchase  on  my  own  account.  — New  Orleans  Picayune. 

The  Hoosier  took  him  aside,  told  him  there  was  a  smart  chance  of  a  pile  on  one 
of  the  [card]  tables,  and  that  if  he  liked  he  would  go  in  with  him  —  in  cahoot! 
—  Field,  Western  Tales. 

To  cahoot.    To  act  in  partnership. 

Commodore  Morgan  sells  out  his  interest  to  Commodore  Garrison  in  the  Nica- 
ragua line,  and  Garrison  settles  his  difficulties  with  Commodore  Vanderbilt,  and 
they  all  agree  to  cahoot  with  their  claims  against  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Kica. — 
New  York  Herald,  May  20,  1857. 

Cahot.  (Fr.  Jolt.)  A  bank  of  snow  across  a  road  made  by  sleighs, 
which  heap  up  the  snow  in  front  and  leave  a  corresponding  depres- 
sion or  hollow.  Cahots  are  common  throughout  Canada  where  the 
snow  is  deep,  and  are  great  obstructions  to  travelling.  A  particular 
kind  of  sleigh  called  a  "  traineau  "  chiefly  cause  these  cahots.  An 
effort  was  made  by  act  of  Parliament  a  few  years  since  to  prevent 
the  use  of  the  traineaux,  but  it  met  with  so  much  opposition  from 
the  Canadians  that  the  law  could  not  be  enforced.  In  the  United 
States,  we  call  these  "  thank-ye-ma^ams.^^ 

Calabash.  1.  A  large  gourd,  the  fruit  of  the  Cucurhita  lagenaria,  or 
calabash  vine. 


92 


CAL 


2.  (Crescentia  cujete.)  A  gourd  that  grows  upon  trees  in  Spanish 
America  and  the  West  Indies.  The  fruit  is  large  and  round,  and 
serves  for  bowls.  That  of  another  species  or  variety  is  oval,  and 
furnishes  drinking-cups  and  chocolate-cups.  In  South  America, 
the  name  is  Totuma ;  in  Central  America,  Jicara;  and  in  Cuba, 
Giiira. 

3.  A  humorous  name  for  the  head,  generally  implying  emptiness ; 
as,  "  He  broke  his  calabash.''''  Possibly  a  corruption  of  the  Spanish 
caheza. 

Calaboose.    (Fr.  calabouse ;   Span,  calahozo.)    In  the  South-western 
States,  the  common  jail  or  prison. 

There 's  no  peace  in  a  steamer,  it  is  nothing  but  a  large  calaboose  chock  full  of 
prisoners.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature. 


To  calaboose.    To  imprison.  South-western. 

We  have  a  special  telegraphic  despatch  from  St.  Louis,  giving  the  information 
that  Colonel  Titus,  late  of  Nicaragua,  now  claiming  to  be  of  Kansas,  was  cala- 
boosed  on  Tuesday  for  shooting  at  the  porter  of  the  Planters'  House.  —  Cincinnati 
Commercial,  1857. 

Calash.     (Fr.  calecTie.)     1.   A  two- wheeled  carriage,  resembling  a 
chaise,  used  in  Canada. 

2.  A  covering  for  the  head,  usually  worn  by  ladies  to  protect 
their  head-dresses  when  going  to  evening  parties,  the  theatre,  &c. 
It  is  formed  of  hoops  after  the  manner  of  a  chaise-top. 
f  To  calculate.  1.  This  word,  which  properly  means  to  compute,  to 
estimate,  has  been  erroneously  transferred  from  the  language  of  the 
counting-house  to  that  of  common  life,  where  it  is  used  for  the 
words  to  esteem;  to  suppose;  to  believe;  to  think;  to  expect;  intend, 
&c.  It  is  employed  in  a  similar  way  to  the  word  guess,  though  not 
to  so  great  an  extent.  Its  use  is  confined  to  the  illiterate  of  Xew 
England.  Calculated  is,  in  iS'ew  England  much,  by  some  almost 
exclusively,  used  in  the  sense  of  adapted  (to) ,  designed  (for) ;  and 
in  the  former  of  these  mischosen  and  ill-applied  applications  is  see  ■ 
in  English  writers,  e.  g.  Harris's  "  Great  Commission  "  (often). 

Mr.  Cram  requested  those  persons  who  calculated  to  join  the  singin'  school  to 
come  forward.  — Knickerbocker  Mag.,  Vol.  XVII. 

2.  To  adapt,  as  in  "  calculated." 

Calf-Kill.    (Kalinia  angustifolia.)    A  plant,  so  called  from  its  poison- 


I  went  on  board  the  other  day. 

To  hear  what  the  boatmen  had  to  say  ; 

While  there  I  let  my  passion  loose. 

When  they  clapped  me  in  the  calaboose.  —  The  Boatman's  Song. 


f 


7n,X.  la^,  yie^  ,   ^<tl  V,  jo,^ 


CAL 


93 


ous  properties,  which  are,  however,  not  so  great  as  the  name  im- 
ports.   Also  called  Lamb-kill  and  Sheep  Laurel. 

Calibogus.  Rum  and  spruce-beer. —  CartwrighVs  Labrador  (1792), 
Vol.  III.  Glossary.    An  American  beverage.  —  Grose. 

Calico.  The  word  was  originally  applied  to  white  cottons  from  Lidia. 
In  England,  white  cotton  goods  are  still  called  calicoes.  In  the 
United  States,  the  term  is  applied  exclusively  to  printed  cotton  cloth. 

Call.  An  invitation  from  the  vestry  of  a  church  to  a  clergyman  to  oc- 
cupy their  pulpit  is  technically  termed  a  call,  the  loudness  of  which 
call  is  considered  to  be  in  a  direct  ratio  to  the  salary  offered. 

The  renowned  Mr.  Dow,  Jr.,  at  the  close  of  one  of  his  sermons, 
said :  — 

I  have  observed  that  a  great  many  country  people  have  lately  joined  my  con- 
gregation. Let  the  good  work  goon!  I  hope  to  coax  a  few  more  such  sheep 
into  my  fold  before  I  preach  my  farewell  sermon  ;  and  that  ma}'  be  pretty  soon, 
as  I  have  had  a  loud  $600  call  elsewhere.  —  Sermons,  Vol.  I.  p..  317. 

Call  Contract.  A  contract  for  the  future  delivei-y  of  stock  is  termed 
a  call,  and  gives  the  holder  the  privilege  of  purchasing  of  the  party 
with  whom  the  contract  is  made  a  certain  number  of  shares  of  the 
stock  named,  within  a  definite  time,  at  a  stipulated  price. 

Callithumpians.  It  was  a  common  practice  in  I^ew  York,  as  well  as 
other  parts  of  the  country,  on  New  Year's  Eve,  for  persons  to  assem- 
ble with  tin  horns,  bells,  rattles,  and  similar  euphonious  instruments, 
and  parade  the  streets,  making  all  the  noise  and  discord  possible. 
This  party  was  called  the  Callithumpians,  or  the  Callithumpian  band. 
An  allusion  to  Calliope  and  as  well  to  thurnpinf/.  Fortunately,  the 
custom  has  now  fallen  almost,  if  not  entirely,  into  disuse. 

A  gang  of  Baltimore  rowdies  once  assumed  the  name.  The 
present  substitute  for  this  is  a  similar  procession  at  sunrise  on  the 
4th  of  July,  in  grotesque  or  worse  attire,  calling  themselves 
"Antiques  and  Horribles,"  a  corruption  of  the  venerable  Ancient 
and  Honorable  Artillery  Company  of  Boston. 

Applied  also  to  any  burlesque  serenade,  particularly  when  given 
to  unpopular  persons  on  their  marriage. 

Call-Loans.  Loans  on  call  are  loans  of  money  where  the  borrower 
agrees  to  pay  at  any  moment  when  called  for.  Banks  having  large 
deposits  which  are  liable  to  be  called  for  any  day  often  loan  money 
at  less  than  the  ordinary  rates  in  this  way  to  brokers. 

To  speculate  in  fancy  stocks  on  c(dl-loans  is  simply  to  put  your  hand  in  the 
lion's  mouth,  or  yourself  in  the  hands  of  a  Shylock,  with  the  expectation  of 
getting  out  without  being  fleeced.  — N.  Y.  Herald. 


9-i 


CAL— CAM 


If  the  merchants  of  New  York  in  this  year  1870  wish  to  warn  the  banks  against 
oall-loam^  by  which  our  present  trade  is  imperilled,  let  them  organize  a  sub- 
scription for  an  accurate  history  of  banking  in  the  metropolis  during  185;3-54.  — 
Medbery,  Men  and  Mysteiies  of  Wall  Street^  p.  308. 

Calls.  Operations  of  this  kind  are  made  generally  by  those  "curb- 
stone brokers"  who  are  under  the  impression  that  higher  prices 
will  soon  rule  in  certain  stocks.  A  speculator  is  desirous  of  making 
a  little  operation,  and  he  offers  to  give  !$50  for  the  privilege  of  call- 
ing for  100  shares  New  York  Central  Railroad  stock  at  91  per  cent 
in  ten  or  fifteen  days.  The  price  fixed  on  the  part  of  the  buyer  is 
always  a  fraction  above  the  cash  price.  If  the  stock  goes  down  ten, 
twenty,  or  thirty  per  cent,  the  party  buying  the  call  can  only  lose 
$50.  If  it  goes  up  to  91^,  he  gets  his  money  back,  and  all  above 
that  is  so  much  profit.  This  business  is  confined  almost  entirely  to 
the  curbstone  brokers  :  it  is  a  species  of  betting  about  on  a  par 
with  "  roulette."  —  Hunt^s  Merchants  Mag.,  1857. 

Calumet.  Among  the  aboriginals  of  America,  a  pipe,  used  for  smok- 
ing tobacco,  whose  bowl  is  usually  of  soft  red  marble,  and  the  tube 
a  long  reed,  ornamented  with  feathers.  An  old  Norman  word  de- 
rived from  chalumeau.  —  Charlevoix,  Vol.  II.  212.  It  was  introduced 
into  Canada  by  the  settlers  from  Normandy.  The  Iroquois  name 
for  a  pipe  is  ganondaoe,  and  among  some  other  tribes  poagan.  The 
calumet  is  used  as  a  symbol  or  instrument  of  peace  and  war.  To 
accept  the  calumet  is  to  agree  to  the  terms  of  peace ;  and  to  refuse 
it  is  to  reject  them.  The  calumet  of  peace  is  used  to  seal  or  ratify 
contracts  and  alliances,  to  receive  strangers  kindly,  and  to  travel 
with  safety.  The  calumet  of  tear,  differently  made,  is  used  to  pro- 
claim war. 

As  soon  as  we  sat  down,  the  Illinois  [Indians]  presented  us,  according  to 
custom,  their  calumet,  which  one  must  needs  accept,  or  else  he  would  be  looked 
upon  as  an  open  enemj-  or  a  mere  brute.  —  Marquette,  1673. 

The  savages  make  use  of  the  calumet  in  all  their  negotiations  and  state  affairs; 
for  when  they  have  a  calumet  in  their  hand,  they  go  where  they  will  in  safet}'. 
—  La  Hontan,  Voyages  dans  V Amerique  (170-4). 

To  camp.  (Old  Eng.  To  contend.)  To  kick  with  the  foot,  especially 
a  ball,  so  as  to  raise  it  in  the  air.  Eastern  Massachusetts.  The 
word  is  also  provincial  in  England  for  a  game  of  ball.  —  Wright. 

Campaign.  The  season  of  political  excitement  preceding  an  election. 
The  word  "  canvass,"  which  the  English  use  with  this  meaning,  is 
much  used  with  us  for  the  official  counting  of  votes.  See,  for 
instance,  the  Election  Laws  of  the  State  of  New  York,  "of  the 
canvass  and  estimate  of  the  votes." 


CAM— CAN 


95 


Campbellite.  A  follower  of  the  doctrines  of  Alexander  Campbell. 
See  Christian. 

Camphene.  Pure  oil  of  turpentine,  a  compound  of  eight  parts  of 
hydrogen  and  ten  of  carbon.    Used  for  burning  in  lamps. 

If  a  man  will  light  his  lamp  with  whale  oil  when  gas  and  camphene  are 
at  hand,  he  must  be  content  with  a  bad  illumination.  —  For-bes,  Literary 
Papers,  p.  158. 

Camp-Meeting.  A  meeting  held  in  the  wood  or  field  for  religious 
purposes,  where  the  assemblage  encamp  and  remain  several  days. 
These  meetings  are  generally  held  by  the  Methodists.  The  Mor- 
mons calls  it  a  Wood-meeting. 

To  can.  To  put  into  cans;  to  preserve  by  "canning,"  as  meats, 
fruits,  &c. 

Canada.    (Span.,  pron.  canyada.)    A  narrow  valley  or  glen  between 

mountains ;  a  small  canon. 
Canada  Balsam.    See  Balsam  Fir. 
Canada  Nettle.    See  Albany  Hemp. 

Canada  Rice.  (Zizania  aquatica.)  A  plant  which  grows  in  deep 
water  along  the  edges  of  ponds  and  sluggish  streams,  in  the  North- 
ern States  and  Canada.  It  is  called,  in  some  places.  Wild  Rice  and 
Water  Oats. 

Cancer  Root.    A  species  of  orohanche  of  Linnseus.    Yellowish  plants, 

famous  as  ingTedients  in  "  cancer  powders," 
Candidacy.    Candidateship;  the  position  of  a  candidate.  —  Webster. 

Mr.  Opdike  then  boldly  came  forth,  and,  by  the  unprecedentedly  brilliant  and 
energetic  canvass  made  under  his  candidacy,  carried  the  party  with  vast  prestige, 
&c.  —  N.  Y.  THbune,  Nov.  22,  1861. 

To  candidate.  To  be  a  candidate;  to  act,  or  be  received  as  a  can- 
didate. 

Setting  him  to  be  candidating  in  season.  —  The  Congregationalist,  Jan.  6,  1870. 

Candidateship.    The  state  of  being  a  candidate.  —  Webster. 

Candle-Lighting.  Time  of,  or  near  the  time  of  lighting  candles;  as, 
"  at  early  candle-lighting;  "  sometimes  we  hear,  "at  early  candle- 
light."   New  England. 

Cane-Brake.  A  thicket  of  canes.  They  abound  in  the  low  lands 
from  South  Carolina  to  Louisiana. 

Did  you  ever  hear  of  a  bar  bustin'  in  through  a  cane-hraJce,  and  know  how 
near  a  hurricane  it  is  ?  —  Story  of  the  Bear-Hunter. 

Cane-Meadow.    The  Carolinian  name  for  a  cane-brake.  —  Bartram 

Cane-Trash.    See  Bagasse. 


96 


CAN 


Caney.  Caney  Fork  or  Branch  is  a  frequent  name  for  streams  in 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  undoubtedly  from  canes  having  grown 
there  formerly,  although  now  extii^pated. 

Can-Hook.    A  rope  with  an  iron  hook  at  each  end,  used  for  hoisting 

casks.    See  Cant  Hook. 
Canker-Rash.    The  disease  called  Scarlatina. 

Canoe.  (West  Indian,  canahua,  canoa.)  An  Indian  boat  made  of  bark 
or  skins. 

Canoe  Birch.  (Befula  papyracea.)  Also  called  Paper  Birch,  the 
Boleau  a  canot  of  the  French  Canadians.  Common  in  the  forests  of 
the  Eastern  States  north  of  lat.  43°,  and  in  Canada,  where  it  attains 
the  height  of  seventy-five  feet.  Its  bark  is  a  brilliant  white:  it  is 
often  used  for  roofing  houses  and  for  the  manufacture  of  small 
boxes;  but  its  most  important  use  is  for  canoes.  —  Michaux. 

Canon.  (Span.,  pron.  canyon.)  A  narrow,  tunnel-like  passage  between 
high  and  precipitous  banks,  formed  by  mountains  or  table-lands, 
often  with  a  river  running  beneath. 

The  Platte  forces  its  way  through  a  barrier  of  table-lands,  forming  one  of  those 
striking  peculiarities  incident  to  mountain  streams,  called  a  cafion.  —  Scenes  in 
the  Rocky  Mountains^  p.  111. 

Major  Powell,  in  describing  the  topography  of  the  country  wat- 
ered by  the  Colorado  of  the  West,  gives  a  particular  account  of  the 
great  canon  of  that  river  through  which  he  passed  in  a  boat,  the 
only  instance  known  of  any  one  having  descended  it  in  safety. 
After  describing  the  formation  of  canons  in  general,  he  thus 
writes:  — 

"  For  more  than  a  thousand  miles  along  its  course,  the  Colorado 
has  cut  for  itself  such  a  canon;  but  at  some  few  points,  where 
lateral  streams  join  it,  the  canon  is  broken,  and  narrow,  transverse 
valleys  divide  it  properly  into  a  series  of  canons.^ ^  Twelve  rivers, 
whose  names  are  given,  "  have  also  cut  for  themselves  such  narrow, 
winding  gorges,  or  deep  canons. ''^ 

"  Every  river  entering  these  has  cut  another  canon  ;  every  lateral 
creek  has  cut  a  canon;  every  brook  runs  into  a  canon;  every  rill 
born  of  a  shower,  and  born  again  of  a  shower,  and  living  only 
during  these  showers,  has  cut  for  itself  a  canon ;  so  that  the  whole 
upper  portion  of  the  basin  of  the  Colorado  is  traversed  by  a  laby- 
rinth of  these  deep  gorges." 

The  longest  canon  of  the  Colorado  is  217^  miles  in  length ;  then 
there  is  a  break,  which  is  followed  by  65  miles  more;  its  sides  in 
many  places  vertical,  and  from  1,000  to  3,500  feet  in  height. 


CAN 


97 


Can-Opener.    An  instrument  for  opening  tin  cans  of  preserved  meats, 

vegetables,  sardines,  &c. 
Can't  come  it  is  a  vulgar  expression  for  cannot  do  it.  "  You  canU  come 
it  over  me  so;  "  i.  e.,  you  cannot  take  such  an  advantage  of  me.  Mr. 
Hamilton  notices  this  expression  among  the  provincialisms  of  York- 
shire.—  Nugce  Liferarice,  p.  353. 

The  following  dialogue  is  reported  to  have  occurred  in  a  crowded 
New  York  omnibus:  — 

Old  Gent.  Let  me  take  you  on  my  lap. 
Woman.  No,  you  can^t  come  that,  old  chap; 
He  that  takes  that  task  to  do 
Must  be  some  likelier  one  than  you. 

Cant-Hook.  A  wooden  lever  with  an  iron  hook  at  one  end,  with  which 
heavy  articles  of  merchandise  or  timber  are  canted  over.  Some- 
times called  Can-hook. 

Canticoy  or  Cantica.  An  Algonkin  word,  denoting  an  act  of  wor- 
ship; applied  by  the  early  Dutch  of  Xew  Netherland  to  social 
gatherings.  Campanius,  in  his  Vocabulary  of  New  Sweden 
(Delaware),  has  succhiman  chintika,  priest,  spiritual  (or  religious) 
man;  and  in  his  translation  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  has  chintil-at  foi 
"  hallowed  be  "  of  the  English.  So  chintika  manetto,  for  "  God  the 
Holy  Ghost,"  or  third  person  of  the  Trinity.  The  word  is  still 
used  by  aged  people  in  New  York  and  on  Long  Island.  Mr. 
Murphy,  in  a  note  to  his  translation  of  Dankers's  and  Sluyter's 
"  Voyage  to  New  York,"  1679-80  (p.  275),  says  the  Canticoy  appears 
to  have  been  a  dance  which  the  Indians  practised  on  various  occa- 
sions. Denton  calls  it  "  a  dancing  match,  where  all  persons  that 
came  were  freely  entertained,  it  being  a  festival  time. — Desc.  of 
New  York,  1670. 

The  first  of  these  Indians  having  received  a  horrible  wound  .  .  .  wished  them 
to  let  him  kinte-kaeye,  — being  a  dance  performed  by  them  as  a  religious  rite,  &c. 
—  Broad  Advice  (1649),  2  N.  Y.  Hist.  Coll.,  3.  258."^ 

These  Indians  had  canticoyed  {(jekintekayt)  there  to-day,  that  is,  conjured  the 
devil,  and  liberated  a  woman  among  them,  who  was  possessed  by  him,  as  the}' 
M.  — Bankers,  Voyaye  to  N.  Y.  (1G79),  p  275. 

Canuck.    A  Canadian ;  colloquial  and  in  newspapers. 
Canvas-Back.    (Anas  valisneriana.)    A  wild  duck,  found  chiefly  in 
the  Chesapeake  Bay  and  its  tributaries,  and  highly  esteemed  for  the 
delicacy  of  its  flesh.    It  derives  its  name  from  the  color  of  its  back. 
When  all  the  folks  who  love  good  eating, 
And  think  of  little  else  but  treating, 
With  pleasure  oft  their  lips  will  smack. 
When  speaking  of  a  canvas-hack. 

Miss  Ramsay,  Poetical  Picture  of  America,  p.  5G. 
7 


98 


CAP 


To  cap  all.    To  surpass  all;  to  cap  the  climax. 

Well,  the  horse  got  stuck  in  one  of  them  snowbanks,  and  there  we  sot  unable 
to  stir;  and,  to  cap  all,  Deacon  Bedott  was  took  with  a  dreadful  crick  in  his 
back.  —  Widotv  Btdott  Papers. 

Cape  Cod  Turkeys.    Codfish.    See  Marhlehead  Turkeys. 

Cape  May  Goody,  The  name  given,  on  the  Jersey  coast,  to  the 
Lafayette  fish. 

Capper.  A  by-bidder;  men  and  women  in  the  employ  of  auctioneers 
in  the  city  of  Xew  York,  to  bid  on  articles  put  up  for  sale. 

Cap-Sheaf.  A  small  sheaf  of  straw  forming  the  top  of  a  stack.  — 
Dorset  Glossary.  Figuratively  used,  in  the  United  States,  to  denote 
the  highest  degree,  the  summit. 

Of  all  the  days  that  I  ever  did  see  in  this  'ere  world,  moving-day  in  New  York 
is  the  cap-sheaf.  —  Major  Downing.,  May-day  in  New  York,  p.  43. 

There 's  one  manufacture  in  New  England  that  might  stump  all  Europe  to  pro- 
duce the  like, — the  manufacture  of  wooden  nutmegs.  That 's  a  co/^-sAeo/'that 
bangs  the  bush.  —  Sam  Slick. 

Sam  PendergrHss's  wife  has  been'  tellin'  me  about  the  party;  and  of  all  the 
strains  ever  I  heard  on,  I  should  think  that  the  cap-shtaf.  —  Widow  Bedott 
Papers,  p.  88. 

The  cap-sheaf,  though,  of  mean  Americans, 
Is  the  blowin'  Congressman,  that  goes  an'  Stan's 
Afore  the  wisdom  o'  this  mighty  nation, 
Forgettin'  all  about  his  lofty  station. 

Ballad  from  Vanity  Fair. 

Josiah  Allen's  wife,  in  describing  a  female  lecturer  on  woman's 
rights,  says :  — 

I  didn't  like  her  looks.  Of  all  the  painted,  and  frizzled  and  ruffled,  and 
humped-up  and  laced-down  critters  I  ever  see,  she  was  the  cap  sheaf .  —  Betsy 
BobbeU  p.  337. 

Captain's  Beat.    The  limits  within  which  the  members  of  a  military 

company  reside.    Within  the  same  limits  the  votes  are  received  on 

election  days.  Southern. 
Caption.    This  legal  term  is  used  in  the  newspapers  in  cases  where 

an  Englishman  would  say  title,  head,  or  heading. 
To  captivate,  v.  a.    (Lat.  captico;  Fr.  capfiver.)    To  take  prisoner; 

to  bring  into  bondage.  — Johnson.    To  seize  by  force;  as  an  enemy 

in  war.  —  Webster. 

How  ill-becoming  is  it  in  thy  sex, 
To  triumph  like  an  Amazonian  trull 

Upon  their  woes,  whom  fortune  captivates  ! — Shakspeare. 
They  stand  firm,  keep  out  the  enemy,  truth,  that  would  captivate  or  disturb 
them.  —  Locke. 


CAR 


99 


The  unnatural  brethren  who  sold  their  brother  into  captivity  are  now  about  to 
be  captivated  themselves,  and  the  hinder  himself  to  be  bound  in  his  turn.  —  Dr. 
Adam  Clarke,  Eejlec,  4th  Genesis. 

I  have  an  English  engraving  published  in  1756,  entitled  "  A 
Prospective  View  of  the  Battle  fought  near  Lake  George,  8th  Sep- 
tember, 1755,  ...  in  which  the  English  were  victorious,  capti- 
vating the  French  general  with  a  number  of  his  men,  and  putting 
the  rest  to  flight. " 

In  his  remarks  on  this  word,  Mr.  Pickering  says  it  was  new  to 
him,  and  that  he  had  never  seen  it  in  the  newspapers.  Subse- 
quently, however,  he  discovered  it  in  two  or  three  of  our  authors- 
It  cannot  be  said  to  be  in  use  among  writers  at  the  present  day.  It 
is  well  known  that  Congress,  in  adopting  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, prepared  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  omitted  certain  passages 
contained  in  the  original  draft.  Among  these  was  the  following 
paragraph  relating  to  the  slave-trade :  — 

He  has  waged  cruel  war  against  human  nature  itself,  violating  its  most  sacred 
rights  of  life  and  liberty  in  the  persons  of  a  distant  people  who  never  offended 
him,  captivating  and  carrying  them  into  slavery  in  another  hemisphere,  or  to 
more  miserable  death  in  transportation  thither. 

In  noticing  the  above  passage.  Lord  Brougham  says:  The  Mord 
captivating  will  be  reckoned  an  Americanism  (as  the  Greeks  used 
to  say  of  their  colonists,  a  Soloecism).  But  it  has  undoubted  Eng- 
lish authority,  —  Locke,  among  others.  —  Statesmen  of  George  III. 

Twenty-three  people  were  killed  in  this  surprisal,  and  twenty-nine  were  cnpti- 
vated.  —  Belknap,  Hist.  New  Hampshire,  Vol.  I.  ch.  10. 

The  singularly  interesting  event  of  captivating  a  second  Royal  army  [Lord 
Cornwallis's]  produced  strong  emotions.  —  Ramsay,  History  American  Revolution, 
V.l.  II.  p.  274. 

Car.  1.  The  carriages  that  compose  a  railway  train  are,  with  us, 
called  "railroad  car.?."  These  are  of  various  kinds:  as  the  palace 
ov  drawing-room  cars,  which  are  luxuriously  fitted  up;  the  sleeping- 
car  and  the  ord'm^ir j  passenger-cars ,  one  of  which  is  the  smoking-car, 
for  those  who  must  needs  indulge  in  that  luxury;  the  baggage-car ; 
and  the  mail-car.  Sometimes  a  whole  train  is  composed  of  freight- 
cars.  The  English  travel  by  "rail,"  or  take  the  "  train  "  from 
one  place  to  another.    We  go  by  the  cars,  or  take  the  cars. 

2.  A  square  box,  in  which,  floating,  live  fish  are  preserved.  In 
England,  it  is  called  a  cawf. 
.  To  carbonado.    To  boil;  to  cook  upon  coals.    Southern.    See  Olm- 
steacVs  Seaboard  Slave  States. 

Car-Brake.  A  lever  which,  acting  by  friction  on  the  wheels,  helps  to 
stop  the  train. 


100 


CAR 


Carcajou.  A  name  now  appropriated  to  the  American  Badger  (Meles 
Lnhrado?'ica,  a  species  so  named,  apparently,  because  not  found  in 
Labrador),  but  which  originally  was  applied  to  the  Cercoleptes 
caudivoloulus.    See  Kinkajou. 

Not  unlike  a  badger,  only  they  are  bigger  and  more  mischievous.  —  La  Hon~ 
tan,  Voynyes  (1703),  Vol.  I.  p.  8l' 

DeKay  makes  the  carcajou  of  La  Hontan  the  Wolcerene  (Gulo 
luscus'),  or  Glutton,  which,  as  John  Hunter  informed  him,  was 
called  by  the  Indians  of  his  tribe  gwingwalirjay,  which  he  interpreted 
a  "  tough  thing,"  and  afterwards  explains  it  as  "  a  hard  character." 
But  Charlevoix  (Vol.  II.  129)  describes  the  Canadian  carcajou, 
or  (fuincajou,  as  having  a  long  tail  (which  the  wolverene  has  not), 
and  of  a  reddish-brown  color. 

This  creature  [the  carcajou]  is  of  the  cat  kind.  ...  He  comes  upon  [his 
enemy]  .  .  .  unperceived,  or  climbs  up  into  a  tree,  and,  taking  his  station  on 
some  of  the  branches,  waits  till  one  of  them  takes  shelter  under  it;  when 
he  fastens  upon  his  neck,  soon  brings  blood,  and  drags  his  prey  to  the  ground. 
Tills  he  is  enabled  to  do  by  his  long  tail,  with  which  he  encircles  the  body  of  his 
adversary.  —  Travels,  p.  450. 

Carf.    The  mark  made  in  a  tree  to  be  felled. 
Car-House.    A  building  in  which  railroad  cars  are  kept. 
Caribou.    The  American  reindeer,  of  which  there  are  two  species,  the 
Barren  Ground  and  the  Woodland  Caribou. 

Harts  and  caribous  are  killed,  both  in  summer  and  winter,  after  the  same  man- 
ner with  the  elks ;  excepting  that  the  caribous,  which  are  a  kind  of  wild  asses, 
make  an  easy  escape,  when  snow  is  at  hand,  by  virtue  of  their  broad  feet.  —  La 
Hontan,  North  America,  1704. 

Carlicues  or  Curly  cues.    Boyish  tricks,  capers.    To  cut  or  cut  up 

carlicues  is  to  cut  capers.  From  curly  and  cue;  or,  perhaps,  a  cor- 
ruption of  the  Fr.  caracole.  Span,  caracol.  Comp.  "  cavort,"  by 
transposition  made  from  cur  ret. 

"  Sally,"  says  I,  ''will  you  take  me  for  better  or  worse  ?  " 

This  put  her  to  considering,  and  I  gave  a  flourishing  about  the  room,  and  cut 
a  curly  cue  y{\x\\  my  right  foot,  as  much  as  to  say,  "Take  your  own  time."  — 
McClintock's  Tales 

It  is  generally  supposed  that  nature  is  perfect  in  all  her  works,  — except  when 
she  gets  odd  freaks  in  her  head,  and  cuts  up  carlicues  by  way  of  experiment.  — 
Dow^s  Sermons,  Vol.  III.  p.  48. 

Carolina  Allspice.    See  Allspice. 

Carolina  Potato.  The  sweet  potato  (Convolvulus  batata),  so  called  in 
the  Eastern  States. 

Carpet-Baggers.  "  Unprincipled  adventurers,  who  sought  their  for- 
tunes in  the  South  by  plundering  the  disarmed  and  defenceless 


CAR 


101 


people.  Some  of  them  were  the  dregs  of  the  Federal  army,  —  the 
meanest  of  the  camp  followers;  many  were  fugitives  from  Northern 
justice;  the  best  of  them  were  those  who  went  down  after  the  peace, 
ready  for  any  deed  of  shame  that  was  safe  and  profitable.  These, 
combining  with  a  few  treacherous  'scalawags,'  and  some  leading 
negroes  to  serve  as  decoys  for  the  rest,  and  backed  by  the  power  of 
the  general  government,  became  the  strongest  body  of  thieves  that 
ever  pillaged  a  people.  Their  moral  grade  was  far  lower.  .  .  . 
They  swarmed  on  all  the  States  from  the  Potomac  to  the  Gulf,  and 
settled  in  hordes,  not  with  the  intent  to  remain  there,  but  merely 
to  feed  on  the  substance  of  a  prostrate  and  defenceless  people. 
They  took  whatever  came  within  their  reach,  intruded  themselves 
into  all  private  corporations,  assumed  the  functions  of  all  offices, 
including  the  courts  of  justice,  and  in  many  places  they  even  '  run 
the  churches. '  By  force  of  fraud,  they  either  controlled  all  elections, 
or  else  prevented  elections  from  being  held."  —  North  American 
Review^  for  July,  1877. 

We  are  indebted  to  President  Hayes  for  his  idea  of  what  consti- 
tutes a  carpet-bagger.  It  appears  that  on  the  12th  June,  1877,  a 
delegation  from  Alabama  waited  upon  the  President.  After  dis- 
cussing various  matters,  the  telegraphic  report  to  the  newspapers 
says : — 

The  conversation  turned  upon  the  subject  of  carpet-bnggers,  when  the  President 
Haid  he  did  not  regard  as  a  carpet-bagger  a  man  who  went  South  to  become  a 
bona  fide  resident.  Only  those  who  went  South  for  the  purpose  of  holding  office 
as  a  matter  of  business  should  be  stigmatized  as  a  carpet-bagger. 

We  are  fortunate  in  obtaining  a  description  of  the  car  pet-hag  ger 
from  Wade  Hampton,  Governor  of  South  Carolina,  who,  in  a  speech 
made  at  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  on  the  19th  June,  1877,  in  alluding  to  the 
late  political  contest  in  that  State,  said:  — 

It  was  a  contest  waged  by  the  people  of  South  Carolina  not,  as  demagogues 
would  tell  you,  against  Northern  men.  It  was  a  contest  waged  against  cnrpet- 
6(7</r/ers,  and  when  I  9>diy  <arpet-ba(j(jers\  mean  by  that  thief.  We  do  not  call 
any  Northern  man,  any  Irishman,  any  German,  any  Englishman  who  settles  in 
our  midst  as  an  honest  citizen,  a  carpet-bagger.  We  welcome  such  with  open 
arms.  We  tell  them  to  come  to  our  genial  skies  and  fertile  soil.  Come  one, 
conie  all,  and  pledge  them  in  the  name  of  the  State  a  hospitable,  warm-hearted 
reception. 

"You  call  me  a  cajpet-fMU/f/er,^'  contemptuously' exclaimed  an  indignant  but 
witty  Republican,  who  had  been  interrupted  in  a  political  speech  in  a  Mississippi 
back  county.  "  I  am  a  carpet  bafjc/er.  I  have  neither  house  nor  land  nor  shelter 
nor  property  of  any  kind.  I  am  a  carpet-ba(/(/er,  —  perhaps  the  only  one  you  ever 
saw.  You  people  are  great  fools.  You  call  Governor  Ames  a  carpet-bagger. 
He 's  no  caipet-bar/fjer :  he  owns  a  house  in  Boston."  Whereat  the  whole  crowd 
•houted  assent.  —  Washington  Cor.  N.  Y.  Hei'oM. 


102 


CAR 


Dr.  O.  W.  Holmes,  in  a  recent  poem  upon  the  contest  in  Con^ 
gress  on  the  Presidential  question,  entitled  "  How  not  to  settle  it," 
says :  — 

One  half  cried,  "See!  the  choice  is  S.  J.  T..!  " 

And  one  iialf  swore  stoutl}*  it  was  t'  other; 
Both  drew  the  knife  to  save  the  Nation's  life 

By  wholesale  vivisection  of  each  other. 

Then  rose  in  mass  that  monumental  Class,  — 

"  Hold !  hold  !  "  they  cried,  '•  {?ive  us,  give  us  the  daggers!  " 

"  Content!  content!  "  exclaimed  with  one  consent 
The  gaunt  ex-rebels  and  the  cai-pet-bat/yers." 

We  have  an  amusing  instance  of  "What's  in  a  name?"  Captain  Parr,  a 
delegate  from  Nanseniond  to  the  recent  Constitutional  Convention  in  Virgi  ia, 
was  the  inventor  of  tlie  now  Avell-known  epithet  "  Carptt-bayyer.''''  In  conse- 
quence of  this  term,  carpet-ba (/s  have  fallen  into  such  disrepute  that  not  one  can 
be  sold  in  the  South;  and  those  have  suffered  who  had  a  stock  on  hand  of  an 
article  before  readily  salable.  As  usual,  men  have  run  into  the  opposite  extreme  ; 
and  although  the  habits  of  the  cai'ptt-bay(je.r  have  changed  as  little  as  his  ward- 
robe has  increased,  yet  nothing  but  trunks  the  size  of  a  Newfoundland's  kennel 
will  now  suffice,  and  the  railway  officials  are  disgusted  at  the  change.  —  Anylo- 
American  Times. 

The  carpet-bay  Governments  of  the  Southern  States,  under  the  protection  of 
Grant's  bayonets,  have  rolled  up  an  aggregate  debt  in  the  nine  cotton  States  of 
$194,000,000. —A^.  Y.  World. 

See  also  the  poem  on  the  Carpet-bagger  at  the  word  "  -So/ne." 

Carpet- Weed.   A  small  spreading  plant,  common  in  cultivated  ground. 

(Mollugo.)  — Bigelow''s  Plants  of  Boston. 

Carrom.  (Fr.  caramhole.)  In  the  game  of  billiards,  the  act  of  hit- 
ting two  balls  at  once  with  the  ball  struck  by  the  cue.  —  Hoyle. 
A  carom,  or  carrojn,  therefore,  is  a  lucky  blow. 

Dana  hit  Greeley  over  the  head  with  the  account  books  of  the  establishment ; 
but  this  proved  to  be  a  blank  shot.  Greeley  retaliated  by  overwhelming  him  with 
back  files  of  the  "  Tribune.-'  .  .  .  Dana  knocked  Greeley  into  a  cocked  hat  by  a 
splendid  chance  carrom  with  one  of  A.  Oakey  Hall's  pamphlets.  —  N.  Y.  Herald, 
April  3,  1862. 

To  carry  away.    To  move  to  ecstasy,  to  transport,  to  be  charmed. 

A  puritanical  deacon,  shocked  at  the  idea  of  introducing  an  organ 
into  a  church,  getting  much  excited,  exclaimed:  — 

Organs  of  wood  and  brass  seem  like  idolatry,  as  if  we  couldn't  praise  the  Lord 
with  our  natural  voices !  I  got  carried  away,  and  am  certainly  afraid  all  this 
care  for  the  outer  portion  will  only  make  it  worse  for  the  better  part  of  us.  — 

JEastford,  or  Huusehvld  Shetches. 

"Do  you  remember  old  Jabe  Green's  wife  up  to  Wiggletown?"  said  the 
Widow  Bedott.  "  She  was  always  carried  away  with  every  new  thing.  Two  or 
three  years  ago,  wLen  Millerism  was  makin'  such  a  noise,  she  was  clear  killed 


CAR 


103 


up  with  it.    Again  she  "was  wide  awake  against  Sabbath-breakin',  —  then 't  was 
moral  reform."  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  123. 
I  was  completely  carried  away  with  the  music. 
Comp.  Job  XV.  12  with  Psalms  xc.  5. 
Carry.    A  portage.  Maine. 

Carry-All.  A  four-wheeled  pleasure  carriage,  capable  of  holding 
several  persons  or  a  family;  hence  its  name.  Some,  however,  con- 
sider it  a  corruption  of  the  French  carriole.  The  name  is  common 
in  the  Northern  States.    In  Canada,  it  is  applied  to  a  sleigh. 

Carry  Guts  to  a  Bear.  "  He  ain't  fit  to  carry  gvts  to  a  bear^^  is  a 
phi-ase  that  expresses  a  degree  of  worthlessness  impossible  to  be 
equalled. 

Carry-Log.    A  set  of  wheels  used  for  transporting  timber. 

One  day,  'bout  two  weeks  after  I  commenced  workin'  for  the  Squire,  I  was 
drivin'  'long,  settin'  straddle  of  a  stock  on  my  carry-log,  when  I  sorter  druv  over 
a  little  stump,  and  the  duriied  log  come  unfastened.  —  N.  Y.  Spintof  the  Times. 

The  onh-  carry-log  we  could  obtain  broke  in  attempting  to  transport  the  first 
gun.  —  iV.  Y.  Tribune,  Feb.  27,  1862,  Letter  from  Roanoke  Island. 

To  carry  on.    To  riot;  to  frolic. 

We  notice  some  young  scapegraces,  who  get  up  their  wild  freaks  at  night  and 
continue  them  till  morning.  Sometimes  they  carry  on  even  longer  than  this.  — 
N.  Y.  Tribune. 

To  carry  Stock.  When  a  broker  is  holding  stock  for  a  customer, 
retaining  it  in  his  own  possession  until  ordered  to  sell,  he  is  said  to 
be  carrying  the  stock  for  his  customer's  account. 

Mr.  M  [who  had  failed,  subsequently]  paid  up  every  dollar  of  his  indebted- 
ness, entering  the  market  as  an  outside  bull  operator,  and  invariabh'  carrying 
whatever  stock  he  touched,  until  it  reached  a  figure  admitting  of  superb  realiza- 
tions.—  Mtdbery,  Men  and  Mysteries  of  Wall  Street,  p.  189. 

Carrying3-on.    Rio  tings,  frolickings. 

There  is  good  authority  for  the  use  of  this  term  by  English 
writers  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

Is  this  the  end 
To  which  these  carryings-on  did  tend  ? 

Butler's  Hudibras,  Pt.  1,  Cant.  2. 
Everybody  tuck  Christmas,  especially  the  niggers,  and  sich  carryin's-on  —  sich 
dancin'  and  singin'  —  and  shootin'  poppers  and  sky-rackets  —  you  never  did  see. 

—  Major  Jones's  Courtship. 

When  he  reflected  that  wherev^er  there  were  singin'  schools,  there  would  be 
carryings-on,  he  thought  the  cheapest  plan  would  be  to  let  them  have  their  fun  out. 

—  Peter  Cram,  in  Knickerbocker  Mag. 

"Jeff,  let  them  seminary  galls  alone,"  said  his  aunt  ;  "they  arc  a  wild  set; 
and  don't  have  such  carryins-on  with  them."  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers. 

Cartmau.    (Pron.  carman.)    One  who  drives  a  cart.    New  York. 


104 


CAS— CAT 


Case.    A  character,  a  queer  one;  as,    That  Sol  Haddock  is  a  case^ 
"  AVhat  a  liard  case  he  is,"  meaning  a  reckless  scapegrace,  mau- 
vais  sujet. 

"I  say,  Jekyl,"  said  Tom  Gordon,  "this  sister  of  mine  is  a  pretty  rapid  little 
case,  as  you  saw  by  the  way  she  circumvented  us  this  morning."  —  Mrs.  Stowe, 
Dred,  Vol.  I.  p  2()3. 

Cashaw,  sometimes  spelt  kershaw.    (Algonkin.)    A  pumpkin. 

[The  Indians  of  Virj^inia]  have  growing  near  their  towns  Peaches,  Strawberries, 
Cushawes,  Melons,  Pompions,  &c.  The  Cvshawes  and  Ponipions  they  lay  by, 
w^hich  will  keep  several  months  good  after  they  are  gather'd. —  Beverly,  Hist,  oj 
Viryinia  (1722),  p.  152. 

Cassareap.  The  juice  of  the  bitter  yucca- root  boiled  down  to  a  sauce. 
Heat  dissipates  the  poisonous  property  of  the  fresh  juice.  West 
Indies. 

Cassava  or  Cassader.  (W.  Ind.  casavi.)  The  native  name  of  a 
shrub  of  Central  and  South  America,  from  the  root  of  which  Tapioca 
and  Mandioca  are  extracted.    See  Tapioca. 

The  plant  of  whose  root  the  Indian  bread  cazava  is  made  is  a  low  herbe.  — 
Gerard,  Herbale,  ed.  of  1633,  p.  1543. 

Hariot  in  speaking  of  the  plant  says:  — 

Some  of  our  company  called  it  Cassavy ;  ...  it  groweth  in  ver}'  muddie  pooles 
and  moist  groundes.  Being  dressed  according  to  the  countrey.  it  maketh  a  good 
bread,  and  also  a  good  spoonemeate,  and  is  used  verie  much  by  the  inhabitants. 
—  Newfoundland  of  Viryinia,  1590,  p.  17. 

And  here  Cassatvder,  to  which,  though  its  juice 
Be  Poyson,  yet  they  now  have  a  device 
To  press  and  grate  it,  so  in  time  of  need. 
And  sometimes  else,  they  safely  on  it  feed. 

Hardie's  Last  Voyaye  to  Bermudas  (1671),  p.  11. 

Castanas,  or  Chestnuts,  in  tropical  America,  is  the  name  given  some- 
times to  the  Jack  Fruit  {Artocarpus  integrifolia) ,  and  sometimes  to 
the  edible  fruit  of  the  Screw  Pine  (Pandanus). 

Castoria.  Castor  oil  so  prepared  that  its  offensive  properties  are 
removed. 

Caswash !    Dash !  splash !   The  noise  made  by  a  body  falling  into  the 

water.  See  Cachunk. 
Catalpa.     (Catalpa  cordifoUa.)    An  ornamental  tree;  a  shade-tree 

with  large  flowers,  common  in  the  Middle  and  Southern  States. 

The  aboriginal  name. 
Catamount    A  name  applied  synonymously  with  Panther  and  Painter 

to  several  wild,  fierce  animals  analogous  to  Felis  concolor,  but  not 

specially  employed  to  designate  that  species. 


CAT 


105 


Catawampously  or  Catawamptiously.  Fiercely,  eagerly.  To  be 
catawamptioushj  chawed  up  is  to  be  completely  demolished,  utterly 
defeated.  One  of  the  ludicrous  monstrosities  in  which  the  vulgar 
language  of  the  South-western  States  abounds. 

In  this  debate,  Mr.  B.  was  catawamptiously  chawed  up ;  his  arguments  were 
not  only  met,  but  his  sarcasm  returned  upon  himself  with  great  effect.  —  Charles- 
ton Mercury. 

There  is  something  cowardly  in  the  idea  of  disunion.  Where  is  the  wealth 
and  power  that  should  make  us  fourteen  millions  take  to  our  heels  before  three 
hundred  thousand  slaveholders,  for  fear  of  being  catawamptiously  chawed  up^  — 
Speech  of  Fred.  Douylass,  3857. 

Citizens  and  fellers  :  on  the  bloody  ground  on  which  our  fathers  catawampously 
poured  out  their  claret  free  as  oil,  let  the  catamount  loose,  and  prepare  the  en- 
gines of  vengeance.  —  S.  H.  Hill,  Speech  on  the  Oregon  Question. 

Catawba  Grape.  A  cultivated  variety  of  Vitis  labrusca.  It  is  the 
great  wine-grape  of  the  United  States. 

Cat-Bird.    (Mimus  Carolinensis.)    A  bird  of  the  thrush  family. 

Catch.  A  term  used  among  fishermen  to  denote  a  quantity  of  fish 
taken  at  one  time.    In  some  districts,  they  say  "  a  haul  of  fish." 

It  is  said  that  the  catch  of  blue  fish  in  the  inlet  and  river  is  greater  than  ever 
known  so  early  in  the  season,  and  that  they  are  served  up  secundum  artem  at 
Mr.  Williston's. — N.  Y.  Courier  and  Enquirer,  ixm^  1858. 

To  catch.  To  catch  the  railway  train  is  to  be  in  time  for  obtaining 
a  passage  in  it. 

To  catch  a  Weasel  asleep.  It  is  supposed  that  this  little  animal  is 
never  caught  napping,  for  the  obvious  reason  that  he  sleeps  in  his 
hole  beyond  the  reach  of  man.  The  expression  is  applied  to  per- 
sons who  are  watchful  and  always  on  the  alert,  or  who  cannot  be 
surprised;  as,  "You  cannot  deceive  me,  any  sooner  than  you  can 
catch  a  weasel  asleep,^''  or  "  You  can't  catch  a  weasel  asleep.''''  The 
expressions  are  common. 

To  catch  up.  Among  travellers  across  the  great  prairies,  the  phrase 
means,  to  prepare  the  horses  and  mules  for  the  march. 

The  mule  must  have  been  there  seven  or  eight  hours,  b}'  the  grass  she  had 
eat;  a  pony  had  been  hitched  there  too,  and  after  the  mule  had  been  catched  up. 
—  N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times,  Frontier  Tale. 

They  travelled  all  night,  and  wlien  day  broke  took  to  the  bush,  camped  down 
ii  smart  piece  off  the  trail,  stayed  till  about  noon,  catched  up  their  fresh  horses, 
took  a  bee-line  through  the  timber,  and,  when  night  came,  pushed  for  the  trail 
agin.  —  Ibid. 

Come,  boys,  it's  daylight,  we've  a  long  march  before  us;  so  catchup,  and 
we  '11  be  off.  —  Praine  Scenes. 


lOG 


CAT— CAU 


Catechise.  A  vulgarism  once  common  in  New  England,  among 
school-children  and  their  elders,  for  catechism  (<*.  e.  the  West- 
minster Assembly's  Shorter  Catechism).  Boys  and  girls  "said 
their  catechise  " 

All  seeming,  to  his  knowing  eyes, 
Familiar  as  his  catechise. 

Or  "  Webster's  Spelling  Book." 

Whittier,  Extr.froin  a  N.  Eng.  Legend. 

Catfish.  (Genus  Pimelodus.  Cuvier.)  This  fish,  in  several  varieties, 
is  common  throughout  the  United  States  under  different  popular 
names.  It  is  also  called  by  the  name  of  Horned-pout,  Bull-head, 
Mud-pout,  Minister,  or  simply  Cat,  Often  called  catties  by  the 
Negroes,  especially  in  many  parts  of  the  South.  There  is  a  very 
large  specif^i;  called  the  Channel  Catfish,  which  is  noticed  by  Dr. 
Kirtland  in  his  Report  on  the  Geology  of  Ohio. 

Cat-Rig.  A  boat-rig  with  one  mast  near  the  bow  with  only  one  sail, 
and  that  one  a  boom-sail. 

Catstick.  A  bat  or  cudgel,  used  by  New  England  boys  in  a  game  at 
ball.  It  is  known  by  the  same  name  in  England,  though  used  for 
a  different  play.  In  Pennsylvania,  Massachusetts,  Maryland,  and 
further  South,  the  term  is  applied  to  small  wood  for  burning.  In 
"  Ernest  Bracebridge,"  a  very  nice  boy's  book,  a  similar  meaning 
is  given  to  Dogstick. 

When  the  cat  is  laid  upon  the  ground,  the  player  with  his  cudgel  or  catstick 
strikes  it  smartly,  it  matters  not  at  which  end,  and  it  will  rise  high  enough  for 
him  to  beat  it  away  as  it  falls,  in  the  same  manner  as  he  would  a  ball.  —  Strutt, 
Sports  and  Pastimes. 

Armed  with  a  few  rusty  swords,  catsticks,  pitchmops,  and  clubs,  &c.  —  Drake^s 
Hist,  of  Boston,  Vol.  I.  p'.  624. 

Cat-Tail  Grass.    Herd's-grass,  or  timothy. 

Catting.  Fishing  for  "  cat."  Thus,  a  story  is  told  of  an  old  Negro, 
who,  while  fishing,  was  seen  to  keep  only  the  catfish  and  throw  all 
others,  even  of  the  better  kinds,  back  into  the  water.  On  being 
asked  the  reason,  he  replied,  "  Lilly  massa,  when  I  goes  a  cattin\  I 
goes  a  cattin\''^ 

Cattle-Mark.    The  brand  bearing  the  owner's  name. 

Cattle-Range.    In  Kentucky,  a  park. 

Cattle-Train.    See  Stock-Train. 

Caucus.    A  jn-ivate  meeting  of  the  leading  politicians  of  a  party,  to 
agree  upon  the  plans  to  be  pursued  in  an  approaching  election. 
Gordon,  in  his  History  of  the  American  Revolution,  1788,  says  : 


CAU— CAV 


107 


"  The  word  is  not  of  novel  invention.  More  than  fifty  years  ago, 
Mr.  Samuel  Adams's  father,  and  twenty  others,  one  or  two  from  the 
north  end  of  the  town,  where  all  ship  business  is  carried  on,  used 
to  meet,  make  a  caucus,  and  lay  their  plan  for  introducing  certain 
persons  into  places  of  trust  and  power.  When  they  had  settled  it, 
they  separated,  and  used  each  his  particular  influence  within  his 
own  circle,"  &c.  —  Vol.  I.  p.  240. 

"  From  the  above  remarks  of  Dr.  Gordon  on  this  word,"  says 
Mr.  Pickering,  "  it  would  seem  that  these  meetings  were  in  some 
measure  under  the  direction  of  men  concerned  in  the  '  ship  business ; ' 
and  I  had  therefore  thought  it  not  improbable  that  caucus  might  be 
a  corruption  of  caulkers\  the  word  'meetings'  being  understood. 
I  was  afterwards  informed  that  several  gentlemen  in  Salem  and 
Boston  believed  this  to  be  the  origin  of  the  word." 

The  earliest  mention  of  this  word,  that  has  come  under  my  notice, 
is  in  John  Adams's  Diary,  under  date  of  February,  1763,  where  he 
says  :  — 

This  day  learned  that  the  caucus  club  meets,  at  certain  times  in  the  f^arret  of 
Tom  Dawes,  the  adjutant  of  the  Boston  regiment.  —  Woi-hs,  Vol.  II.  p.  144. 

I  '11  be  a  voter,  and  this  is  a  big  character,  able  to  shoulder  a  steamboat,  and 
carry  any  candidate  that  the  caucus  at  Baltimore  ma}'  set  up  against  the  people. 
What's  the  people  to  a  caucus?  Nothing  but  a  dead  ague  to  an  earthquake. — 
CrockeWs  Tour,  p.  206. 

Causal ty.    Much  used  for  casualty. 

To  be  a  Caution.    To  be  a  warning.    A  common  slang  expression. 

The  way  the  Repealers  were  used  up  was  a  caution  to  the  trinity  of  O'Connell, 
Repeal,  and  Anti-Slavery,  when  thej'  attempt  to  interfere  with  true  American 
citizens.  —  New  York  Herald. 

There's  a  plaguy  sight  of  folks  in  America,  Major,  and  the  way  they  swallow 
down  the  cheap  books  is  a  caution  to  old  rags  and  paper-makers.  — Major  Down- 
ing, May-day  in  New  York,  p.  'i. 

Moses  wound  up  his  description  of  the  piano,  by  saying  that  the  way  the  dear 
creeturs  could  pull  music  out  of  it  was  a  caution  to  hoarse  owls. —  Thorpe's  Mys- 
teries of  the  Backwoods,  p.  24. 

A  large  portion  of  (Captain  IMarrvatt's  "Travels  of  Mons.  Violet"  is  stolen 
from  the  "  New  Orleans  Picayune  ;  "  and  it  will  not  be  surprising  if  Kendall  [the 
author]  lets  his  sting  into  this  trans-Atlantic  robber.  He  can  do  it  in  a  way  that 
will  be  a  caution.  —  Providence  Journal. 

Our  route  was  along  the  shore  of  the  lake  in  a  northerly  direction,  and  the  way 
the  icy  blast  would  come  down  the  bleak  shore  was  a  caution.  — Hoffman,  Winter 
in  the  West,  p.  234. 

Caution  to  Snakes  is  often  heard. 

Cavendish.    Tobacco  softened  and  pressed.  —  Webster.     Also  called 
Neyro-head. 


108 


CAV 


Cavern  Limestone.  The  carboniferous  limestone  of  Kentucky,  so 
called  from  the  innumerable  caves  which  its  hard  strata  contain. 
In  the  softer  limestone  of  the  West,  the  roof  of  the  cavern  falls  in 
and  forms  on  the  surface  a  "  sinkhole,"  a  funnel-shaped  depression, 
which,  if  the  opening  is  not  closed,  sometimes  proves  fatal  to 
animals  and  even  to  man. 

Cavallard.  (Span,  caballada,  pron.  cac-oy-yard.)  A  term  used,  in 
Louisiana  and  Texas,  by  the  caravans  which  cross  the  prairies,  to 
denote  a  band  of  horses  or  mules. 

The  chef  d'o&uvre  of  this  Indian's  rascality  was  exhibited  in  his  stealing  our 
M'hole  cavallard,  consisting  of  ten  head  of  horses  and  mules,  which  he  drove  to 
the  mountains.  —  Scenes  in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  p.  80. 

Two  or  three  were  mounted,  and  sent  into  the  prairie  in  search  of  the  caviarde 
of  horses. — A  Stray  Yankee  in  Texas,  p.  97. 

Cave.    A  caving  in;  a  yielding,  submission. 

There  is  evidence  all  around  that  the  disaffected  portion  of  the  people  of  Nash- 
ville and  vicinitN' are  becoming  more  reconciled  to  the  Union  "invasion."  .  .  . 
While  I  do  not  believe  that  there  will  be  a  speedy  general  cave  of  all  Secession 
SAMnpathies,  I  am  satisfied  that  the  majority  of  our  citizens  will  feel  little  regret 
at  the  change  of  rulers.  —  NY.  Tribune,  March  31,  1862,  Lett,  from  NashviUe. 

To  cave  in.  Said  of  the  earth  which  falls  down  when  one  digs  into  a 
bank.    Figuratively,  to  break  down;  to  give  up. 

He  was  a  plucky  fellow,  and  warn't  a-goin'  to  cave  in  that  way.  —  S.  Slick, 
Human  Nature,  p.  55. 

At  the  late  dinner,  Mr.  W  arose  to  make  a  speech,  but  soon  caved  in.  — 

Washington  Paper. 

The  South-western  and  Western  Locos,  it  is  thought,  will  cave  in,  and  finally 
go  for  the  Treaty  [of  peace  with  Mexico],  though  they  talk  loud  against  it  now. 

—  N.  Y.  Tribune,  March  4,  1848. 

Dr.  Kane,  in  alluding  to  the  weak  state  of  his  companions,  says,  Morton  felt  so 
much  better  that  he  got  up  at  six  ;  but  he  caved  in  soon  after.  —  Arctic  Explora- 
tions, Vol.  II.  p,  94. 

Caveson.    (Fr.  cace^-on.)    A  muzzle  for  a  horse.    iN'ew  England. 

There,  Chilion,  it  is  just  as  I  told  you.    The  rake-shame  put  a  caveson  on  him. 

—  Maryaret,  p.  304. 

To  cavort.    To  ride;  to  prance;  to  curvet. 

He  tossed  himself  into  everv  attitude  which  m-in  could  assume  on  horseback. 

In  short,  he  cavorted  most  magnanimously.  —  Georyia  Scenes. 

For  several  days  past,  they  [the  soldiers]  have  cavorted  around  the  suburbs  in 

sufficient  numbers  to  pillage  with  impunity.  — N.  Y.  Herald,  June  9,  1862, //-ont 

Richmond,  Va.,  Despatch. 
Cavortin'.     A  corruption  of   the  word  "  curvetting,"  applied  to 

horses  and  their  riders  when  prancing  about  in  order  to  show  off; 

and  then  figuratively  to  any  person  capering  about.    A  word  chiefly 

used  in  the  Southern  States. 


CAW— CHA 


109 


A  whole  gang  of  fellers,  and  a  heap  more  of  young  ladies,  came  ridin'  up  and 
reinin'  in,  and  prancin'  and  cavortin\  —  Major  Joneses  Courtshi]),  p.  41. 

Old  Alic  had  a  daughter,  that  war  a  most  enticin'  creatur ;  and  I  seed  Tom 
Settlers  cavortin'  round  her  like  a  A^oung  buffalo.  —  Hobb,  Squatter  Life. 

There 's  some  monstrous  fractious  characters  down  in  our  bent,  and  they 
mustn't  come  a  cavortin'  about  me  when  I  give  orders.  —  Major  Jones's  Cour-tship, 
p.  20. 

Cawhalux  !    Whop  !    The  noise  made  by  a  box  on  the  ear. 

I  hadn't  sot  no  time  before,  cawhalux  !  some  one  took  me  the  right  side  o'  the 
head  with  a  dratted  big  book.  The  fire  flew  out  of  my  eyes  like  red  coals.  — 
Major  Jones's  Courtship. 

Cayman.  (West  Indian.)  This  native  name  for  the  alligator  is  still 
retained  in  the  West  Indies. 

Cedar.  A  name  applied  in  the  United  States  to  different  genera  of 
the  Pine  family.  The  Red  Cedar  (Jumperus  Virginiana)  is  a  juniper. 

The  White  Cedar  ( Cupressus  tliyoides)  is  a  cypress,  which  is  found 
in  the  "Cedar  Swamps." 

Cent.  A  copper  coin  of  the  United  States,  whose  value  is  the  hun- 
dredth part  of  a  dollar.  —  Webster.  There  is  a  bad  habit,  west  of 
New  England,  of  calling  a  cent  2i  penny. 

Centre.  The  central  part  of  a  township,  where,  if  not  elsewhere 
within  the  township,  are  usually  a  church,  and  more  or  less  of  a 
village.  In  Killingly,  Connnecticut,  are  North  Killingly,  South 
Killingly,  East  Killingly,  and  "Killingly  Centre.''^  Many  other 
townships  in  New  England  have  similar  divisions. 

Centre-Board.  A  board  or  plank  keel  which  is  drawn  up  or  let  down 
through  a  case  made  in  small  craft  that  ply  in  shallow  waters;  a 
sliding  keel. 

Certain,  for  certainly.  "  He 's  dead  cer/«m."  "  I  '11  go  to-morrow, 
sure  and  certain.''''  "  Certain  sure  "  and  "  Sartin  sure.''''  All  very 
common. 

While  the  flames  were  getting  the  better  of  our  firemen,  in  their  attempts  to 
save  the  Baptist  church,  an  aged  African  shouted  out,  "  De  idea  ob  try  in'  to 
sabe  a  Baptises  editiss  by  sprinklm',  —  nufKn  but  'mersion  do  dat  work  dis 
time,  sartin  sure!'^  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

To  certificate  off.  Sometimes  the  "ojf '  is  omitted;  as,  "He  cer- 
tificated," i.  e.  he  went  off  by,  after  having  presented  a  certificate. 
See  Sign  off. 

Chained  Lightning.    Western,  for  forked  lightning. 

Chalk.    A  long  chalk  vulgarly  means  a  gi'eat  distance,  a  good  deal. 


110 


CHA 


When  a  person  attempts  to  effect  a  particular  object,  in  which  he 
fails,  we  say,  "  He  can't  do  it  by  a  long  chalk. 

'T  was  al)out  calf-tiine,  and  not  a  hundrefl  year  ar^o,  by  a  lonr)  chalk,  that  the 
biggest  kind  <»f  rendezvous  was  held  to  Independence,  a  mighty  handsome  little 
location  away  up  on  old  Missouri.  —  Buxton,  Far  West,  p.  14. 

Put  on  your  hat,  or  you  may  get  a  sunstroke,  which  will  cause  you  more  pain 
than  the  helmet  did  %  a  Ivnfj  cJudk.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature. 

If  Nova  Scotia  is  behind  in  intelligence,  it  is  a  long  chalk  ahead  on  us  in  other 
respects.  —  Sam  Slick. 

To  chance.    To  risk. 

Change.  To  meet  tcith  a  change  is  to  have  change  of  heart,  to  expe- 
rience religion. 

"  Do  you  mean  to  insinuate  that  ye 've  met  with  a  change  ?  "  said  the  Widow 
Bedott  to  Jim  Clarke,  the  peddler. 

"  I  think  I  may  confidently  say  I  hev,"  said  Jim. 
"  How  long  since  V  " 

"  AVall,  about  a  year  and  a  half.  I  experienced  religion  over  in  Varmont,  at 
a  protracted  meetin'.  I  tell  ye,  Widow,  them  special  efforts  is  great  things; 
ever  sence  I've  come  out,  I've  felt  like  another  critter." — Widow  Bedott 
Papers,  p.  108. 

Chaparral.  In  Spain,  a  chaparral  is  a  bush  of  a  species  of  oak.  The 
termination  al  signifies  a  place  ahounding  in ;  as,  chaparral  a  place 
of  oak-bushes;  almendral,  an  almond  orchard; />arra/,  a  vineyard; 
cafetal,  a  coffee  plantation,  &c. 

This  word,  chaparral,  has  been  introduced  into  the  language 
since  our  acquisition  of  Texas  and  New  Mexico,  where  these  bushes 
abound.  It  is  a  series  of  thickets,  of  various  sizes,  from  one  hun- 
dred yards  to  a  mile  through,  with  bushes  and  briars,  all  covered 
with  thorns,  and  so  closely  entwined  together  as  almost  to  prevent 
the  passage  of  any  thing  larger  than  a  wolf  or  hare. 

We  had,  too,  a  lieutenant  of  His  Majesty's  Royal  Marines,  another  of  Nature's 
noblemen,  who  preferred  a  camp  to  the  toils  of  field  sports,  when  a  scrub  was  to 
be  crawled  under  or  forced  through  at  the  risk  of  tattered  garments,  scratched 
hands,  and  bleeding  noses,  to  say  nothing  about  a  basking  rattlesnake  or  so,  as 
formidable  as  the.  chaparral  of  Palo  Alto,  defended  by  gigantic  cactus  here, 
sharp-pointed  yuccas  there,  and  cat-claw  briars  everywhere.  — N.  Y.  Sjnritof  the 
Times. 

The  Mexicans  laid  their  plans  right  well, 
And  placed  their  men  in  a  chaparral. 
But  Rough-and-Koady  made  them  smell 
Gunpowder  a  la  Polka.  —  Comic  Song. 

To  chaw  up.    To  demolish,  discomfit. 

I  heerd  Tom  Jones  swar  he 'd  chaw  me  u^),  if  an  inch  big  of  me  was  found  in 
them  diggins  in  the  mornin'.  —  Rohb,  Squatter  Life,  p.  63. 


CHA— CHE 


111 


Miss  Patience  smiled,  and  looked  at  Joe  Cash.  Cash's  knees  trembled.  All 
eyes  were  upon  him.  He  sweat  all  over.  Miss  Patience  said  she  was  gratified 
to  hear  Mr.  Cash  was  a  musician ;  she  admired  people  who  had  a  musical  taste. 
Whereupon  Cash  fell  into  a  chair,  as  he  afterwards  observed,  chawed  up.  — 
Thorpe's  Backwoods,  p.  28. 

To  chaw  up  one's  Words.    To  eat  one's  words;  to  retract. 

Do  you  want  nie  to  tell  a  lie  by  chawing  up  my  own  words  f —  Southern 
Sketches,  p.  34. 

Cheat.    See  Chess. 

Chebacco  Boat.  A  description  of  fishing  vessel  employed  in  the 
Newfoundland  fisheries.  So  called  from  Chebacco  Parish,  Ipswich, 
Mass.,  where  many  were  fitted  out.  They  are  also  called  Pink- 
sterns,  and  sometimes  Tobacco  Boats. 

Checker-Berry.  (Mitchella.)  A  handsome  little  plant,  the  only 
species  of  its  genus.  Also  called  Chickberry.  The  Wintergreen 
(Gualtheria)  is  also  in  some  places  called  Box-berry  and  Tea-berry. 

Check  Guerilla.  One  who  frequents  gambling  rooms,  and  solicits 
money,  or  the  checks  used  therein  to  represent  money,  from  the 
proprietors,  by-standers,  or  betters,  and  who  has  no  other  means  of 
living  other  [.s•^■c]  than  the  money  so  obtained.  —  Statutes  of  Nevada 
(1877),  chap.  ex.  sec.  2. 

Checks.    1.  Money,  cash.    See  Pass  in  one^s  Checks. 

The  old  man's  toast:  "  It 's  hard  work  to  keep  your  sons  in  check  while  they 
're  young;  it's  harder  to  keep  them  in  checks  when  the}^  grow  older." 

2.  Counters  used  in  gambling,  which  are  handed  in  to  the  banker 
at  the  end  of  the  game;  hence  "  Passing  in  his  checks  "  is  a  euphe- 
mism for  dying. 

How  Jimmy  Bludsoe  pass'd  in  his  checks, 

The  night  of  the  "  Prairie  Belle."  — John  Hay,  Jim  Bludsoe. 

Frojn  a  fugitive  poem  in  a  newspaper,  entitled  "  Grandpa's  Solilo- 
quy," in  which  many  slang  words  are  used:  — 

Of  death  we  spoke  in  language  plain, 

That  no  one  would  perplex; 
But  in  these  days  one  doesn't  die, 

But  passes  in  his  checks. 

Cheek.  Courage;  impudence.  Provincial  in  England. —  WrighVs 
Prov.  Die. 

I 've  known  men  rise  by  talent,  though  such  are  exceptions  rare, 
And  so[ne  by  perseverance  and  industry  and  care; 
There  are  men  who  build  up  fortune  by  saving  a  dollar  a  week  ; 
But  the  best  thing  to  make  your  way  in  the  world  is  to  travel  upon  your  cheek, 

Boston  Traveller^  P.  Thompson, 


112 


CUE— CHI 


Cheese.    That 's  the  cheese,  i.  e.  just  the  thing;  that  was  well  done. 

If  greenbacks  ain't  not  just  the  cheese, 

I  guess  there 's  evils  that 's  extremer ; 
For  instance,  —  sliinplaster  idees, 

Lilie  tliem  put  out  by  Gov'nor  Seymour.  — Lowell. 

Cheese  Box.    1.  A  box  in  which  cheese  is  kept. 

2.  A  ciipolated  iron-cased  gunboat  (in  aUusion  to  its  cupola  or 
round  tower).  The  Confederates  termed  the  "Monitor"  a  cheese- 
box  on  a  i"aft. 

Where  is  the  "Monitor  "  ?  We  have  not  heard  a  word  of  the  little  cheese-box 
since  the  repulse  in  James  River  until  yesterday.  — iV.  Y.  Tribune,  June  10,  18G2. 

Chemiloon.  A  dress-reform  garment  combining  the  chemise  and 
drawers  in  one  garment.    From  the  Fr.  chemise. 

"  I  feel  awful  good  in  my  chemiloon,^'  she  said,  "  and  then  I  wear  suspenders." 
Dr.  Alary  Walker,  Lect.  on  Dress. 

Chequet.  An  Indian  name  of  the  Labrus  squeteague,  or  weak-fish, 
retained  in  parts  of  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island. 

Fish  have  been  scarce  and  high.  A  fine  lot  of  Chequet,  a  scarce  fish  in  this 
market,  made  their  appearance  yesterday  and  sold  readih'  at  12^  cents  a  pound. 
—  Hartford  Market  RepH. 

Cherimoya.  West  India  and  South  America.  The  fruit  of  the  A  nona 
cherimolia.  full  of  white,  creamy,  and  custard-like  pulp.  Much 
esteemed.  A  variety  {A.  glabra)  is  called  by  the  Spaniards  of 
Cuba  Mamon ;  by  the  French,  Cachiment  coeur  boeuf. 

Cherry-Tomato.    See  Tomato. 

Chess.  {Bromus  secalinus.)  A  troublesome  weed,  often  found  in 
wheat-fields,  which  gave  rise  to  the  erroneous  opinion  that  it  was 
degenerated  wheat.    It  is  also  called  Cheat. 

Chessycat.  (Cheshire  Cat.)  Although  Charles  Lamb's  query  as  to 
the  reason  why  cats  grin  in  Cheshire  has  not  yet  met  wdth  a  satis- 
factoiy  solution,  still  the  fact  itself  seems  to  remain  undisputed. 
A  correspondent  of  the  "  New  York  Tribune,"  discussing  the  dis- 
tinctive quality  that  separates  man  from  the  brute  creation,  ob- 
seiTes,  "Rabelais,  forgetting  the  hyena  and  the  Chessycat,  says  it 
is  laughter." 

Chewink.  The  ground  robin ;  so  called  from  its  peculiar  note.  On 
Long  Island  it  is  called  the  Towhee  Goldfinch;  and  in  Louisiana, 
from  its  plumpness,  Grasset.  — Natural  History  of  New  York. 

Chicha.  (West  Ind  )  A  sweet  fermented  liquor  made  of  Indian  corn, 
pine-apple,  banana,  &c. 


CHI 


113 


Chickadee.  (Parus  atricapillus .)  The  black-cap  titmouse,  a  very 
common  little  bird,  so  called  from  its  peculiar  note. — Audubon^ 
Ornith. 

Far  distant  sounds  the  hidden  chicJcadee 

Close  at  my  side ;  far  distant  sound  the  leaves.  .  .  . 

Lowell,  An  Indian  Summer  ReveHe. 

When  the  chichadee  is  peeping 

In  the  branches  overhead. 
And  the  bluebird  seems  to  listen 

To  each  loving  word  that's  said.  —  T.  L.  Mitchell. 

Chickaree.  (Sciurus  Hudsonii.)  The  popular  name  of  the  Red  Squir- 
rel. 

Chickasaw  Plnm.  (Prunus  cMcasa.)  A  plum  growing  on  the  banks 
of  the  Red  River,  Arkansas,  upon  small  bushes  from  two  to  six  feet 
high.  They  are  very  large  and  sweet,  and  vary  in  color  from  a  light 
pink  to  a  deep  crimson.  —  Capt.  Marcy^s  Report^  p.  19. 

Chicken  Fixings.    In  the  Western  States,  a  chicken  fricassee. 

The  remainder  of  the  breakfast  table  [in  New  York]  was  filled  up  with  some 
warmed-up  old  hen,  called  chicken  Jixings.  — Itubio,  Travels  in  the  U.  S. 

We  trotted  on  very  fast,  in  the  assurance  of  rapidly  approaching  a  snug  break- 
fast of  chicken  fxins,  eggs,  ham  doins,  and  corn  slapjacks.  —  Carlton,  New 
Purchase,  Vol.  II.  p.  69. 

I  guess  I  '11  order  supper.  What  shall  it  be  ?  Corn-bread  and  common  doins. 
or  wheat-bread  and  chicken  Jixinsf  —  Sam  Slick,  3d  Ser.,  p.  118. 

Chicken-Grape.  The  River  Grape,  or  Vitis  riparia  ;  also  called  Frost- 
Grape.  The  sterile  vine  is  cultivated  for  its  sweet-scented  blos- 
soms, and  is  then  called  Bermudian  Vine. 

Chicken  Snake.  A  name  popularly  applied  to  various  species  of 
snakes  which  are  considered  as  particularly  destructive  to  chickens 
and  eggs. 

Chickwit  or  Chickewit.  The  "  weak-fish. "  Connecticut.  See  Blue  Fish. 

Chigoe,  spelled  also  chigre,  cTiigrjer,  jigger,  &c.  1.  (^Pulex  penetrans.) 
Sand-fleas,  which  penetrate  under  the  skin  of  the  feet,  particularly 
the  toes.  As  soon  as  they  accomplish  this,  an  itching  sensation  is 
felt;  when  the  chigre  ought  to  be  removed  by  means  of  a  needle 
breaking  the  skin.  No  uneasiness  follows;  but,  should  this  pre- 
caution be  neglected,  the  insect  breeds  in  the  toe,  and  sometimes 
produces  dreadful  sores.  These  insects  are  found  in  the  West 
Indies  and  the  adjacent  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  —  CarmichaeVs 
West  Indies,  Vol.  I.  p.  189. 

2.  In  Kentucky,  the  term  is  applied  to  a  minute  red  acariis,  or 
tick,  which  buries  itself  in  the  skin,  while  the  true  chico  of  the 

8 


114 


CHI 


South  (ptpulex)  causes  torment  by  the  growth  of  the  eggs  which  it 
deposits  under  the  skin.  They  are  found  in  abundance  in  the  sand 
along  the  bays  and  rivers  of  Maryland  and  Virginia. 

Child.  This  child  is  a  common  expression  in  the  West  for  "  this  per- 
son," i.  e.  myself. 

Human  nature  can't  go  on  feeding  on  civilized  fixings  in  this  l)ig  village  ;  and 
this  child  lias  felt  like  going  West  for  many  a  month,  being  half  froze  for  buffler 
meat  and  mountain  doin's.  —  Ruxton,  Fur  Wtst. 

Chili  Colorado.  (Span.)  Red  pepper.  In  California,  Texas,  and  in 
the  States  bordering  on  Mexico,  the  Spanish  term  is  universally 
used.    It  is  used  as  a  liquid,  and  in  great  quantities. 

I  was  helped  to  a  dish  of  rabbit,  with  what  I  thought  to  be  an  abundant  sauce 
of  tomato.  Taking  a  good  mouthful,  I  felt  as  though  I  had  taken  liquid  fire. 
The  tomato  was  Chili  Colorado.  —  General  Sherman's  Memoirs^  Vol.  I.  p.  22. 

Chills  and  Fever.    A  name  for  fever  and  ague. 

Chincapin,  Chinquapin.  (Powhatan  Ind.)  {Castanea  pumila.)  A 
diminutive  species  of  chestnut,  shaped  like  a  boy's  top,  common 
south  of  Pennsylvania. 

They  have  a  small  fruit  growing  on  little  trees,  husked  like  a  chestnut,  but 
the  fruit  most  like  a  very  small  Acorne.    This  they  call  Chechinquamins,  which 
they  esteeme  a  great  daintie.  — Smith's  General  Hist,  of  Virginia,  1624. 
Their  nuts,  black  walnuts,  persimins, 
Kiscatoma  nuts  and  chinquapins. 

Ramsay,  Picture  of  AmeHca,  p.  161. 

Chinee.    A  marble. 

Chinch  or  Chintz.  (Span,  chinche.)  The  name  given  in  the  South- 
ern and  INIiddle  States  to  the  Bed-bug  (cimex). 

Chinches  are  a  sort  of  flat  bug,  which  lurks  in  the  bedsteads  and  bedding,  and 
disturbs  people's  rest  a-nights. — Beverly's  Virginia,  3705. 

Miss  Ramsay,  in  her  poetical  account  of  her  residence  in  Virginia, 
in  describing  the  apartments  she  occupied,  says:  — 

I  thought  I  on  the  wall  espy'd  innumerable  insects  move, 
And  swiftly  o'er  the  whitewash  rove ; 

She  called  the  mistress,  and  asked  "  who  owTied  this  live  and 
moving  wall  ?  ' ' 

"Oh  ma'am,  they  're  chintzes,'"  she  did  say. 

"  Chintzes,'"  said  I ;  "  pray  what  are  they  ?  " 

*'  They  're  insects,  ma'am,"  she  coolly  said, 

"That  sometimes  trouble  us  in  bed." 

Poetical  Picture  of  America,  p.  72. 

Chinch-Bug.    A  fetid  insect,  destructive  to  wheat,  maize,  &c.,  in  the 

Soutliern  and  Western  States.  —  Farm.  Encyclop. 
Chinese  Sugar-Cane.    See  Sorghum. 


CHI 


115 


To  chink.  To  fill  up  chinks,  or  interstices.  The  process  of  filling 
with  clay  the  intei-stices  between  the  logs  of  houses  in  the  new 
countries,  and  then  plastering  them  over  with  the  same  material,  is 
called  chinking  and  daubing.  In  the  north  of  England,  it  is  called 
daubing  and  filling.  —  Moor.    Also  to  chince. 

Our  loghouse  quarters,  however,  were  closely  chinked  and  daubed,  and  we 
passed  a  comfortable  night.  —  Kendall's  Santa  Fe  Exp.,  Vol.  I.  p.  28. 

The  interstices  of  the  log  wall  were  '•'■chinked,''"  the  chinking  being  large  chips 
and  small  slabs,  dipping  like  strata  of  rocks  in  geology;  and  the  daubinf/.  yellow 
cla}"-  ferociously  splashed  in  soft  by  the  hand  of  the  architect.  —  Carlton,  The 
New  Purchase,  Vol.  I.  p.  61. 

A  huge  pair  of  antlers  occupied  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  little  cabin,  and  upon 
its  unchinked  walls  many  a  coon  and  deer  skin  were  drying.  —  The  Fire  Hunt. 

I  met  with  a  lot  of  these  the  other  day  in  Southern  Illinois  ;  and,  as  it  can  have 
no  bearing  upon  the  election  now,  perhaps  you  would  like  to  have  it  to  use  for 
chinking  in  among  your  election  returns.  —  N.  Y.  Sjnnt  of  the  Times. 

Chinsing.  Filling  with  moss  the  vacancies  between  the  studs  of 
houses,  to  keep  out  wind  and  frost,  —  Cartwi'ight's  Labrador  (1792), 
Vol.  III.  Glossary. 

To  chip  in.  To  put  in  a  piece  of  money  or  a  bank-note;  to  con- 
tribute. 

An  idea  seems  A'ery  generally  to  prevail  that  the  printer  should  "  chip  in'*  to 
every  charitable  and  religious  operation.  —  The  W instead  (Conn.)  He7-a Id,  Nov. 
22.  1861. 

Chipmuk,  or  Chipmonk.  The  popular  name  for  the  Striped  Squirrel 
(Sciurus  striatus).    Probably  an  Indian  word. 

The  children  were  never  tired  of  watching  the  vagaries  of  the  little  chipmonk^ 
as  he  glanced  from  branch  to  branch.  —  Mrs.  Clavers's  Forest  Life. 

Chipper.  Lively. 

Over  the  hill  to  the  poor-house  I 'm  trudgin'  my  wear}--  way,  — 

I,  a  woman  of  seventy,  and  only  a  trifle  gray,  — 

I,  who  am  smart  and  chipper,  for  all  the  years  I 've  told, 

As  many  other  woman  that 's  only  half  as  old. 

Carlton,  Farm  Ballads,  p.  51. 

Chip- Yard.  A  yard,  or  that  portion  of  a  yard,  in  which  logs  are 
chopped  for  fuel. 

If  the  soil  around  the  body  of  the  trees  should  become  too  stiff,  it  may  be 
carefully  removed  and  its  place  supplied  by  coarse  manure,  or  the  scrapings  of 
the  chip-yard.  — New  England  Farmer. 

Chiravari.  (Fr.,  pron.  cheraree.)  A  custom  that  prevails  in  those 
parts  of  the  United  States  which  were  originally  colonized  by  the 
French,  as  Louisiana,  Missouri,  &c.  Also  common  iu  Canada. 
When  an  unequal  match  takes  place,  when  an  old  bachelor  marries, 


116 


cm 


or  a  widow  or  widower  marries  soon  after  they  become  such,  their 
friends  assemble  on  the  night  of  the  wedding  with  tin  horns,  bells, 
tin  kettles,  and  whatever  will  make  a  discordant  noise.  This 
"  serenade"  is  nightly  continued  until  the  party  is  invited  in  and 
handsomely  entertained.    See  Callithumpians. 

Chirimoya.    (Annona  chirimoya.^    The  Custard  Apple  of  the  more 
temperate  part  of  the  tropics. 

Chirk.  1.  Lively,  cheerful,  in  good  spirits,  in  a  comfortable  state;  as 
when  one  inquires  about  a  sick  person,  it  is  said,  he  is  chirk.  The 
word  is  wholly  lost,  except  in  New  England.  —  Webster.  It  is 
doubtless  derived  from  the  old  verb  to  c/u>/;.(Ang.-Sax.  cercian), 
i.  e.  to  chirp,  which  is  found  in  old  English  writers. 
2.  To  make  more  comfortable.  Connecticut. 

Afore  I  had  mixed  a  second  glass  of  switchel,  up  they  came,  and  the  General 
looked  as  chirk  and  lively  as  a  skipper.  — Major  Downiny's  Lttttrs. 

To  chisel.    To  cheat;  to  swindle.    Comp.  To  gouge.    A  Western 
word. 

The  banking-house  of  have,  by  their  recent  failure,  chiselled  the  people 

of  California  out  of  a  million  of  dollars.  — Alta  CuliJ'ornian. 

To  those  who  are  in  the  habit  of  being  chiselled  by  their  butchers  and  grocers, 
we  would  advise  a  visit  to  the  governor's  room  and  examine  the  standard  of 
weights  and  measures.  — New  York  Herald. 

"State  your  case,"  said  a  Western  lawyer  to  a  "sucker,"  who  had  apphed 
for  advice. 

"It 's  an  infarnal  mean  case  of  woman-swindling;  it  sets  my  teeth  a  gritten  to 
think  on  it.  I've  been  owdaciously  c7(i*-e//eJ,  dan  darn  my  foolish  pictur!  I 
might  have  known  that  puke  warn't  to  be  trusted.  —  ;S^.  Louis  Reveille. 

Chisel.    To  go  full  chisel.,  to  go  forcibly,  earnestly,  violently,  or  as  at 
great  speed.    Connecticut.    See  Full  Chisel. 

Chitlins.    (A  contraction  of  chitterlings.')    Rags,  tatters. 

While  I  was  in  this  way  rolling  in  clover,  they  were  tearing  my  character  all 
to  chitlins  up  at  home.  —  Jiobb,  Squatter  Life. 

They  did  all  they  could  to  tear  my  reputation  to  chitlins.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human 
Nature,  p.  188. 

I  told  you  it  wur  a  sorrowful  story ;  but  you  would  hev  it  out,  and  jest  see  how 
it  makes  parfect  chitlins  of  your  feelin's.  — Western  Tales. 

Chiv.    The  California  term  for  Southerner,  —  an  abbreviation  for 
Chivalry. 

Chivalry.    A  cant  term  for  the  people  of  the  South. 

Had  the  Free  States  been  njanly  enough,  true  enough,  to  enact  the  Wilmot 
Proviso  as  to  all  present  or  future  territories  of  the  Union,  we  should  have  had 
just  about  the  same  didoes  cut  up  by  the  chivalry  that  Ave  have  witnessed,  and 
with  no  more  damage  to  the  Union.  — N.  Y.  Tribune,  April  10,  1851. 


CHO 


117 


Chock-full.    Entirely  full;  see  also  Chuck-full. 

I 'm  chock-full  of  genius  and  running  over,  said  Pigwiggin.  —  Neal. 
By  this  time  we  got  into  a  shabby-looking  street,  chock-full  of  hogs  and  boys. 
—  Major  Downing,  May-day  in  New  York. 

Chock  up.    Close,  tight;  said  of  a  thing  which  fits  closely  to  another. 

Chogset.  (Indian.)  A  small  fish  common  along  the  coast  of  New 
England  and  farther  South;  also  called  Salt  Water  Perch.  In  New 
York,  it  is  called  a  Burgall,  which  see. 

Choke-Berry.  (Pyrus  arbutifolia.)  A  plant  having  astringent  prop- 
erties. 

Choke-Cherry.  The  popular  name  of  the  Prunus  Virginiana,  so  called 
from  its  astringent  properties. 

To  choke  off.  To  stop  (a  person)  in  the  execution  of  a  purpose.  A 
figurative  expression,  borrowed  from  the  act  of  choking  a  dog  to 
make  him  loose  his  hold.  To  arrest  a  public  speaker  when  growing 
tedious  is  called  choking  him  off.  This  is  done  by  shufiiing  the  feet, 
applauding  where  applause  is  uncalled  for,  by  putting  questions  of 
order,  &c. 

I  spent  a  couple  of  hours  in  the  House,  amused  by  watching  the  dignified  pro- 
ceedings of  our  Representatives.  The  operation  of  ^'^  choking  off''"  a  speaker  was 
very  funny,  and  reminded  me  of  the  lawless  conduct  of  fighting  school-boys.  — 
N.  Y.  Express,  Feb.  21,  1848. 

Choker.    A  cravat.    See  Whitechokered. 

To  chomp.  To  chew  loudly ;  to  champ.  This  pronunciation  is  com- 
mon to  the  north  of  England  and  to  New  England.  (Also  used  in 
the  West  and  South.) 

Chompins  or  Champins.  The  residuum  of  an  apple  or  other  fruit 
after  it  has  been  chewed,  or  "chomped,"  and  the  juice  only  swal- 
lowed. 

Chop.  A  Chinese  word  signifying  quality;  first  introduced  by  mari- 
ners in  the  China  trade,  but  which  has  now  become  common  in  all 
our  sea-ports.  Originally  the  word  was  applied  only  to  silks,  teas,  or 
other  goods  from  China;  now  the  phrase  first-chop  is  an  equivalent 
to  "  first-rate,"  and  applied  to  eveiy  thing. 

A  smart  little  boss,  says  I,  you  are  a  cleaning  of:  he  looks  like  a,  first-chop 
article.  —  Sam  Slick  in  England,  ch.  2. 

I  went  to  board  at  a  famous  establishment  in  Broadway,  where  sundry  young 
merchants  of  the  first-chop  were  wont  to  board.  —  Perils  of  Pearl  Street. 

Chore.    A  small  piece  of  domestic  work;  a  little  job;  a  char. 

In  England,  the  word  char  is  used  both  as  a  noun  and  as  a  verb. 


118 


CHO— CHU 


The  pronunciation  also  varies;  in  some  of  the  southern  counties,  it 
is  pronounced  chewe,  or  choor. 

In  Arnei-ica,  only  the  noun  is  employed,  and  generally  in  the 
plural.  The  pronunciation  is  uniformly  chore.  It  is  mostly  con- 
fined to  New  England. 

"  Hunting  cattle  is  a  dreadful  c^o?'e,"  remarked  one  of  our  neif^hborfi,  after 
threading  the  country  for  three  weeks  in  search  of  his  best  ox.  —  Mrs.  C'lavers's 
Forest  Life. 

Radney  comes  down  and  milks  the  cow,  and  does  some  of  my  other  little  chores. 
Margaret,  p.  388. 

Girl-hunting  is  certainly  among  our  most  formidable  chores.  —  Mrs.  Kirkland, 

Western  Clearings. 

The  editor  of  the  "  Boston  Daily  Star,"  in  recently  relinquishing 
his  charge,  gives  the  following  notice:  — 

Any  one  wishing  corn  hoed,  gardens  weeded,  wood  sawed,  coal  pitched  iu, 
paragraphs  written,  or  small  chores  done  with  desjiatch  and  on  reasonable  terms, 
will  please  make  immediate  application  to  the  retiring  editor. 

To  chore.  (Anglice,  char.)  "  Bridget  was  choring  [working]  when  I 

left  home."    To  "chore  about."  Connecticut. 
Chore-Boy.    A  boy  who  does  chores.    In  the  north  of  England  where 

"  char  "  is  still  used,  they  have  char-hoys  and  char-women.  —  Wright, 

And  look  that  the  hangings  in  the  matted  room  be  brushed  down,  and  the 
char-woman  rub  the  rest  of  the  rooms.  — Revet,  The  Town  Shifts,  1671. 

Chowder.  A  favorite  dish  in  New  England,  made  of  fish,  pork, 
onions,  and  biscuit  stewed  together.  Cider  and  champagne  are 
sometimes  added.  Picnic  parties  to  the  sea-shore  generally  have  a 
dish  of  chowder,  prepared  by  themselves  in  some  grove  near  the 
beach,  from  fish  caught  at  the  same  time.  Grose  describes  the 
same  as  a  sea-dish.  A  veal  chowder  when  fish  are  scarce  is  a  very 
agreeable  soup. 

Chowderhead.  A  word  corresponding  with  the  forcible,  if  not  classi- 
cal, terms  numskull  and  dunderhead.    See  Muttonhead. 

Christian.  (Pron.  with  the  first  i  long.)  A  name  assumed  by  a  sect 
which  arose  from  the  great  revival  in  1801. 

Christianization.  This  substantive  is  to  be  found  occasionally  in 
our  religious  publications.  The  verb  to  christianize,  which  is  in  the 
dictionaries,  is  in  use  among  the  English  writers;  but  the  substan- 
tive is  never  employed  by  them.  —  Pickering,  Vocabulary. 

Chub.    1.  A  name  sometimes  given  to  the  Blackfish. 

2.  A  round  squash.  Connecticut. 
Chub  Sucker.    A  sea-fish,  otherwise  called  the  Horned  Sucker. 


CHU 


119 


Chuck-a-Liick.    A  Western  game  played  with  dice. 

At  Holly  P'ork,  Tenn.,  any  one  can  be  accommodated.  Cards  or  chuclc-a-Iuck, 
old  corn  or  cider,  a  fight  or  a  foot-race  mattered  not :  it  was  to  be  had  at  a 
moment's  notice.  —  Southern  Skelches,  p.  160. 

Chuck-full.  Entirely  full.  Common  in  familiar  language,  as  well  as 
chock-full,  which  see  for  other  examples. 

[At  dinner]  the  soiB  labor  of  the  attendants  was  to  keep  the  plates  chuck-full 
of  something.  —  Carlton^  The  New  Purchase^  Vol.  I.  p.  181. 

J  '11  throw  that  in,  to  make  chuck-full  the  "  measure  of  the  country's  glory." 
—  Crockett,  Tour,  p  86. 

Chuck- Will's-Widow.  The  common  name  of  a  bird  of  the  whip- 
poorwill  family.  (Caprimulgus  Carolinensis.)  Mr.  Audubon  says  : 
"  About  the  middle  of  March,  the  forests  of  Louisiana  are  heard  to 
echo  with  the  well-known  notes  of  this  interesting  bird.  No  sooner 
has  the  sun  disappeared,  and  the  nocturnal  insects  emerge  from 
their  burrows,  than  the  sound  '  Chuck-wiW s-widow repeated  with 
great  clearness  and  power  six  or  seven  times  in  as  many  seconds, 
strike  the  ear."  —  Ornithology^  Vol.  I.  p.  273. 

Chufa.    (See  Earth  Almond.') 

Chuk !  A  noise  made  in  calling  swine.  Always  repeated  at  least 
three  times.    Ciacco  is  one  of  the  Italian  words  for  hog. 

Chunk.  A  short,  thick  piece  of  wood,  or  of  any  thing  else;  a  chump. 
The  word  is  provincial  in  England,  and  colloquial  in  the  United 
States. 

I  rode  an  all-fired  smart  chunk  of  a  pony,  —  real  creole,  —  cane-raised,  — walk 
six  miles  an  hour,  and  run  like  a  scared  deer  in  a  prairie  a-fire.  —  N.  Y.  Spirit 
of  the  Times,  Frontier  Incident. 

It  is  true  that  now  and  then  a  small  chunk  of  sentiment  or  patriotism  or  philan- 
thropy is  thrown  in  awkwardly  among  the  crudities  and  immoralities  [of  the 
stage],  but  it  evidently  has  no  business  there. — New  York  in  Slices,  The 
Theatre. 

To  chunk.    To  throw  sticks  or  chips  at  one.    Southern  and  Western. 
Chunked.    Any  person  who  is  impudent  or  bold,  at  the  South-west, 
is  said  to  be  chunked.    See  chunk. 

Chunk-Head.  A  name  of  the  Trigonocephalus  contortrix,  red  snake, 
or  copper-head.    See  Storer  and  Holhrook. 

Chunky.  Short  and  thick.  Often  applied  to  the  stature  of  a  person, 
as  "he  is  a  chunky  little  fellow." 

Chunk  Yard  or  Chunkee  Yard.  A  name  given  by  the  white  traders 
to  the  oblong  four-square  yards  adjoining  the  high  mounts  and 
rotundas  of  the  modern  Indians  of  Florida.    In  the  centre  of  these 


120 


CHU 


stands  the  obelisk;  and  at  each  corner  of  the  further  end  stands  a 
slave  post,  or  strong  stake,  where  the  captives  that  are  burnt  alive 
are  bound.  —  Bartram. 

The  pyramidal  hills  or  artificial  mounts,  and  highwaA's  or  avenues,  leading 
from  them  to  artificial  lakes  or  ponds,  vast  tetragon  terraces,  chunk-yards,  and 
obelisks  or  pillars  of  wood,  are  the  only  monuments  of  labor,  ingenuity,  and  mag- 
nificence, that  I  have  seen  worth}'  of  notice.  —  Bartram,  Travels  in  Florida 
(1773),  p.  518. 

This  is  doubtless  an  Indian  term,  and  the  enclosure  a  place  where 
the  natives  played  a  game  called  chunLee,  as  will  appear  by  the  fol- 
lowing extract  from  Du  Pratz  :  — 

"  The  warriors  practise  a  diversion  which  they  call  the  r/ame  of 
the  pole.,  at  which  only  two  play  at  a  time.  Each  pole  is  about  eight 
feet  long,  resembling  a  Roman  f ;  and  the  game  consists  in  rolling  a 
flat,  round  stone,  about  three  inches  in  diameter  and  one  inch  thick, 
and  throwing  the  pole  in  such  a  manner  that  when  the  stone  rests 
the  pole  may  be  at  or  near  it.  Both  the  antagonists  throw  their 
poles  at  the  same  time,  and  he  whose  pole  is  nearest  the  stone 
counts  one,  and  has  the  right  of  rolling  the  stone." —  History  of 
Louisiana,  1720. 

Speaking  of  the  Indians  of  Florida,  Romans  says,  — 

Their  favorite  game  of  chunke  is  a  plain  p-oof  of  the  evil  consequences  of  a 
violent  passion  for  gaming,  upon  all  classes  ;  at  this  they  play  from  morning  till 
night,  .  .  .  and  they  bet  high.  —  Nat.  Hist,  of  FloHda,  1776,  p.  80. 

Church.  Mr.  Pickering  has  the  following  remarks  on  this  w^ord  :  "A 
church,  as  a  body  of  persons,  is  distinguished,  in  Xew  England,  from 
a  congregation,  by  the  privileges  which  the  former  in  general  reserve 
to  themselves  of  receiving  exclusively  in  that  church  the  sacrament 
and  baptism,  in  consequence  of  their  having  publicly  declared  their 
assent  to  the  creed  which  that  church  maintains.  Marriage,  burial, 
and  public  worship  are  open  to  the  members  of  the  congregation 
at  large,  according  to  the  forms  and  methods  employed  in  each 
chm'ch  ;  as  are  also  catechising  for  children  and  visits  to  the  sick." 
—  Vocabulary. 

Church-Maul.  To  call  to  account  ;  to  discipline  by  ecclesiastical 
methods.    N.  England.  Vulgar. 

Chute.    1.  A  rush  ;  a  stampede. 

The  Douglas  and  Breckenridge  men  .  .  .  are  rushing  to  Lincoln  with  a  per- 
fect stampede.  Besides  this,  the  Bell  men  are  also  taking  the  same  chute  every 
day.  —  Baltimore  Patriot,  Sept.,  1860. 

2.  A  bayou  ;  a  side  channel.  Louisiana  and  along  the  Missis- 
sippi River. 


CID— CIT 


121 


When  we  came  to  a  bayou  or  chute^  the  fleet  would  divide,  part  going  the  irreg- 
ular way,  and  part  keeping  the  direct  course.  — N.  Y.  Tiibune^  June  11,  1861, 
Lett,  from  Fort  Pillow.,  Tenn. 

We  were  running  chute  after  chute,  — a  new  world  to  me,  —  and  if  there  was 
a  particularly  cramped  place  in  a  chute,  we  were  pretty  sure  to  meet  a  broadhorn 
there;  and,  if  he  failed  to  be  there,  we  would  find  him  at  the  head  of  the  chute. 
Mark  Twain,  in  Atlantic  Monthly.^  for  April,  1875. 

3.  (Fr.  chute.)  A  water-fall;  a  cascade.    See  Shoot  and  Schute. 
Cider.    All  talk  and  no  cider  is  a  phrase  equivalent  to  "  great  cry  and 

little  wool." 
Cider  Brandy.    See  Apple  Brandy. 

Cider  Oil.  Cider  concentrated  by  boiling,  to  which  honey  is  subse- 
quently added.  Also  called  cider  royal,  probably  the  original  name; 
such  being  found  in  old  receipt  books,  and  is  perhaps  English,  or 
may  come  from  the  supposed  superior  quality  of  the  beverage. 

Cienega.  (Span.)  A  marsh.  New  Mexico  and  Texas.  A  small 
marsh  is  called  a  cienegidta. 

Cimlin.  A  squash,  so  called  in  the  Middle  and  Southern  States.  See 
Cymhling. 

Cincinnati  Oysters.    Pigs'  feet. 

To  circulate.  To  travel.  Used  in  this  sense  many  times  in  a  pam- 
phlet on  the  "  Frauds,  Extortions,  and  Oppressions  of  the  Railroad 
Monopoly  in  New  Jersey."  In  comparing  the  rates  of  travel  in 
various  States,  by  which  it  is  shown  that  the  rates  in  New  Jersey 
are  the  highest  in  the  world,  the  author  says  of  the  traveller:  — 

Arriving  in  Maryland,  a  slave  State,  he  circulates  at  a  cost  of  from  three  to 
five  cents  per  mile. 

Circumstance.  Not  a  circumstance,  in  the  sense  of  a  thing  of  no 
account,  nothing  in  comparison,  is  a  vulgarism  which  has  become 
popular  within  the  last  few  years. 

I  never  saw  so  lean  and  spare  a  gall  as  Miss  A  since  I  was  raised.  Pha- 
raoh's lean  kine  warn't  the  smallest  part  of  a  circumstance  to  her.  I  had  to  look 
twice  before  I  could  see  her  at  all.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature,  p.  184. 

Cisco.  The  popular  name  of  a  fish  of  the  herring  kind  which  abounds 
in  Lake  Ontario,  particularly  in  Chaumont  Bay  at  the  east  end, 
where  thousands  of  barrels  are  annually  caught  and  salted. 

Citified.  Having  and  exhibiting  the  peculiarities  of  residents  of 
cities.    New  England. 

To  citizenize.  To  make  a  citizen ;  to  admit  to  the  rank  and  privileges 
of  a  citizen.  —  Webster.    Rarely  used. 

Talleyrand  was  citizenized  in  Pennsylvania,  when  there  in  the  form  of  an  emi- 
grant. —  T.  PickeHny. 


122 


CIT— CLA 


Citron.  Sweetmeats  made  from  a  melon,  so  as  closely  to  resemble 
that  made  from- the  fruit  of  the  citron-tree. 

Citron  Melon.    The  sort  of  melon  employed  for  that  purpose. 

City.  The  new  settlers  and  miners  in  the  far  Western  States  and 
Territories,  anxious  that  the  particular  spots  upon  which  they  have 
built  their  rude  cabins  or  pitched  their  tents,  or  where  they  have 
"  located,"  may  become  a  great  town  or  city,  at  once  add  the  word 
"  city  "  to  the  name  they  have  chosen.  For  example,  at  the  present 
time  (Dec,  1876),  when  it  is  hardly  safe  for  white  men  to  be  in  the 
district  in  Wyoming  and  Dakota  known  as  the  "Black  Hills," 
seven  places  are  marked  on  the  maps  bearing  the  names  of  "  Crook 
City,"  "Gay  City,"  "  Deadwood  City,"  "Spring  City,"  "Golden 
City,"  "  Custer  City,"  and  "  Kapid  City."  Modest  towns  and  vil- 
lages are  unknown.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  there  are  not  five  hundred 
inhabitants  in  either  of  these  so-called  cities.  In  Kew  England, 
too,  many  villages  are  so  named. 

Civil  Authority.  Justices  of  the  peace  are  considered  as  the  cwil 
autliority  of  the  town  in  which  they  dwell.  —  SivifCs  System  of  the 
Laios  of  Connecticut  (1795),  I.  109. 

The  term  is  yet  retained  in  the  Connecticut  Statute  Book,  and 
in  common  use. 

Civism.  Love  of  country;  patriotism.  — Webster.  This,  like  the  pre- 
ceding word,  is  one  of  the  productions  of  the  French  Revolution; 
and,  though  frequently  used  several  years  ago,  is  now  obsolete  here 
as  well  as  in  France.  —  Pickering^ s  Vocabulary. 

Claim.  A  piece  of  public  land  which  a  squatter  marks  out  for  him- 
self and  settles  upon,  with  the  intention  of  purchasing  it  when  the 
government  will  olfer  it  for  sale.    There  are  also  claims  for  mines. 

To  claim.    To  assert. 

This  verb,  although  in  common  use,  is  not  found  in  the  dic- 
tionaries. 

A  boy  of  fourteen,  named  George  LaDoo,  applied  for  a  night's  lodging  at  the 
Third  Police  Station  last  evening,  and  stated  that  he  had  left  his  home  in  Green- 
fi«  ld,  N.  H  ,  that  morning,  at  the  command  of  his  parents,  who  claimed  to  be 
unable  to  support  him.  —  Boston  Journal. 

John  Belcher  has  brought  a  writ  against  .Jolm  F.  Costello,  to  recover  on  certain 
notes  given  by  the  latter  for  a  grocery  store  in  Winthrop.  The  notes  are  claimed 
to  be  worthless. 

There  is  a  curious  legal  complication  in  our  courts  pending  the  distribution  of 
the  estate  of  the  late  John  D.  Lewis,  a  deceased  Avealthy  merchant  of  this  city. 
...  He  never  made  known  his  history,  and  claimed  he  had  no  relations  living, 
Boston  Transcrijpt,  Feb.  7,  1876. 


CLA 


123 


Claim-Jumper.    One  who  violently  seizes  on  another's  land  claim. 
Claim-Jumping.    Violently  seizing  on  another's  claim. 
Clam.    The  popular  name  of  certain  shell-fish,  highly  esteemed  ior 
food.    They  are  of  two  principal  kinds:  — 

1.  The  Hard  Clam  (Venus  inercenaria) ^  a  very  common  mollusk, 
found  buried  in  the  sand  or  shores  of  marine  districts  at  half-tide. 
See  Quahog. 

2.  The  Soft  Clam,  or  Mananosay  {JShja  arenaria)^  obtained  from 
the  shores  of  tidal  rivers  by  digging  one  or  two  feet  in  the  loose 
sand.  It  has  a  long,  extensible,  cartilaginous  snout,  or  proboscis, 
through  which  it  ejects  water;  whence  it  is  also  called  Stem-clam. 
Abundant  on  the  shores  of  Narragansett  Bay. 

A  friend  informs  me  that  in  Maiyland  the  latter  is  always  called 
the  maninose,  and  never  soft-shell  clam. 

Clam-Bake.  Clams,  baked  in  the  primitive  style  of  the  Indians,  fur- 
nish one  of  the  most  popular  dishes  on  those  parts  of  the  coast 
where  they  abound,  and  constitute  a  main  feature  in  the  bill  of  fare 
at  picnics  and  other  festive  gatherings.  The  method  of  baking  is 
as  follows:  A  cavity  is  dug  in  the  earth,  about  eighteen  inches  deep, 
which  is  lined  with  round  stones.  On  this  a  fire  is  made;  and, 
when  the  stones  are  sufficiently  heated,  a  bushel  or  more  of  soft 
clams  (according  to  the  number  of  persons  who  are  to  partake  of 
the  feast)  is  thrown  upon  them.  On  this  is  put  a  layer  of  rock- 
weed  gathered  from  the  beach,  and  over  this  a  second  layer  of  sea- 
weed. Sometimes  the  clams  are  simply  placed  close  together  on 
the  ground,  with  the  hinges  uppermost,  and  over  them  is  made  a 
fire  of  brush.  This  is  called  an  Indian  bed  of  clams.  Clams  baked 
in  this  manner  are  preferred  to  those  cooked  in  the  usual  way  in 
the  kitchen. 

Parties  of  ten  or  twenty  persons,  of  both  sexes,  are  the  most 
common.  Often  they  extend  to  a  hundred,  when  other  amuse- 
ments are  added;  and  on  one  occasion,  that  of  a  grand  political 
mass-meeting  in  favor  of  General  Harrison  on  the  4th  of  July,  1840, 
nearly  10,000  persons  assembled  in  Rhode  Island,  for  whom  a  c/am- 
hake  and  chowder  were  prepared.  This  was  probably  the  greatest 
feast  of  the  kind  that  ever  took  place  in  New  England. 

The  "Boston  Atlas"  quotes  the  following  as  the  opinion  of  a 
German  Professor  who  had  written  on  the  United  States:  — 

The  people  assemble  at  the  side  of  the  river,  and  feast  upon  a  species  of  oyster 
called  the  clam,  after  which  they  grow  noisy  and  clamor  about  their  rights. 

Cam-hakes  are  a  Rhode  Island  institution,  so  much  so  that  the 


124 


CLA 


aldermanic  proportions  of  some  of  her  jolliest  sons  rise  and  fall  with 
the  tide;  and  they  are  notoriously  happy  at  high-water.  When 
given  pro  bono  publico^  clain-bakes  are  like  cattle-show  dinners  in 
mammoth  tents;  but  when  enjoyed  by  a  select  party,  on  some  re- 
tired beach  or  tiny  islet,  they  are  gorgeous. 

"At  such  times, 
"With  shoes  and  stockings  doffed,  and  trowsers  rolled 
Above  their  knees,  the  men  adventurous  wade 
Through  mud  and  water  'for  to  dig  for  clams ; ' 
While  on  some  smooth-worn  stones  the  maidens  pile 
A  heap  of  sun-dried  branches,  which  enflamed 
By  loco-foco  match  or  otlier  means, 
Kindles  straightway,  and  heats  the  hearth  beneath; 
Next  sweeping  off  the  ashes,  lay  the  clams, 
And  cover  o'er  with  seaweed,  tliat  may  keep 
Enclosed  the  fierce  caloric.    Then  when  done, 
And  the  shell  opens  of  itself,  the  morsel  sweet 
Is  gobbled  from  that  natural  spoon,  its  juices  all 
Retained,  its  flavor  full  and  perfect."  — Perley. 

Clam-Shell.  The  lips,  or  mouth.  There  is  a  common  though  vulgar 
expression  in  New  England  of  "Shut  your  clam-shell ;  that  is, 
"  Shut  your  mouth,  hold  your  tongue."  The  padlock  now  used  on 
the  United  States  mail-bags  is  called  the  "  Clam-shell  padlock." 

You  don't  feel  much  like  speakin', 
When  if  3-ou  let  your  clam-shells  gape,  a  quart  of  tar  will  leak  in." 

Lowell,  Biylow  Papers,  Vol.  II.  p.  19. 

Clapboard.  A  thin,  narrow  board,  used  to  cover  the  sides  of  houses, 
and  placed  so  as  to  overlap  the  one  below  it.  Originally  c/ofe-board, 
or  board  made  by  cleaoing.  In  England,  according  to  Bailey's 
Dictionary,  a  clapboard  is  a  thin  board  formed  ready  for  the  cooper's 
use,  in  order  to  make  casks  or  vessels. 

Ship-plankes,  clove-board  and  pike-staves,  these  lade  home  ships  twice  a  year 
hence.  —  Desc.  of  New  Albion  (1648),  Force's  Repr.,  p.  31. 

Mr.  Oldham  had  a  small  house  near  the  weir  at  Watertown,  made  all  of  dap- 
boards  [i.  e.  of  cloven  boards,  without  timber],  burned  August,  1632.  —  Winthrop, 
Journal,  Vol.  I.  p.  87. 

Richard  Longe  was  fined,  in  1635,  for  riving  divers  good  trees  into  clapboards. 
Mass.  Records,  Vol.  I.  p.  163. 

To  clapboard.    To  cover  with  clapboarding. 

The  house  was  neat  and  comfortable.  It  was  a  small  frame  building,  clap- 
boarded  on  the  sides  and  roof.  — Margaret,  p.  18. 

Clape.  The  common  name  of  the  Golden- winged  Woodpecker,  in  the 
State  of  New  York.  Dr.  DeKay  thinks  it  "  a  provincial  word,  in- 
troduced by  the  early  English  colonists."  It  is  elsewhere  called 
High-hole,  Old  Eng.  Hygh-vhele,  Hig-hawe;  mod.  HickwaU  and 


CLA— CLE 


125 


Hictway  (Booth);    Yucker,  Yuckel  (Wiltshire);    Flicker,  Wake- 
up,  Pigeon  Woodpecker,  and  Yellow-hammer;  in  Louisiana,  Pique- 
bois-jaune. — Nat.  Hist,  of  New  York. 
Clapmatch.    1.  A  kind  of  woman's  cap.    See  Clockmutch. 

2.  A  kind  of  seal-skin. 
Clatterwhacking.    A  clatter,  racket. 

When  we  went  a  bar  hunting,  I  heard  the  darndest  clatterwhacking  and  noise 
in  the  road  behind  us.  —  Southern  Sketches,  p.  32. 

Clay -Eaters,  otherwise  Dirt-Eaters.  A  miserable  set  of  people  in- 
habiting some  of  the  Southern  States,  who  subsist  chiefly  on  tur- 
pentine whiskey,  and  appease  their  craving  for  more  substantial 
food  by  filling  their  stomachs  with  a  kind  of  aluminous  earth 
which  abounds  everywhere.  This  gives  them  a  yellowish,  drab- 
colored  complexion,  with  dull  eyes,  and  faces  whose  idiotic  expres- 
sion is  only  varied  by  a  dull  despair  or  a  devilish  malignity.  They 
are  looked  down  upon  by  the  Negroes  with  a  contempt  which  they 
return  by  a  hearty  hatred.  — Ida  May.  See  fully  in  "  Thompson's 
Practice  of  Medicine." 

The  Clean  Thing.  A  low  expression,  denoting  propriety,  or  what  is 
honorable. 

It  is  admitted  that  sending  out  ships  to  phmder  your  neighbor  or  adversary  is 
as  much  as  mere  words  in  making  war.  I  don't  like  it.  It  isn't  the  clean  thing. 
Crockett,  Tour,  p.  193. 

A  man  may  be  the  straight  thing,  that  is,  right  up  and  down  like  a  cow's  tail; 
but  hang  me  if  he  can  do  the  clean  thing  any  how  he  can  fix  it.  —  S.  Slick, 
Human  Nature,  p.  53. 

Clean  Ticket.    The  entire  regularly  nominated  ticket  at  an  election ; 

a  ticket  without  any  erasures;  also  called  a  ^'■straight  ticket." 

"  He  went  the  clean  ticket  on  the  Whig  nominations." 
Cle£ur  Grit.    The  right  sort;  having  no  lack  of  spirit;  unalloyed; 

decided. 

Nor  do  we  think  the  matter  much  mended  by  a  clear  grit  Republican  conven- 
tion, putting  one  or  two  Democrats  at  the  foot  of  their  ticket.  —  New  York 
Tribune,  Oct.  10,  1861. 

In  Canada,  a  Clear  Grit  means  a  Liberal  in  politics. 
Clearing.    A  place  or  tract  of  land  cleared  of  wood  for  cultivation; 
a  common  use  of  the  word  in  America.  —  Webster. 

After  we  reached  the  boundaries  of  the  clearing  and  plunged  into  the  timbered 
land,  this  lieat  was  exchanged  for  a  grotto-like  coolness.  — 3Irs.  Clavers's  Forest 
Life,  Vol.  I.  p.  04. 

Clearing  House.  An  establishment  recently  organized  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  where  clerks  from  the  various  banks  daily  meet  to  settle 
the  balances  of  their  respective  institutions. 


126 


CLE 


To  clear  out.  To  take  one's  self  off;  to  depart,  decamp.  A  figure 
borrowed  from  the  custom-house.  A  vessel  "  takes  her  clearance 
papers,"  or  "  clears  out  "  for  departure. 

This  tiling  of  man-worship  I  am  a  stranger  to;  I  don't  like  it;  it  taints  every 
action  of  life:  it  is  like  a  skunk  getting  into  a  liouse,  —  long  after  he  has  cleared 
out,  you  smell  him  in  every  room  and  closet  from  the  cellar  to  the  garret. — 
Crockett's  Speec/i,  Tour,  p.  74. 

I  turned  round,  and  was  going  to  clear  out.  But,  says  he,  Stop,  Mister!  — 
Major  Doionin(/'s  Af ay-day  in  New  York. 

Not  a  soul  has  disturbed  our  peaceful  repose,  except  that  Colonel  Colden  and 
the  Dickenses  came,  one  night  after  we  had  gone  to  bed,  and  cleared  out  the  next 
day  at  noon.  —  Ticknor's  Life  and  Letters,  Lett,  to  H.  S.  Leyare,  Vol.  II.  p.  207. 

Clear  Swing.    Good  opportunity.    See  Full  Swing. 

As  so(m  as  civilization  arrives  at  years  of  discretion,  we  expect  to  see  our  cities 
purged  of  rowdyism,  incentives  to  vice  abated,  and  a  clear  swiny  and  ample 
reward  granted  to  labor  and  intelligence.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

To  clerk  or  to  clerk  it.  To  act  in  the  capacity  of  a  clerk  In  com- 
mon use  at  the  West,  and  occasionally  heard  in  New  York. 

T^acWmg;.  clerking,  law,  &c..  are  so  very  precarious,  except  to  men  of  estab- 
lished reputation  and  business,  that  it  is  next  to  madness  for  a  j'outh  to  come 
here  relying  upon  them. — A".  Y.  Tribune,  April  19,  1849. 

Young  Soublette  had  b^en  clerking  down  to  the  fort  on  the  Platte,  so  he  know'd 
something. — Ruxton.  Far  West,  p.  17. 

I  was  struck  with  the  original  mode  in  which  the  young  gentleman  who  was 
clerking  it  managed  his  spelling.  — A  Stray  Yankee  in  Texas,  p.  197. 

Clever.  The  following  are  the  English  senses  of  this  word  as  given 
by  Dr.  AVorcester:  Dextrous,  skilful  {Addison)  \  just,  fit,  proper, 
commodious  {Pope)'.,  well-shaped,  handsome  {Arhuthnot). 

In  the  United  States,  clever  is  much  used  as  a  colloquial  word  in 
the  sense  of  good-natured,  well-disposed,  honest;  and  the  phrase 
^'clever  man"  or  clerer  fellow  "  is  employed  to  denote  a  person 
of  good-nature,  good  disposition,  or  good  intention.  —  Worce.^ter^s 
Dictionary. 

The  landlord  of  the  hotel  was  a  very  clever  man,  and  made  me  feel  quite  at 
home  in  his  house.  —  Crockett's  Tour  down  East.  p.  22. 

It  is  related  that  an  English  lady  arriving  in  Xew  York,  being 
recommended  to  take  a  servant- girl  who  was  described  to  her  as  clever, 
but  not  smart,  answered  that  such  a  maid  would  suit  her  admir- 
ably. But  she  soon  learned  that  her  new  acquisition  was  merely 
inoffensive  and  dull;  whereas,  she  had  expected  one  brisk  and 
intelligent,  without  being  showy  or  dressy.  We  sometimes  hear  the 
expressions  "  English  clever  "  and  "  Yankee  clever  "  used  to  indi- 
cate the  sense  in  which  the  word  is  to  be  taken. 


CLE— CLI 


127 


We  have  also  heard  the  word  used  in  a  sort  of  hybrid  sense,  as  in 
the  question  and  answer:  "How  are  you  getting  on?"  "First- 
rate,  thank  you."    "  Well,  that clever.'''' 

Cleverly.  This  is  much  used  in  some  parts  of  New  England,  instead 
of  icell  or  very  well.  In  answer  to  the  common  salutation,  "  How  do 
you  do?  "  we  often  hear,  "  I  am  cleverly.''''  It  is  also  used  in  the 
sense  of  fairly,  completely. 

The  Iflndlord  comes  to  me,  as  soon  as  I  was  cleverly  up  this  morning,  looking 
full  of  importance.  —  Sam  Slick  in  Enyland,  ch.  8. 

Cleverness.    Mildness  or  agreeableness  of  disposition;  obligingness; 

good  nature.    Used  in  New  England.  —  Webster. 
Clevis,  or  Clevy.    (Fr.  clef.,  clavette.)    An  iron,  bent  to  the  foi'm  of 

an  ox-bow,  with  the  two  ends  perforated  to  receive  a  pin,  used  on 

the  end  of  a  cart-neap,  to  hold  the  chain  of  the  forward  horse  or 

oxen;  or,  a  draft-iron  on  a  plow.  —  Webster. 

Cliflf.  A  part  of  the  Silurian  limestones  of  the  West  have  been  called 
"  Cliff  limestone,"  from  the  bold  cliffs  found  on  the  banks  of 
streams.  The  word  much  used  in  this  way  is  usually  pronounced 
clifts,  and  hence  the  adjective  cliffy,  frequently  applied  to  streams  as 
a  proper  name.  Thus,  "a  clifty  country"  is  one  abounding  in 
cliffs. 

Climb  down.  To  climb  is  to  ascend,  to  mount,  to  rise,  but  in  no 
sense  to  descend.  Yet  we  sometimes  find  it  used  with  the  latter 
signification.  Thus,  Mr.  H.  Ward  Beecher,  in  describing  his  visit 
to  Oxford,  says:  — 

To  climb  down  the  wall  was  easy  enough,  too  easy  for  a  man  who  did  not  love 
wetting. 

And  again :  — 

I  parth-  climbed  down,  and  wholly  clambered  back  again,  satisfied  that  it  was 
easier  to  get  myself  in  than  to  get  the  flowers  out.  —  Star  Pajyers,  p.  41. 

Cling  or  Clingstone.  A  variety  of  the  peach  in  which  the  flesh 
adheres,  or  clings,  firmly  to  the  stone.  When  the  stone  readily 
separates  from  the  flesh,  they  are  called  free-stones  or  open  stones. 
The  word  peach  frequently  designates  the  free-stone,  while  the  others 
are  called  clings. 

Clingjohn.    A  soft  cake  of  rye. 

Clinker-built.  A  term  applied  to  a  class  of  boats  in  which  the 
lower  edge  of  every  plank  overlays  the  next  under  it,  like  clap- 
boards on  the  side  of  a  house.  It  is  a  variation  of  the  English  term 
clincher-built. 


128 


CLI— COA 


Clip.  A  blow  or  stroke  with  the  hand;  as,  *'  He  hit  him  a  dip."  — 
Webster.    Pjoviiicial  in  Enghmd  and  the  Northern  States. 

Clipper-Ship.  Ships  built  in  the  clipper  style,  with  a  special  view  to 
quick  voyages ;  clipper-built  ships.  They  owed  their  origin  to  the 
immensely  profitable  trade  which  sprang  up  between  the  Atlantic 
sea-ports  and  San  Francisco,  soon  after  the  occupation  of  California 
by  Americans  from  the  United  States. 

Clique.  A  combination  of  stock-brokers  or  capitalists,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  increasing  or  diminishing  the  price  of  stocks,  in  order  to 
break  down  the  market.    Also  called  a  ring. 

Clitchy.  Clammy,  sticky,  glutinous.  — Pickeriri(fs  Vocab.  Mr.  Pick- 
ering says  he  has  "  heard  this  word  used  in  a  few  instances  by  old 
people  in  New  England;  but  it  is  rarely  heard."  In  Devonshire, 
England,  they  use  the  verb  to  ditch,  meaning  to  stick,  to  adhere, 
to  become  thick  or  glutinous.  From  this  our  word  is  evidently 
derived. 

Clockmutch.  (Du.,  klapmuts,  a  night-cap  )  A  woman's  cap  com- 
posed of  three  pieces,  —  a  straight  centre  one,  from  the  forehead  to 
the  neck,  with  two  side  pieces.    A  New  York  term. 

Close.   Held  firmly ;  difficult  to  obtain ;  scarce.  Usually  said  of  money ; 

as,  "  Money  is  close. 
Cloud.    A  woman's  knit  head-covering. 
To  cloud  up.    To  grow  cloudy ;  to  cloud  over. 

Although  the  morning  was  fine  and  pleasant,  it  clouded  up  before  eight  o'clock 
and  commenced  raining.  —  Bi^anVs  Journey  to  California,  p.  43. 

Club-Tail.  The  common  shad,  the  fatter  portion  of  which  have  the 
tail  swollen,  and  on  the  coast  of  Carolina,  where  they  are  taken,  are 
called  club-tails.  —  Nat.  Hist.  N.  Y. 

Coachee.    Fr.    A  coachman ;  a  stage-driver. 

Coach-Whip.  In  Virginia,  the  name  of  a  snake. 

Of  no  description  I  shall  make 

Of  either  glass  or  rattle-snake ; 
I 've  not  the  coach-whip,  or  the  green, 

The  moccasin  or  wampum  seen. 

Ramsmj,  Picture  of  America,  p.  166. 

Coal.  The  anthracite  coal  of  commerce  is  thus  classified  in  the  mar- 
kets where  sold  :  1.  Broken  or  furnace  coal,  being  the  largest 
lumps;  2.  Stove  or  range  coal;  3.  Pea  or  nut  coal;  4.  Egg  coal; 
5.  Coal  dust. 

Coal-Oil.    Oil  extracted  from  certain  coal ;  petroleum. 


COA— COC 


129 


To  coast.  To  slide  down  hill  with  sleds  on  the  snow ;  a  term  used  by 
boys  in  New  England.    See  Tahogganing. 

Coasting.  The  amusement  of  sliding  down  hill  with  sleds  on  the 
snow. 

I  guess  Aunt  Libby  never  broke  one  of  the  runners  of  her  sled  some  Saturday- 
afternoon,  when  it  was  prime  coasting.  —  Fanny  Fern. 

Coat.    Used  in  the  South  for  petticoat.    Formerly  common,  and  still 

provincial,  in  England. 
Cob.    The  spike  on  which  the  kernels  of  maize,  or  Indian  corn,  grow. 

When  the  corn  is  attached  to  it,  it  is  called  an  "•ear."    The  old 

English  word  coh,  the  top  or  head  (from  the  Saxon  cop),  is  doubtless 

the  origin  of  the  term. 

The  following  short  but  pithy  dialogue  is  represented  as  passing 

between  two  Virginia  Negroes  soon  after  the  surrender  of  Lord 

Cornwallis,  at  the  siege  of  Yorktown:  — 

Mingo.    Halloo,  brudder  Sam ;  how  you  do  ? 
Sam.    Oh,  don't  know,  brudder  Mingo;  mighty  poorly. 
Mingo.    Poorly !  indeed !  you  no  hear  de  news  ? 
Sam.    No.    What  sorter  news  ? 

Mingo.    Why,  don't  you  know  dat  are  great  man  dey  call  Cornwallis  ? 
Sam.    Yes,  I  hera  nufE  'bout  him  shooting  after  white  folks  all  over  de 
country. 

Mingo.   Well,  I  s'pose  you  know  Gin'ral  Washington  ? 
Sam.    Oh.  yes !  I  know  ole  masser. 

Mingo.  Well,  I  tell  you  what:  he  no  Cornwallis  now,  he  CoJwallis  ;  Gin'ral 
Washington  shell  all  de  corn  off  him  too  slick.  —  Cherokee  Phoenix,  May  21,  1828. 

Cobb.  A  blow  on  the  buttock.  Wright,  in  his  Dictionary  of  Obso- 
lete and  Provincial  English,  explains  the  word  as  follows:  "  A  pun- 
ishment used  among  seamen  for  petty  offences  or  irregularities,  by 
bastinadoing  the  offender  on  the  posteriors  with  a  cobbing-stiek  or 
pipe-staff." 

Should  any  Negro  be  found  vending  spirituous  liquors,  without  permission  from 
his  owner,  such  Negro  so  offending  shall  receive  fifteen  cobbs  or  paddles  for  every 
such  offence  from  the  hands  of  the  patrollers  of  the  settlement  or  neighborhood 
in  which  the  offence  was  committed.  —  Cherokee  Phoenix,  April  10,  1828. 

Cobbler.  1.  A  drink  made  of  wine,  sugar,  lemon,  and  pounded  ice, 
and  imbibed  through  a  straw  or  other  tube;  as,  a  "  sherry  cobbler.^* 
2.  A  sort  of  pie,  baked  in  a  pot  lined  with  dough  of  great  thick- 
ness, upon  which  the  fruit  is  placed;  according  to  the  fruit,  it  is 
an  apple  or  a  peach  cobbler.  Western. 
Cocash  and  Squaw-weed.  Names  given  to  Erigeron  Canadense  (and 
other  species  of  the  genus),  used  by  the  Northern  Indians  for  medi- 
cine. —  Rajinesque,  Med.  Flora,  I.  167. 

9 


130 


COC— COD 


Cockarouse.    A  title  of  honor  among  the  Indians  of  Virginia,  and 

long  afterwards  used  by  the  Englisli  settlers  as  a  term  for  a  person 
of  consequence.  "  Werowance  or  cockarouse,"  says  Captain  John 
Smith,  "  means  a  captain."  —  Hist.  Virginia^  1024. 

A  cockarouse  is  one  that  has  the  honor  to  be  of  the  kinff  or  queen's  council, 
with  relation  to  the  affairs  of  government.  —  Beverbfs  Virfjinia,  1705,  Book  III. 
With  spur  of  punch  which  lay  in  pate, 
Ere  long  we  lighted  at  the  gate; 
Where  in  an  ancient  cedar  house, 
Dwelt  my  new  friend,  a  cockerouse. 

The  Sot-weed  Factor ;  or,  A  Voyage  to  Maryland,  1708. 

Cocktail.  A  stimulating  beverage,  made  of  brandy,  gin,  or  other 
liquor,  mixed  with  bitters,  sugar,  and  a  very  little  water.  A  friend 
thinks  that  this  term  was  suggested  by  the  shape  which  froth,  as 
of  a  glass  of  porter,  assumes  when  it  flows  over  the  sides  of  a  tumbler 
containing  the  liquid  effervescing.  "  A  bowie-knife  and  a  foaming 
cocktail.' '  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  May  8,  1862. 

In  the  American's  Apostrophe  to  Bon  Gaultier,  addressed  to 
Dickens,  after  his  visit  to  the  United  States,  he  says:  — 

Did  we  spare  our  brandy  cocktails,  stint  thee  of  our  whiskey-grogs  ? 
Half  the  juleps  that  we  gave  thee  would  have  floored  a  Newman  Noggs. 

Book  of  B'tllads. 

Coco  Grass.  An  insidious  grass  or  weed  much  dreaded  by  Southern 
planters,  as  it  will  speedily  overrun  and  ruin  any  field  in  which  it 
takes  root. 

Cocoa-Nut.    1.  The  well-known  fruit  of  the  Cocos  nucifera,  a  kind  of 
palm  which  is  a  native  of  the  West  Indies  and  South  America,  as 
well  as  of  the  other  parts  of  the  world. 
2.  The  head. 

Coco-Plum.  (Sp.  hicaco.  Chrysobalanus  hicaco.)  A  fruit  grown  at 
Barbadoes. 

Cocos  or  Eddoes.  The  tuberous  root  of  the  Arum  esculentum,  the 
principal  dependence  for  a  supply  of  food  among  the  laboring  popu- 
lation of  the  West  Indies. 

C.  O.  D.  Collect  on  delivery.  Letters  put  upon  packages  sent  by 
express,  the  charges  on  which  must  be  paid  on  delivery. 

Codding.  Fishing  for  codfish.  A  common  term  in  Xew  England 
seaports,  where  vessels  are  fitted  out  for  the  pui-pose. 

Codfish  Aristocracy.  A  class  of  people  who,  with  wealth,  are  too 
apt  to  be  deficient  in  intelligence  and  good  manners,  and  who, 
nevertheless,  assume  airs  of  importance.    See  Shoddy. 


COF— COL 


131 


Coffee-Tree  or  Kentucky  Coffee-Tree.  (Gymnocladus  Canadensis.) 
An  ornamental  tree  with  valuable  wood,  the  seeds  of  which  were 
once  used  as  a  substitute  for  coffee. 

Coffin-Boat.    See  Battery. 

Cohees.  A  term  applied  to  the  people  of  certain  settlements  in 
Western  Pennsylvania  from  their  use  of  the  archaic  form  Quo'  lie^ 
—  "  Quoth  he." 

Cohosh,  sometimes  called  Black  Cohosh  or  Black  Snake-root  (Cimici- 
fuga  racemosa),  a  well-known  medicinal  plant.  There  are  also  (Actce 
alba)  White  Baneberry,  Blue  Cohosh,  (Leontice  thalictroides)  Pap- 
poose  Root,  or  Squaw  Root,  and  other  allied  plants. 

White  cohush  will  bring  out  the  whelk  in  less  than  no  time  ;  and  brook  lime  will 
break  any  fever.  — Margaret,  p.  375. 

Cold,  adj.  1.  Applied  in  a  peculiar  way  to  those  who  do  not  engage 
in  some  particular  undertaking,  e.  g.  a  revival  in  a  church  (this  seems 
to  be  the  original  use),  a  railroad  company,  a  bank,  or  even  a  con- 
spiracy to  cheat  some  one.  He  who  does  not  earnestly  engage  in 
it  is  said  to  be  cold. 

How  many  shares  in  the  Bank  have  been  subscribed  to-day  ?  Why,  Smith 

took  ten  and  Jones  twentj'.  And  how  many  did  Jackson  take  V  Oh,  he 's  cold, 
he 'd  only  take  one,  provided  I 'd  swap  horses  with  him. 

2.  In  poker,  to  have  a  good  hand  cold  is  to  have  it  dealt  you  at 
the  start,  without  having  to  draw  new  cards. 

3.  Distant.  Said  of  one  who,  in  play  hunting  to  find  the  thing 
concealed,  is  remote  from  it.    New  England. 

Cold  as  Presbyterian  Charity.  A  relic  of  the  dislike  had  towards 
Presbyterians  when  Episcopacy  was  established  in  Virginia  by  law, 
and  the  leaders  of  Virginia  society  sympathized  with  the  English 
Presbyterians,  especially  as  Cromwell  and  the  other  Puritans  about 
1640-1645  were  known  as  Presbyterians. 

They  are  cold  ns  Presbyterian  charity,  and  mean  enough  to  put  the  sun  in 
eclipse,  are  the  English.  —  Sam  Slick  in  England. 

Why,  Colonel,  the  riv-^er  is  pretty  considerable  for  a  run  ;  but  the  water  is  cool 
as  Presbyterian  charity.  —  Crockett'' s  Tour. 

It  was  common  in  England,  particularly  during  and  after  Crom- 
well's time,  to  ridicule  the  Presbyterians;  thus  Hudibras  says:  — 

When  thou  at  any  thing  would'st  rail, 
Thou  mak'st  Presbytery  thy  scale. 
As  if  Presbytery  were  a  standard 
To  size  whatever 's  to  be  slandered. 

Part  I.  Canto  3. 


132 


COL 


Cold  Bread.  The  adjective  cold  is  constantly  applied  to  bread  that 
is  not  cold  at  all,  but  simply  not  hot;  also,  to  stale  bread. 

Cold  Slaw.    See  Kool  Slaa. 

Cold  Sore.    An  eruption  usually  about  the  mouth,  and  generally 

accompanying  a  cold  in  the  head. 
Collapsity.    Collapt;  collapsion. 

Maii}'^  emigrants  arriving  at  that  state  of  collapsity  termed  flat  broke  stayed  at 
Los  Angeles  because  they  could  not  go  on.  —  San  Francisco  paper. 

Collar.  To  wear  the  collar.  To  be  under  the  control  of  another ;  to 
be  subject  to. 

So,  when  one 's  chose  to  Congress,  ez  soon  ez  he 's  in  it, 
A  collar  grows  right  round  his  neck  in  a  minnet. 

Lowell,  The  Biglow  Papers. 

CoUards.  A  corruption  of  Colewort,  a  kind  of  cabbage  grown  in  the 
South,  the  leaves  of  which  do  not  form  a  close  head,  and  which  are 
much  used  as  "greens."  In  the  South  they  are  called  collards. 
"  Bacon  and  collards  "  are  a  universal  dish  there. 

The  poor  trash  who  scratched  a  bare  subsistence  from  a  sorry  patch  of  beans 
and  collards,  and  the  staggering  bully,  who  did  not  condescend  to  do  any  thing.  — 
Gilmore,  My  Southern  Friends,  p.  54. 

In  England,  young  cabbage  is  called  colewort. 

How  turnips  hide  their  swelling  heads  below, 

And  how  the  closing  coleivorts  upwards  grow.  —  Gay. 

Collarette.  (Fr.)  A  peculiar  shaped  collar  of  muslin,  lace,  or  linen 
worn  by  ladies. 

Colonel.  A  title  of  courtesy.  There  is  a  great  fondness  in  the  West 
and  South  for  the  higher  military  titles,  but  particularly  for  that  of 
Colonel.  New  England,  too,  may  be  charged  with  the  same  weak- 
ness. 

A  friend  has  related  to  me  the  following  anecdote :  — 

A  gentleman  had  taken  a  fine  stallion  to  a  fair  in  Kentucky,  and  was  received 
with  great  cordiality  and  respect.  He  had  never  held  any  military  rank,  and 
noticing  that  he  was  addressed  by  every  one  as  Colonel,  although  others  of  the 
party  were  not,  he  inquired  the  reason,  and  received  the  following  reply: 
"  AVell,  sir,  Colonel,  sir,  is  a  title  of  courtesy;  and  here  in  Kentucky,  sir,  we 
always  give  it  to  any  gentleman  who  keeps  a  hotel  or  owns  a  stud  horse,  sir." 

Cold  Flour.  A  preparation  made  of  Indian  corn  (maize)  parched 
and  pulverized,  mixed  with  one-third  its  quantity  of  sugar.  Two 
or  three  teaspoonf  ills  of  this  compound  stirred  in  a  glass  of  water 
will  answer  for  a  meal  when  food  is  scarce.    See  Nocake  and  Pinole. 

Collect.  (Du.  kolk.1  a  pit,  a  lake.)  A  pond  supplied  by  rain;  a 
water-puddle.    New  York.    That  portion  of  the  city  of  New  York 


COL— COM 


133 


now  occupied  by  the  "  Tombs,"  the  Five  Points,"  and  vicinity, 
was  formerly  known  as  ' '  The  Collect. ' ' 

Collector.  There  are  three  principal  officers  in  each  of  the  large  Cus- 
tom Houses  in  this  country,  the  Collector,  Naval  Officer,  and  Sur- 
veyor. 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  collector  to  receive  all  manifests,  reports,  and  documents 
required  to  be  made  or  exhibited  on  the  entry  of  any  vessel  or  cargo ;  record  all 
manifests,  and,  together  with  the  naval  officer,  estimate  the  amount  of  duties 
payable  on  imports,  indorsing  the  same  on  the  respective  entries;  receive,  or 
secure  by  bond,  payment  of  duties ;  grant  permits  for  the  unlading  or  delivery  of 
imports;  and,  with  the  approbation  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  employ 
persons  as  inspectors,  weighers,  gaugers,  measurers,  and  clerks.  —  Act  March  2, 
1797. 

To  collide.  To  strike  or  dash  against  each  other;  to  strike  or  dash, 
—  followed  by  with.  —  Webster.  To  come  into  collision,  particularly 
in  the  case  of  railroad  trains  approaching  each  other  from  opposite 
directions. 

Many  objections  have  been  made  to  the  use  of  this  word,  under 
the  impression  that  it  is  new  and  coined  for  the  occasion ;  but  it  has 
long  been  used  by  English  writers  precisely  in  the  sense  now  used 
when  speaking  of  collisions  of  railway  trains. 

The  flints  that  hide 
The  seeds  of  fire,  thus  tossed  in  air,  collide. 

Dryden,  Ovid,  Metam.,  b.  xv. 
The  outward  [ayre],  being  strucke  or  collided  by  a  solid  body,  still  strikes  the 
next  ayre. — Burton,  Anatomy  of  Melancholy  (1632),  p.  274. 

Colored.    A  term  applied  to  persons  who  have  Negro  blood  in  their 

veins.    They  are  called  "  people  of  color,"  "  colored  people." 
Comb.    A  ridge  or  hill ;  a  bluff. 

The  position  of  Drury's  Bluff  possesses  a  natural  strength.  .  .  .  The  turn  of 
the  river  that  brings  the  boats  in  sight  is  only  600  yards  distant.  The  bluff  is  a 
high  ridge  or  comb.  — Richmond  Enquirer,  May  19,  1862. 

To  come.  To  make  come,  in  Western  parlance,  applied  to  game, 
means  to  bring  it  down  with  your  rifle. 

Well,  them  English  are  darned  fools,  they  can't  fix  a  rifle  any  ways  ;  but  that 
one  did  shoot  "  some;  "  leastwise,  he  made  it  throw  plumb-centre.  He  made  the 
buffer  come,  he  did,  and  fout  well  at  Pawnee  Fork  too.  —  N.  Y.  Sjnrit  of  the 
Times. 

To  make  drunk  come  means  to  produce  intoxication. 
To  come  around.     To  coax,  wheedle,  entice.    To  get  around  is  used 
in  the  same  sense. 

Mrs.  Truxton,  besides  doing  the  washing  for  a  number  of  families,  and  making 
•hrouds  on  funeral  occasions,  was  a  great  stickler  for  equal  marriages ;  and  ob- 


134 


COM 


Berved  that  "  it  was  onaccountable  to  her  that  such  a  proper  nice  young  man  as 
Mr.  Pacldelford  could  be  pervailed  on  to  go  and  marry  secli  a  gal  as  that  Sally 
Ann  Lynes."  "  But  yet,"  she  continued,  as  though  she  had  reflected  further  on 
the  subject,  "lean  tell  you  how  it 's  all  been  brought  about;  they've  come 
around  that  young  man,  they've  come  around  him.  Oh,  don't  I  know  that  old 
Mrs.  Lyons,"  (she  meant  Sally  Ann's  mother,)  "she 's  cunning  as  a  shark." 
A  Wtddiny  at  Nutmtyville. 

To  come  in  with.  To  bear,  bring  forth,  have.  "  The  mare  will 
come  in  next  summer."  "  The  cow  comes  in  with  a  calf  in  good 
time."  Connecticut. 

To  come  it  strong.    To  work  vigorously. 

Alluding  to  the  Chinaman  Ah  Sing,  when  playing  euchre,  Bret 
Harte  says :  — 

In  his  sleeves  which  were  long 

He  had  twenty-four  packs, 
Which  was  commy  it  strong, 

Yet  I  state  but  the  facts.  —  The  Heathen  Chinee. 

To  come  out.  1.  An  expression  used  among  certain  religious  enthu- 
siasts, meaning  to  make  an  open  profession  of  religion. 

I  experienced  religion  at  one  of  brother  Armstrong's  protracted  meetin's.  Thorn 
special  efforts  is  great  things,  —  ever  since  I  come  out,  I 've  felt  like  a  new  critter. 
Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  108. 

2.  "  How  did  you  come  out  1 "  means,  how  did  you  fare  in  your 
undertaking  ?  Come  off  would  be  more  agreeable  to  English  usage. 
To  come  out  at  the  little  end  of  the  horn  means  to  fare  badly,  to  fail. 

Can  you  wonder  that  the  blue  noses  who  keep  such  an  unprofitable  stock  came 
out  at  the  sm,all  eend  of  the  horn  in  the  long  run?  —  Sam  Slick,  1st  Series. 

3.  A  young  lady  when  she  first  makes  her  appearance  in  society 
is  said  to  come  out. 

Clara,  just  seventeen,  and  a  very  pretty  girl,  is  looking  forward  with  impatience 
to  next  year,  and  coming  out  in  society.  —  Miss  Gould,  MarjoiHe^s  Quest,  p.  4G. 

Come-Outers.  This  name  has  been  applied  to  a  considerable  number 
of  persons  in  various  parts  of  the  J^orthern  States,  principally  in 
.  New  England,  who  have  recently  come  out  of  the  various  religious 
denominations  with  which  they  have  been  connected;  hence  the 
name.  They  have  not  themselves  assumed  any  distinctive  organi- 
zation. They  have  no  creed,  believing  that  every  one  should  be 
left  free  to  hold  such  opinions  on  religious  subjects  as  he  pleases, 
without  being  held  accountable  for  the  same  to  any  human 
authority. 

They  hold  a  diversity  of  opinions  on  many  points,  — some  believ- 
ing in  the  divine  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  and  others  that  they 


COM 


135 


are  but  human  compositions.  They  believe  Jesus  Christ  to  have 
been  a  divinely  inspired  teacher,  and  his  religion  a  revelation  of 
eternal  truth;  that,  according  to  his  teachings,  true  religion  consists 
in  purity  of  heart,  holiness  of  life,  and  not  in  opinions ;  that  Chris- 
tianity, as  it  existed  in  Christ,  is  a  life  rather  than  a  belief.  — 
Evanses  History  of  Religions,  with  Additions  by  an  American  Editor. 

I  am  a  Christian  man  of  the  sect  called  come-outers,  and  have  had  experience  ; 
and  when  I  meet  the  brethren,  sometimes  I  speak  a  word  in  season.  —  S.  Slick, 
Human  Nature. 

In  describing  Harry  Franco,  Mr.  Lowell  says,  he  — 

Is  half  upright  Quaker,  half  downright  Come-outer, 

Loves  Freedom  too  well  to  go  stark  mad  about  her.  —  Fable  for  Critics. 

To  come  over.  To  come  over,  or  come  it  over  one,  means  to  get  the 
advantage  of  one.  Vulgar. 

To  come  up  to  the  Chalk.    To  come  up  to  the  mark,  {.  e.  to  do  one's 

duty,  fulfil  one's  promises. 
To  come  upon  the  Town.  To  be  supported  at  the  public  charge,  or  in 

the  poor-house.    Common  in  all  parts  of  New  England. 

To  come  upon  the  town,  in  America,  does  not  mean  precisely  the  same  thing 
as  for  a  lady  to  come  upon  the  town  in  London.  It  is  like  a  poor  person  in  Eng- 
land cominf/  upon  the  jyarish,  or  becoming  a  public  charge.  —  Note  to  the  English 
ed.  of  McFingal  (1792),  p.  10,  at  the  lines  (referring  to  the  debts  of  "Mother 
Britain  "):  — 

And  now  'twas  thought,  so  high  they 'd  grown, 
She  'd  break,  and  come  upon  the  town. 

Coming-out  Sunday.  The  day  on  which  a  new-married  couple  made 
their  first  appearance  at  church ;  usually,  the  Sunday  after  the  wed- 
ding. "This  custom  continued  more  than  a  century  after  1719 
[when  Mather  mentioned  it].  It  was  termed  'coming  out  groom 
and  bride.'  It  still  remains  in  many  places." — Judd's  Hadley, 
p.  244. 

Commander.    A  beetle  or  wooden  maul.    New  York. 

Commissioner.  1.  A  government  officer,  the  next  in  rank  to  a  Secre- 
tary. Thus  the  Commissioner  of  patents,  the  Commissioner  of  the 
Land  Office,  and  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  are  subordi- 
nates of  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior. 

2.  Corporator  :  corporate  members  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 

Common.  "  As  well  as  common  "is  an  expression  much  in  use  for 
*'  as  well  as  usual." 

Common  Doings.  Originally  employed  in  the  West  to  designate 
plain  or  common  food  in  opposition  to  dainties,  but  now  applied  to 


136 


COM— CON 


persons,  actions,  or  things  in  general  of  an  inferior  kind.  See 
Chicken  Fixings. 

Community  is  by  some  persons  used  as  is  "  society,"  for  persons, 
neighborhood,  &c.,  —  without  the  definite  article  prefixed.  See 
FeWs  Eccles.  Hist,  of  N.  E. 

Compassive.    Compassionating.   (Sp.  compasivo.) — C.  A.  Goodrich. 

Complected.    Of  a  certain  complexion,  colored  in  the  face.  Western. 

That  lady  is  mighty  pale  complected.  I 'm  afeard  she 's  consumpted ;  she  'a 
always  complaining  of  some  misery.  —  Western  Sketches. 

You  're  rather  dark  complected,  and  blue  is  a  trying  color  for  dark  skins.  — 

Widow  Btdott  Pdjiers.     '.'  >     '  ^  • 

Compliment.    A  present.  South-western. 

Compus.  Sane;  of  sound  mind;  compos  mentis.  "  He  is  not  compus.'''* 
Litchfield,  Conn. 

Concageer.  A  name  applied  to  the  small  lizards  and  salamanders  of 
the  United  States. 

To  conceit.  (Pron.  consate  by  those  who  use  the  word.)  To  form  an 
idea  ;  to  think.  An  old  English  word,  but  now  obsolete.  It  is  pre- 
served in  the  interior  parts  of  New  England;  as,  "  She  conceited 
she  would  go;  "  i,  e.,  she  thought  strongly  of  going. 

Those  whose  .  .  .  vulgar  apprehensions  conceit  but  low  of  matrimonial  purposes. 
—  Milton. 

Twice-laid  dishes  I  can  stand ;  salt  fish  and  corn  beef  twice  laid  I  sometimes 
consait  is  as  good  as  when  it  was  first  cooked.  —  Sam  Slick,  Wise  Saws,  p.  12. 

Concern.  In  mercantile  usage,  an  establishment  or  firm  for  the 
transaction  of  business.  It  is  provincial  in  England  and  Ireland, 
where  it  denotes  a  small  estate ;  business. 

Concerned.  1.  (Pron.  consarned.)  A  euphonistic  Yankeeism,  equi- 
valent to  deuced,  devilish,  i.  e.  very  greatly. 

2.  Sorrowful,  distressed;  as,  "  Concerned  for  his  soul." 

You  can  keep  your  money.  I 'm  consarned  sorry  for  it,  but  I  must  take  that 
ar  yalier  gal  back  with  me.  —  A  Stray  Yankee  in  Texas,  p.  51. 

Concession.    A  subdivision  of  townships  in  Canada,  along  each  of 

which  is  a  road. 
Conck.    A  wrecker.    The  same  as  Conk  and  Konck. 

A  Negro  on  this  Key,  familiarly  called  Old  Sandy,  is  a  more  successful  culti- 
vator of  the  soil  than  all  the  rebel  concks  together.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune, 'Sov.  27, 
1861,  Lett,  from  Key  West. 

Concoa.  The  butternut.  So  caUed  (or  oftener  pronounced  as  the 
word  conquer),  and  thus  WTitten  and  printed  in  Essex  County,  Mass. 
Perhaps  of  Indian  origin. 


CON 


137 


To  conduct,  instead  of  "to  conduct  one's  self;  "  leaving  out  the  reflex- 
ive pronoun.  This  offensive  barbarism  is  happily  confined  to  New 
England,  where  it  is  common  both  in  speech  and  writing.  Like 
some  other  expressions  in  the  same  predicament,  it  has  received  the 
tacit  sanction  of  Dr.  Webster,  himself  a  New  England  man. 

Conductor.  The  man  who  takes  the  fare,  and  has  charge  generally 
of  a  railroad  train. 

Conestoga  Horse.  A  heavy  draught  horse  well  known  in  the  States 
of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania.  Before  the  introduction  of  railroads, 
these  horses  were  the  great  carriers  of  produce  from  the  interior  of 
Pennsylvania  to  the  sea-board.  Six  and  sometimes  more  of  these 
noble  animals,  attached  to  a  huge,  white-topped  wagon,  were  a 
marked  feature  in  the  landscape  of  this  State.  They  originated  in 
Pennsylvania  towards  the  close  of  the  last  century,  and  are  believed 
to  have  descended  from  a  mixture  of  the  Flemish  cart-horse  with  an 
English  breed.  —  Herbert^  Horse  and  Horsemanship. 

Conestoga  Wagon.  A  wagon  of  the  kind  described  in  the  preceding 
article,  first  made  in  Conestoga,  Lancaster  County,  Penn. 

The  vast,  white-topped  wagons,  drawn  by  superb  teams  of  the  stately  Conesto- 
gas,  were  [once]  a  distinguishing  feature  of  that  great  agricultural  State.  — 
Jennings,  The  Hoi'se,  p.  61. 

Confectioner.  Used  in  this  country  pretty  much  in  the  sense  of  the 
English  j9as/r?/-coo^.  In  England,  a  confectioner  never  sells  cakes, 
ice-cream,  &c. 

Confectionery.  In  the  South-west  and  some  parts  of  the  West,  a 
bar-room. 

Confederate.  One  who  lives  in,  pertaining  to,  the  so-called  Southern 
Confederacy. 

Confederate  States.  The  term  assumed  by  the  government  of 
Southern  States  on  seceding  from  the  United  States. 

Hurrah !  for  the  Southern  Confederate  States, 

With  her  banner  of  white,  red,  and  blue  ; 
Hurrah !  for  her  daughters,  the  fairest  on  earth, 
And  her  sons  ever  loyal  and  true. 

3fnson,  Southern  Poems  of  the  War,  p.  41. 

Conference.    The  name  of  a  religious  body  or  association. 

In  the  published  report  of  the  Providence  Annual  Conference  held 
at  New  Bedford,  its  name  is  used  as  follows  without  the  article,  the 
same  as  we  speak  of  Congress. 

Last  evening  it  was  announced  that  Conference  would  make  a  final  adjourn- 
ment this  morning.  .  .  .  Not  because  they  wish  Con/e?-ence  to  close,  but  because 
of  the  interesting  character  of  certain  features  of  this  last  assembling  of  Confer- 
ence. —  Cor.  of  Providence  Press. 


108 


CON 


Conference-House.    A  chapel  for  week-day  religious  worship,  &c. 

Connecticut. 

Conference-Meeting.  An  assembly  in  which  prayer  and  exhorta- 
tions are  made;  a  lecture-room  for  religious  societies.  New  Eng- 
land. 

Conference-Room.  A  room  for  conference  and  prayer,  and  for  the 
pastor's  less  formal  addresses. 

Confidence  Man.    One  who  by  plausible  stories  and  falsehoods,  or 

by  assurance,  obtains  the  confidence  of  kind-hearted  people. 

This  well-known  phrase  is  said  to  have  thus  originated:  A  few 
years  ago,  a  man  in  New  York,  well  dressed,  and  of  exceedingly 
genteel  manners,  went  about  saying,  in  a  very  winning  manner,  to 
almost  every  gentleman  he  met,  "  Have  you  confidence  enough  in 
me,  an  entire  stranger,  to  lend  me  five  dollars  for  an  hour  or  two?  " 
In  this  way,  he  got  a  good  deal  of  money,  and  came  to  be  generally 
known  in  the  courts  and  elsewhere  as  "  the  confidence  man/^ 

Congress.  This  term  is  applied  by  us  especially  to  three  differently 
constituted  bodies  of  representatives  of  the  people  that  have  suc- 
ceeded each  other  in  the  government  of  the  country.  The  first  is 
the  Continental  Congress,  assembled  in  1774,  and  which  conducted 
the  national  affairs  until  near  the  close  of  the  Revolution.  The 
second  is  the  Federal  Congress,  which  met  under  the  Articles  of 
Confederation,  adopted  March,  1781,  and  ruled  the  country  till  1789. 
The  third  is  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  which  fii'st  met  under 
the  Constitution,  on  the  4th  of  March,  1789. 

Congressional.  Pertaining  to  a  congress,  or  to  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States;  as.  Congressional  debates. —  Webster. 

The  congressional  institution  of  Amphictyons,  in  Greece.  —  Barton. 
The  conflict  between  Congressional  and  State  authority  originated  with  the 
creation  of  those  authorities.  —  Marshall,  Life  of  Washington. 

Congressman.    A  member  of  Congress. 

Our  congressmtn,  my  dear  hearers,  what  are  they  V  Nothing  but  bloodsuckers 
upon  the  cheek  of  the  United  States.  They  talk  and  drink  for  eight  dollars  a 
day,  and  you  have  to  stand  the  treat.  —Dow's  Sermons,  Vol.  III.  p.  137. 

From  the  ballad  of  the  "Sharp  Congressman,"  in  "Vanity 
Fair,"  1863:  — 

Xot  a  brisker  trade  was  going 
"Worth  knowing  or  showing 
Than  that  from  contracts  growing 

To  the  sharp  Congressman. 

Couiacker.    A  counterfeiter  of  coin. 


CON 


189 


Connection.    "In  this  connection.^ ^   In  connection  with  this  subject. 

A  Xew  England  phrase,  used  to  such  a  degree  that  it  has  become 

quite  shocking  to  nervous  people. 
Conner.    See  Bui-gall. 

Conniption  Fit.  This  term  is  exclusively  used  by  the  fair  sex,  who 
can  best  explain  its  meaning.  Ex. :  "  George,  if  you  keep  coming 
home  so  late  to  dinner,  I  shall  have  a  conniption.^*  As  near  as 
I  can  judge,  conniption  Jits  are  tantrums  or  hysterics. 

Sam  Slick,  in  his  visit  to  a  "  female  college,"  made  proposals  to  the  "presi- 
dentress,"  which  she  at  first  imagined  was  for  her  hand.  On  discovering  her 
error,  she  fainted  and  fell  into  a  conniption  Jit.  — Nature  and  Human  Nature. 

Consequentious.    Affectedly  great ;  pompous;  pretending  to  impor- 
tance.   New  England. 
Consequentiousness.    That  quality  which  is  characteristic  of  a  con- 
sequentious person. 

He  rides  at  the  State's  expense  upon  steamboats  and  railroad  cars,  seeking  in 
all  places  to  impress  upon  beholders  an  idea  of  his  mighty  consequentiousness.  — 
N.  Y.  Herald,  April  26,  1862. 

Considerable.  1.  A  good  deal.  This  word  is  frequently  used  in  the 
following  manner  in  the  Northern  States :  ' '  He  is  considerable  of  a 
surveyor;  "  "  Considerable  of  it  may  be  found  in  the  country."  — 
Pickering. 

Parson  Tuttle 's  considernhle  of  a  man  ;  but  in  my  opinion  he  won't  never  be 
able  to  hold  a  candle  to  Elder  Sniffles.  —  Widow  Bedott  Faj^ers,  p.  128. 

2.  Pretty,  considerably.    A  common  vulgarism. 

A  body  has  to  stir  about  considerable  smart  in  this  country,  to  make  a  livin', 
I  tell  you.  — Sam  Slick  in  Entjlnnd,  ch.  6. 

To  consociate.  To  unite  in  an  assembly  or  convention,  as  pastors 
and  messengers  or  delegates  of  churches.  —  Webster. 

Consociation.  Fellowship  or  union  of  churches  by  their  pastors  and 
delegates;  a  meeting  of  the  pastors  and  delegates  of  a  number  of 
Congregational  Churches,  for  aiding  and  supporting  each  other,  and 
forming  an  advisory  council  in  ecclesiastical  affairs.  —  Webster. 
Consociation  of  churches  is  their  mutual  and  solemn  agreement  to 
exercise  communion  in  such  acts  as  aforesaid,  amongst  themselves, 
with  special  reference  to  those  churches,  &c.  — Result  oj  the  Sijnody 
1662. 

Constable.  Mr.  Webster  notices  the  following  distinction  between 
the  application  of  this  word  in  England  and  in  the  United  States : 
"  In  England  there  are  high  constables,  petty  constables,  and  con- 
stables of  London.    In  the  United  States,  constables  are  town  or  city 


140 


CON 


officers  of  the  peace,  with  powers  similar  to  those  possessed  by  the 
constables  in  Great  Britain."  Mr.  Pickering  says  that,  "  in  many 
of  the  cities,  boroughs,  and  other  local  jurisdictions  in  England,  they 
have  peace  officers  called  constables,  whose  powers  are  not  materially, 
if  at  all,  different  from  those  of  our  constables." 
Constituted  Authorities.  The  officers  of  government  collectively,  in 
a  kingdom,  city,  town,  &c.  This  expression  has  been  adopted  by 
some  of  our  writers  from  the  vocabulaiy  of  the  French  Revolution. 
—  Pickering. 

Neither  could  he  perceive  danger  to  liberty  except  from  the  constituted  author- 
ities, and  especially  from  the  executive.  — MarshaWs  WasJdnyton. 

Constitutionality.  Used  chiefly  in  political  language,  to  signify  the 
state  of  being  agreeable  to  the  constitution  of  a  State  or  of  the 
United  States. 

The  argument  upon  this  question  has  naturally  divided  itself  into  two  parts,  the 
one  of  expedienaj,  the  other  of  constitutionality.  —  Debates  in  Congress  in  1802. 

The  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  have  the  power  of  deter- 
mining the  constitutionality  of  laws.  —  Webster. 

To  contemplate.  To  consider  or  have  in  view,  in  reference  to  a 
future  act  or  event ;  to  intend.  —  Webster.  This  sense  of  the  word 
is  not  found  in  Johnson  or  Richardson. 

If  a  treaty  contains  an}'  stipulations  which  contemj)late  a  state  of  future  war.  — 
Kent's  Commentaries. 
Continental.  A  word  much  used  during  the  Revolution  to  designate 
w^hat  appertained  to  the  Colonies  as  a  whole.  This  originated  before 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  when  the  term  "  United  States  " 
was  employed;  yet  continental,  variously  applied,  was  used  during 
the  war,  as  ^^continental  troops,"  ^^continental  money,"  &c.  Mr. 
Irving,  in  his  Life  of  Washington,  in  speaking  of  the  organization 
of  the  American  army,  says:  "  Many  still  clung  to  the  idea  that  in 
all  these  proceedings  they  were  merely  opposing  the  measui-es  of  the 
ministry,  and  not  the  authority  of  the  crown;  and  thus  the  army 
before  Boston  was  designated  as  the  Continental  army,  in  contra- 
distinction to  that  under  General  Gage,  which  was  called  the  Min- 
isterial army." 

This  word  will  remind  every  one  of  the  famous  reply  of  Colonel 
Ethan  Allen,  when  asked  by  what  authority  he  summoned  Fort 
Ticonderoga  to  surrender.  "  I  demand  it,"  said  he,  "  in  the  name 
of  the  great  Jehovah  and  of  the  Continental  Congress!  " 
Contrabands.  Xegro  slaves,  first  so  called  by  General  B.  F.  Butler, 
and  treated  as  Contraband  of  War.  The  history  of  the  application 
of  the  term  is  as  follows :  — 


CON 


141 


The  establishment  of  a  military  post  by  General  Butler  at  New- 
port News,  on  the  22d  May,  1861,  threw  the  white  inhabitants  of 
Hampton  into  such  alarm  that  most  of  them  prepared  for  flight,  and 
many  left  their  homes  the  same  night.  "In  the  confusion,  three 
Xegroes  escaped,  and,  making  their  way  across  the  bridges,  gave 
themselves  up  to  a  Union  Picket,  saying  that  their  master.  Colonel 
Malloiy,  was  about  to  remove  them  to  North  Carolina  to  work  upon 
rebel  fortifications  there.  .  .  .  They  were  brought  to  Fortress 
Monroe,  and  the  circumstance  was  reported  to  the  general  in  the 
morning.  He  questioned  each  of  them  separately,  and  the  truth  of 
their  story  became  manifest.  He  needed  laborers.  He  was  aware 
that  the  rebel  batteries  that  were  rising  around  him  were  the  work 
chiefly  of  slaves,  without  whose  assistance  they  could  not  have  been 
erected  in  time  to  give  him  trouble.  He  wished  to  keep  these  men. 
The  garrison  wished  them  kept.  The  country  would  have  deplored 
or  resented  the  sending  of  them  away.  If  they  had  been  Colonel 
Malloiy's  horses,  or  Colonel  Mallory's  spades,  or  Colonel  Mallory's 
percussion-caps,  he  would  have  seized  them,  and  used  them,  without 
hesitation.  Why  not  property  more  valuable  for  the  purposes  of  the 
rebellion  than  any  other  ?  He  pronounced  the  electric  words :  '  These 
men  are  Contrahand  of  War.  Set  them  at  work.'  "  —  Parton^  General 
Butler  in  New  Orleans,  and  Sketch  of  Previous  Career,  p.  127. 

The  escaped  Negroes  had  scarcely  been  set  at  work,  when  an 
interview  was  requested  by  some  of  the  Confederate  officers  with 
General  Butler.  At  tliis  interview,  the  question  of  these  slaves  was 
discussed.  General  Butler  said:  "I shall  detain  the  Negroes  as 
contraband  of  war.  You  are  using  them  upon  your  batteries.  It  is 
merely  a  question  whether  they  shall  be  used  for  or  against  the 
government."  .  .  .  "  I  greatly  need  the  labor  which  has  providen- 
tially fallen  into  my  hands;  but  if  Colonel  Mallory  [the  owner]  will 
come  into  the  fort  and  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United 
States,  he  shall  have  his  Negroes,  and  I  will  endeavor  to  hire  them 
from  him." 

Butler  pronounced  the  magic  word  "  Contraband,^ ^  and  summoned  the  Nef^ro 
into  the  arena.  .  .  .  Contraband  is  a  bad  word,  and  may  be  a  bad  law,  but  it  is 
worth  all  the  Constitution  ;  for  in  a  moment  of  critical  emergency  it  summoned 
the  saving  elements  into  the  national  arena,  and  it  showed  the  government  how 
far  the  sound  fibre  of  the  nation  extended.  —  Speech  of  Wendell  Phillips. 

I 've  just  come  from  Virginny, 

Dat  good  ole  Southern  land ; 
I 'm  a  simple  picaninny. 

Although  a  contraband 


142 


CON 


A  secesh  soldier  took  my  hand, 

"Come  fight  wid  us,"  says  he. 
Says  I,  "I'm  but  a  contraband, 
But  you  don't  secession  we." 

Sonfj,  The  Inttllifjent  C(/ntrahand. 
I  owned  a  hundred  niggers, 

All  sound  and  likely  working  hands, 
Worth  very  pretty  figgers, 
But  now  they  're  contrabands. 

The  Plaint  of  the  Planter,  Vanity  Fair. 
Good-evening,  Avhite  folks,  here  am  I  from  old  Virginny  shore, 
A  regular  living  specimen  of  a  contraband  of  war. 

Sony,  The  Happy  Contraband. 
Dar 's  a  mighty  famous  Hunter  in  de  'partment  of  the  Souf,  — 

An'  he  gubberns  all  oi)  Dixie,  as  yoxi  know, 
An'  he  talks  to  de  darkies  by  de  words  of  his  mouf,  — 
Savin' :  "  Niggers,  you 's  at  liberty  to  go !  " 
You  may  lay  down  de  shobel  an'  de  hoe-o-o ! 
You  may  dance  wid  de  fiddle  an'  de  bow; 
Dar  is  no  more  cotton  for  de  contraband  to  pick, 
Dar  is  no  more  cotton  for  to  mow. 

Chorus.  —  Den  lay  down,  &c. 

New  York  Sunday  Times,  1862. 

Although  to  General  Butler  has  been  ascribed  the  honor  of  the 
invention  of  the  term  "  contraband  "  to  slaves  in  the  time  of  war,  it 
had  previously  been  applied  to  Negroes  in  Africa  by  Captain  Canot. 
Speaking  of  the  sale  of  Negroes  by  government  officers  and  agents  on 
the  west  coast  of  Africa,  he  remarks:  — 

It  is  even  said  that  the  Captain-General  himself  is  sometimes  present  in  the 
sanctuary,  and,  after  a  familiar  chat  about  the  happy  landing  of  the  contraband, 
the  requisite  rouleaux  are  insinuated  into  the  official  desk,  under  the  intense 
smoke  of  a  fragrant  cigar. —  Twenty  Years  in  an  African  Cruiser,  1854,  p.  108. 

Contraption.  Contrivance,  device.  A  factitious  word  in  frequent 
use. 

Contrive.  The  use  of  this  word  in  the  sense  of  to  do  or  perform  any 
thing  by  contrivance  is  perhaps  peculiar  to  America.  It  is  noticed 
by  Dr.  Witherspoon,  in  the  "  Druid  Letters."  I  have  never  heard 
it  in  New  England. 

Rash  mortals,  ere  you  take  a  wife, 
Contrice  your  pile  to  last  for  life. 

B.  FrankUn,  Poor  Richard's  Almanac  for  April,  1741. 

I  am  sorry  for  the  accident  of  your  son's  capti\nty.  ,  .  .  Any  hard  money 
which  you  maybe  able  to  forward  to  me,  or  Mr.  Tilghraan  (who  is  of  my  family), 
shall  be  contrived  to  him,  by  some  means  or  other.  — Letter  from  General  Wash- 
inyton  to  Mrs.  Graydon  {Graydon's  Memoirs),  p.  229. 

The  expression  is  common  among  a  portion  of  our  countiymen, 


CON— coo 


148 


and  is  not  unusual,  it  is  believed,  in  New  England.  —  Note  hy  Editor, 
on  the  above. 

To  convene.  This  is  used  in  some  parts  of  New  England  in  a  very- 
strange  sense;  that  is,  to  he  convenient,  fit,  or  suitable.  Ex. :  "  This 
road  will  convene  the  public,"  i.  e.  will  be  convenient  for  the  public. 
The  word,  however,  is  used  only  by  the  illiterate.  — Pickering. 

Convenient,  used  to  signify  "  near  at  hand,"  "  easy  of  access,"  is  an 
Irishism  frequently  pointed  out  by  English  critics,  which  found  its 
way  even  into  President  Polk's  last  message,  where  it  is  applied  to 
timber  for  ship-building  in  the  neighborhood  of  San  Francisco. 

Convention.  An  assembly  of  delegates  to  accomplish  some  specific 
object,  civil,  political,  or  ecclesiastical.  —  Webster. 

Conversationalist,  improperly  used  for  conversationist,  or  converser. 

Conversions.  Bonds  are  frequently  issued  with  a  provision  whereby 
they  can  at  any  moment  be  exchanged  for  equivalent  stock.  Such 
securities  are  called  convertible,  and  the  act  of  substitution  is  styled 
conversion.  —  Medbery,  Men  and  Mysteries  of  Wall  Street. 

Coodies.  The  name  of  a  political  sect  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
which  originated  in  the  year  1814.  At  that  time,  a  series  of  well- 
written  articles  appeared  in  a  New  York  paper,  signed  Abimeleck 
Coody.  He  professed  to  be  a  mechanic.  "  He  was  a  Federalist,  and 
addressed  himself  principally  to  the  party  to  which  he  belonged. 
He  endeavored  to  show  the  impropriety  of  opposing  the  war,  and 
urged  them  to  come  forward  in  defence  of  their  country.  He  also 
attacked  De  Witt  Clinton  with  great  severity."  The  writer  was 
ascertained  to  be  Mr.  Gulian  C.  Verplanck,  then,  as  now,  distin- 
guished for  his  talents.  He  was  replied  to  by  a  writer  under  the 
signature  of  "  A  Traveller,"  said  to  be  De  Witt  Clinton,  who  thus 
speaks  of  this  party:  "The  political  sect  called  the  Coodies,  of 
hybrid  nature,  is  composed  of  the  combined  spawn  of  Federalism 
and  Jacobinism,  and  generated  in  the  venomous  passions  of  dis- 
appointment and  revenge,  without  any  definite  character;  neither 
fish  nor  flesh  nor  bird  nor  beast,  but  a  nondescript  made  up  of 
'all  monstrous,  all  prodigious  things.'  "  —  Hammond'' s  Polit.  Hist, 
of  N.  Y. 

To  oook.  "  To  cook  an  account  "  is  equivalent  to  falsify  accounts  for 
fraudulent  ends.  To  cook  up  a  charge,  in  polite  dialects,  is  to 
invent  some  criminal  accusation  to  get  rid  of  persons  in  any  way 
obnoxious.    Frequently  practised  by  receivers  of  stolen  goods. 

Cookey.  (Dutch,  koekje.)  A  little  cake.  Used  in  New  York  and 
in  New  England.    A  New  Yearns  Cookey  is  a  peculiar  cake  made 


144 


COO 


only  in  New  York,  and  at  the  Christmas  holidays.  In  the  olden 
time,  each  visitor,  on  New  Yeaj-'s  day,  was  expected  to  take  one 
of  these  cakes.  The  custom  is  still  practised  to  a  considerable 
extent. 

Mrs.  Child  thinks  it  best  to  let  the  little  dears  have  their  own  way  in  every 
thing,  and  not  to  give  them  more  cookies  than  they,  the  dear  children,  deem 
requisite.  —  Sunday  Mercury,  N.  Y. 

Cook-House.    1.  House  for  cook's  use.  Southern. 
2.  On  board  of  ships.    The  galley. 

Cooler.    A  drink  of  spirits. 

Cooling-Board.  The  board  on  which  a  dead  body  is  laid  out.  Penn- 
sylvania and  Maryland. 

Coolwort.  (Tiarella  cordi/oUa.)  The  popular  name  of  an  herb,  the 
properties  of  which  are  diuretic  and  tonic.  It  is  prepared  for  sale 
by  the  Shakers. 

Coon.    1.  A  popular  contraction  of  raccoon,  the  name  of  an  animal. 

Autumnal  eve,  when  shines  the  silver  moon. 
The  hunter  seeks  to  find  the  fatted  coon. 
Hard  chased  and  routed  by  the  hunting  dog, 
He  mounts  a  tree  or  finds  a  hollow  log. 

E.  H.  Smith,  Hist,  of  Black  Hawk,  p.  100. 

2.  A  nickname  applied  to  members  of  the  Whig  party,  which 
adopted  the  raccoon  as  an  emblem. 

Democrats,  freemen !  keep  your  council-fires  brightly  burning.  Let  no  one 
remain  listless,  or  doubt,  or  hesitate;  "push  on  your  columns,"  rout  the  coons, 
beat  them,  overwhelm  them,  and  let  the  welkin  ring  with  the  soul-stirring  tidings 
that  Massachusetts  is  safe,  — free  from  the  curse  of  Whiggery.  —  Boston  Post. 

3.  A  gone  coon  is  said  of  a  man  whose  case  is  hopeless. 

Coon's  Age.    A  long  time;  as,  "I  have  not  been  there  in  a  coon^s 

The  backwoodsman  jumps  from  his  horse,  and,  slapping  the  grave-looking 
gentleman  on  the  back,  says:  "Hallo,  old  boss,  whar  have  3^ou  been  this  cotm's 
ageV  and  they  go  in  and  wood  up  \i.  e.  drink].  — A  Stray  Yankee  in  Texas. 
This  child  hain't  had  much  money  in  a  coon's  age.  —  Southern  Sketches. 
Cooner.    A  common  term,  at  the  South,  for  a  canoe. 
Coonery.    Whiggery.    See  Coon,  No.  2. 

Democrats  of  the  old  Bay  State,  one  charge  more,  and  the  work  is  thoroughly 
done.  "Once  more  to  the  breach,"  and  you  will  hear  the  shouts  of  Democratic 
victory  and  the  lamentations  of  the  vanquished.  We  must  achieve  a  victory,  — 
the  people  must  be  free,  —  coonery  must  fall  with  all  its  corruptions  and  abomina- 
tions, never  more  to  rise.  —  Boston  Post. 

Coontie  Adka  or  Coontie  Chatta.     The  name  of  an  arrow-root 


COO— COP 


145 


preparation  obtained  from  the  root  of  Zamia  integrifolia  by  the 
Indians  in  Florida,  where  the  plant  is  indigenous. 
Cooping  of  Voters.  Collecting  and  confining  them,  several  days 
previous  to  an  election,  in  a  house  or  on  a  vessel  hired  for  the  pur- 
pose. Here  they  are  treated  with  good  living  and  liquors,  and  at 
a  proper  day  are  taken  to  the  polls  and  "  voted,"  as  it  is  called,  for 
the  party. 

Coot.  (Fulica.)  The  name  of  a  small  water-fowl  which  lives  in 
marshes,  and,  when  closely  pursued,  buries  its  head  in  the  mud. 
There  is  a  species  of  the  American  coot  that  resembles  a  duck, 
and  varies  much  from  the  European  bird  of  the  name.  See  AVil- 
son's  "  Ornith.,"  Vol.  III.  p.  82.  It  is  often  applied  by  us  to  a 
stupid  person;  as,  "  He  is  a  poor  coo^."  Mr.  Halliwell  notices  the 
old  proverbial  saying,  "  As  stupid  as  a  cooL" 

Little  coot!  don't  you  know  the  Bible  is  the  best  book  in  the  world  '?  —  Mar- 
garet, p.  134. 

Copperhead.  (Trigonocephalm  contortrix.)  A  poisonous  serpent, 
whose  bite  is  considered  as  deadly  as  that  of  the  rattlesnake.  Its 
geographical  range  extends  from  4.5°  north  latitude  to  Florida.  It 
has  various  other  popular  names,  as  Copper-belly,  Red  Viper,  Red 
Adder,  Red  Eye,  Deaf  Adder,  Dumb  Rattlesnake,  Chunk-head. 

The  mower  mows  on,  though  the  adder  may  writhe, 
And  the  copperhead  curl  round  the  bleeding  scythe. 

2.  A  venomous  biped,  of  Northern  birth  and  Southern  tendencies ; 
a  term  applied  early  in  the  late  civil  war  to  Northern  sympathizers 
with  the  Confederates ;  a  disloyal  person. 

It  is  to  be  settled  whether  Copperheads  or  loyal  men  are  to  rule  this  country. 
There  is  a  perfect  understanding  between  the  leading  Copperheads  in  the  North 
and  the  leading  Rebels  in  the  South.  —  General  BlunVs  Speech  in  Kansas,  N.  Y. 
Tribune,  Feb.  24,  1863. 

From  one  of  the  best  and  bitterest  political  poems  of  the  late  civil 
war,  entitled  the  "Copperhead,"  by  John  Hopely,  we  select  the 
two  following  verses :  — 

Of  all  the  factious  men  we  've  seen, 
P2xisting  now  or  long  since  dead, 
No  one  was  ever  known  so  mean 
As  him  we  call  a  Copperhead ; 
A  draft-evading  Copperhead ; 
A  rebel-aiding  Copperhead  ; 
A  growling,  slandering,  scowling,  pandering, 
Vicious,  States-rights  Copperhead. 

"When  widows  mourned  their  lonely  lot. 
And  orphan  children  wept  their  dead, 
10 


146 


COP— COR 


Who  said  (heir  just  deserts  they  got  ? 
The  Northern  rebel  Copperhead ; 

The  widow-libelling  Coppefhead  ; 
The  grief-deriding  Copperhead  ; 
The  false,  conspiring,  city-firing, 
Booth-admiring  Copper h e ad. 

3.  A  term  of  contempt  with  the  early  Dutch  colonists. 

These  were  the  men  who  vegetated  in  the  mud  along  the  shores  of  Pavonia, 
being  of  the  race  of  genuine  Copperheads.  —  Irvinf/,  Knickerbocker. 

Copperheadism.  Acts  or  management,  policy  of  Copperheads;  sym- 
pathy with  insurrectionists. 

The  celebrated  People's  Regiment,  44th  New  York,  has  spoken  out  in  the 
matter  of  Copperheadism.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune.,  March  11,  18G3. 

Coral  Berry.  (^Symphoricarpus  vulgaris.^  The  Indian  currant  of 
Missouri. 

Cord.    A  large  quantity.  Western. 

Cordelle.    (French.)    A  tow-line.  Western. 

The  propelling  power  of  the  keel-boat  is  by  oars,  sails,  setting  poles,  the  cordelh) 
&c.  —  Flint,  Hist,  of  Miss.  Valley. 

To  cordelle.    To  drag  by  a  tow-line.    See  Keel-Boat. 

We  were  obliged  to  cordelle  the  boat  along  the  left  shore.  —  FreynonVs  Report. 
Corduroy  Road.  A  road  or  causeway  constructed  with  logs  laid  to- 
gether over  swamps  or  marshy  places.  When  properly  finished, 
earth  is  thrown  between  them,  by  which  the  road  is  made  smooth ; 
but  in  newly  settled  parts  of  the  United  States  they  are  often  left 
uncovered,  and  hence  are  extremely  rough  and  bad  to  pass  over 
with  a  carriage.  Sometimes  they  extend  many  miles.  They  de- 
rive their  name  from  their  resemblance  to  a  species  of  ribbed  velvet, 
called  corduroy. 

I  had  to  cross  bayous  and  crik?  (wall,  it  did  beat  all  natur), 
Upon  a  kind  o'  corduroy,  first  log,  then  alligator. 

Loicell,  Biylow  Pajyers. 

To  corduroy.  To  lay  logs  upon ;  to  convert  into;  to  make  a  corduroy 
road. 

We  had  perfectly  impassable  roads,  until  corduroyed.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Letter 
from  Camp  Scott. 

Cork.  A  misuse  for  caulk,  wliich  sometimes  is  found  in  print.  "  A 
denial  corked  and  graved." —  The  Independent,  Feb.  13,  1862. 

Corked.  A  term  applied  to  wdne  which  has  acquired  a  taste  of  the 
cork. 

Corn.  (Zea  mays.)  Maize,  throughout  the  United  States,  is  called 
Indian  corn,  or  simply  corn. 


COR 


147 


In  England,  the  term  corn  is  aj)plied  generically  to  wheat,  barley, 
and  other  small  grains.    For  this  we  use  the  term  grain. 

Among  the  various  articles  of  food  made  from  Indian  corn,  cooked 
and  uncooked,  are  the  following  :  Ash  Cake;  Indian  Bread;  Boiled 
and  Roasted  Corn;  Brown  Bread;  Corn  Bread;  Corn  Cake;  Corn 
Dodger;  Corn  Fritters;  Corn  Starch;  Corn  Oyster;  Corn  Juice 
(whiskey);  Hasty  Pudding;  Indian  Meal;  Indian  Pudding;  Hoe 
Cake;  Hominy;  Johnny  Cake;  Farina;  Mazina;  Pinole;  Pop  Corn; 
Pone ;  Rye  and  Indian  Bread ;  Succotash ;  and  Tortillas. 
Corn.  All  for  corn.  Honest,  well-meant,  sincere.  "  He  took  it  all 
for  corn  ;  "  i.  e.,  he  believed  it  to  be  true.  "  All  for  wheat  "  is  also 
heard. 

Surprised  that  he  took  it  all  for  loheat,  and  in  innocence  of  his  heart  was  about 
to  carry  it  into  effect.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune^  April,  1877. 

Corn  and  Cob  Mill.  A  mill  for  grinding  the  entire  ear  of  Indian 
corn. 

Corn  Basket.  A  large  basket  for  carrying  the  ears  of  maize.  — 
W ebster. 

Corn-Blade.  The  leaf  of  the  maize.  Corn-blades  are  collected  and 
used  as  fodder  in  some  of  the  Southern  States.  —  Webster. 

Corn-Bread.    Unleavened  bread  made  from  the  meal  of  Indian  corn. 

Corn-Brooms.  Brooms  made  from  the  tops  of  a  species  of  corn, 
called  Broom-corn. 

Corn-Cob.    The  spike  on  which  the  kernels  of  corn  grow. 

B3'^ron  is  said  to  have  remarked  that  "the  greatest  trial  to  a  woman's  beauty 
is  the  ungraceful  act  of  eating  eggs."  Some  Yankee  rejoices  that  the  poet  could 
never  have  seen  a  lady  hanging  on  by  the  teeth  to  a  blazing  hot  corn-cob.  — 
Bait.  Sun. 

Corn-Cracker.    Tlie  nickname  for  a  native  of  Kentucky.    It  is  said 

that  this  term  is  applied  in  some  of  the  Southern  Mates  to  poor 

whites  living  in  the  mountain  regions. 
Corn-Crib.    A  structure  raised  some  feet  from  the  ground,  and  with 

sides  made  of  slats  some  distance  apart,  or  of  lattice-work,  to  admit 

the  air.    In  it  the  dried  ears  of  maize  are  kept. 

Corn-Dodger.  A  kind  of  cake  made  of  Indian  corn,  and  baked  very 
hard.  It  is  sometimes  simply  called  dodger  (which  see).  Much 
used  in  the  South. 

The  universal  food  of  the  people  of  Texas,  both  rich  and  poor,  seems  to  be 
corn-dodger  and  fried  bacon.  —  Olmsted,  Texas. 

Tlie  Sucker  State,  the  countrv  of  vast  projected  railroads,  good  corn-dodgers^ 
splendid  banking-houses,  and  poor  currency.  —  Robb,  Sauatter  Life,  p.  28. 


148 


COR 


He  opened  a  pouch  which  he  wore  on  his  side,  and  took  from  thence  one  or 
two  corn-dud (ji'rs  and  half  a  broiled  rabbit,  which  his  wife  had  put  up  for  hunt- 
ing provisions.  — Mrs.  Sfowe,  Drtd,  Vol.  II.  p.  170. 

Corn-fed.  Stout,  plump,  spoken  of  a  woman.  See  Bacon-fed  in 
Grose. 

Corn-Fodder.  Used  especially  of  maize  plants  from  seed  sown  broad- 
cast and  grown  as  oats  are.  Dried  or  undried,  employed  as  fodder 
for  cattle. 

Corn-Fritter.  A  fritter  in  the  batter  of  which  green  Indian  corn  has, 
after  being  grated,  been  mingled. 

A  very  minute  account  which  Mrs.  Kittridge  was  giving  of  the  way  to  make 
corn-fritters  which  should  taste  exactly  like  oysters. —  The  Independent,  Feb. 
13,  1862,  bij  Mrs.  H.  B.  Stowe. 

Corn-Husk  or  Corn-Chuck.  The  coarse  outer  leaves  which  enclose 
the  ear  of  Indian  corn. 

Corn-Husking  or  Corn-Shucking.  An  occasion  on  which  a  farmer 
invites  the  young  people  of  the  neighborhood  to  his  house  or  barn, 
to  aid  him  in  stripping  the  husks  from  his  corn.    See  Huxking. 

There  was  a  corn-husking,  and  I  went  along  with  Sal  Stebbins.  There  was  all 
the  gals  and  boys  settin'  round,  and  I  got  sot  down  so  near  Sal  Babit  that  I  'II 
be  darned  if  I  did  n't  kiss  her  afore  I  know'd  what  I  was  about.  —  Traits  of 
American  Humor. 

Corn- Juice.    Whiskey.    A  Western  term. 

I  informed  the  old  fellow  that  Tom  wanted  a  fight ;  and  as  he  was  too  full  of 
corn-juice  to  cut  carefully,  I  didn't  want  to  take  advantage  of  him.  —  Robb. 
Squatter  Life. 

Old  Monongahela  whiskey, 

Whiskey  made  of  Indian  corn-juice.  — Pluribusfah. 

Corn- Oyster.  A  fritter  to  which  the  combined  effects  of  grated 
Indian  corn  (not  quite  ripe)  and  heated  butter  impart  a  taste  like 
that  of  oysters. 

In  this  secret  direction  about  the  mace  lay  the  whole  mystery  of  corn-oysters. 
Mrs.  H.  B.  Stowe,  in  The  Independent. 

Corn  Pone.    A  superior  kind  of  corn  bread,  made  with  milk  and 

eggs  and  baked  in  a  pan.     See  Pone. 
Corn-Right.    In  early  times,  a  right  acquired  by  settlers,  who  by, 

planting  an  acre  or  more  of  corn  were  entitled  to  one  hundred  acres 

of  land.    These  privileges  which  were  acquired  in  Virginia  were 

called  Corn-Rights. 

Corn-Shuck.    The  Southern  term  for  corn-husk,  which  see. 

You  can  have  a  mattress  of  bar-skin  to  sleep  on,  and  a  wild-cat  skin  pulled  off 
whole,  stuffed  with  corn-shuch,  for  a  pillow.  —  Thorpe,  Big  Bear  of  Arlcwnsas. 


COR 


149 


Corn-Shucking.    The  Southern  term  for  corn-husling,  which  see. 

The  young  people  were  all  gibberin'  and  talkin'  and  lau.shin',  as  if  they 'd 
been  to  a  cornshuckin'  more'n  to  a  meetin'  house.  — Major  Jones. 

Coru-Snake.    The  Coluber  guttatus  of  the  Southern  States. 

Corn-Stalk.  A  stalk  of  corn,  particularly  the  stalk  of  the  maize.  — 
Webster.  Mr.  Pickering  says,  "  The  farmers  of  New  England  use 
this  term,  and  more  frequently  the  simple  term  stalks,  to  denote  the 
upper  part  of  the  stalks  of  Indian  corn  (above  the  ear) ,  which  is  cut 
off  while  green,  and  then  dried  to  make  fodder  for  their  cattle.  — 
Vocabulary. 

Corn-Stalk  Fiddle.  A  child's  plaything,  made  by  loosening  the 
external  fibre  of  a  corn-stalk,  and  placing  a  bridge  under  each 
extremity. 

There  is  no  more  sentiment  in  the  soul  of  an  old  bachelor  than  there  is  music 
in  a  corn-stalk  Jiddle.  —  Dow's  Sermons. 

Corn-Trash.  The  outer  envelopes  of  Indian  corn,  also  called  husks 
and  shucks.  In  Jamaica,  they  are  cut  in  strips  and  used  for  stuffing 
mattresses.    See  Shucks. 

The  beds  with  which  they  provided  their  guests  were  not  of  feathers,  but  of 
wholesome  fine  picked  corn-trash,  with  clean  sheets.  —  Dallas,  Hist,  of  the, 
Maroons,  Vol.  I.  p.  119. 

Corner.  When  a  party  is  made  up  to  buy  a  large  amount  of  stock,  a 
larger  quantity  than  is  known  to  be  at  the  time  in  the  market,  it  is 
called  a  corner.  The  plan  is  generally  kept  very  private.  As  soon 
as  the  clique  is  formed,  the  brokers  purchase  gradually  large  lots  of 
stock  on  time,  "buyer's  option."  After  this  has  been  fixed,  they 
sell  on  time,  "seller's  option,"  if  possible  nearly  to  the  extent  of 
their  purchases  on  buyer's  option.  The  object  of  this  is  to  provide 
a  market  for  this  stock  after  the  corner  has  run  out.  This  having 
been  all  arranged,  the  clique  commence  buying  for  cash,  and  in  so 
doing  put  up  prices  rapidly.  Having  inflated  the  market  pretty 
well,  they  make  a  sudden  call  for  several  thousand  shares  of  stock 
on  their  buyer's  option,  and  then  there  comes  a  sharp  time  among 
the  sellers,  who  are  generally  all  short.  This  creates  an  active 
demand,  and  the  clique  sell  their  cash  stock  to  the  bears  or  shorts, 
who  purchase  at  high  rates  for  delivery  at  much  lower  prices  to  the 
very  parties  selling.  —  Hunfs  Merchants  Mag.,  Vol.  XXXVII.  See 
also  Medbery's  "Men  and  Mysteries  of  Wall  Street,"  for  a  more 
extended  account  of  the  process  of  cornering,  p.  87-100. 

The  "  New  York  Tribune,"  March  14,  1876,  in  speaking  of  the 
failure  of  Daniel  Drew,  who  at  one  time  was  a  large  holder  of  Erie 
Railway  stock,  says:  — 


150 


COR 


Being  possessed  of  the  facilities  to  guard  against  a  corner,  lie  began  to  sell 
Erie  stock  short  at  the  prevailing  high  prices. 

To  corner.  1.  To  corner  a  pei-.son  is  to  get  the  advantage  of  him  in  an 
argument,  as  thougli  he  were  physically  placed  in  a  corner  from 
which  he  could  not  escape.  This  use  of  the  word  can  hardly  be  an 
Amei-icanism ;  yet  it  is  not  found  in  the  English  dictionai-ies. 

2.  A  Wall  Street  word,  which  means  to  raise  artificially  the  price 
of  stock  in  the  manner  described  in  the  article  Corner. 

There  is  a  large  class  of  brokers  in  Wall  Sti  eet,  who  sometimes  c(»ntrol  a  good 
deal  of  money,  and  who  make  speculation  their  business.  These  generally  unite 
in  squads  for  the  purpose  of  cornerinf/,  — which  means  that  they  first  get  the 
control  of  some  particular  stock,  and  then,  by  making  a  great  many  contracts 
on  time,  com])el  the  parties  to  pay  whatever  dift'ereiice  they  choose,  or  rather 
what  they  can  get;  for  they  sometimes  overrate  the  purse  of  those  they  contract 
with.  —  A  Week  in  Wall  Street,  p.  81. 

The  remarkable  fluctuations  in  the  stock-market  are  chiefly  the  result  of  a 
successful  corneiiny  operation.  —  N.  Y.  Journal  of  Com. 

The  Erie  Railroad  cornei  iny  has  been  a  very  unfortunate  affair  for  many  mem- 
bers of  the  board.  —  N.  Y.  Herald. 

Corner-Trees.    See  Witness-Trees. 

Corp.    A  corpse  is  so  called  in  Pennsylvania. 

Corral.  (Span.)  A  pen  or  place  of  security  for  horses  and  cattle  in 
the  form  of  a  circle,  often  temporarily  made  with  wagons,  &c.,  by 
parties  of  emigrants  crossing  the  prairies.  The  area  of  this  circle  is 
sufficiently  large  to  permit  the  horses  and  cattle  to  graze  during  the 
night.  On  the  outside  of  the  corral,  the  tents  are  pitched,  with 
their  doors  outward;  and  in  front  of  these  the  camp-fires  are  lighted. 
—  Texas  and  New  Mexico.  This  is  evidently  the  same  as  the  Dutch 
Kraal,  which  in  Southern  Africa  is  used,  like  the  Spanish,  both  as 
a  noun  and  a  verb. 

Among  the  trees,  in  open  spaces,  were  drawn  up  the  wagons,  formed  into  a 
corral  or  square,  and  close  together,  so  that  the  whole  made  a  most  formidable 
i'lrt.  and,  when  filled  with  some  hundred  rifles,  could  defy  the  attacks  of  Indians 
01  Mexicans.  —  Raxton''s  Mexico  and  Rochy  Mountains,  p.  177. 

I  lost  a  portion  of  my  cattle,  which  broke  through  the  kraal  in  the  night,  and 
were  never  again  heard  of.  —  Anderson,  Lake  N'' garni,  p.  360. 

To  corral.  To  corral  cattle  is  to  secure  them  in  an  enclosure,  to  pen 
them.    To  coop  up;  to  put  into  a  close  place. 

During  the  stay  of  the  Indians,  the  animals  were  all  collected  and  corralled,  as 
their  j)ench'int  for  horse-flesh  might  lead  some  of  the  young  men  to  appropriate 
a  horse  or  a  mule.  — Buxton's  Adventures,  p.  238. 

The  hyenas  were  in  the  habit  of  harassing  the  goat-kids,  which  for  security 
were  kraalhd  against  the  wall  of  the  house.  — Anderson,  Lake  N'yami,  p.  350. 

Well,  as  soon  as  the  animals  were  unhitched  from  the  wagons,  the  governor 


COT 


151 


sends  out  a  strong  guard,  seven  boys,  and  old  hands  at  that.  It  was  pretty  nigb 
upon  sun-down,  and  Bill  had  just  sung  out  to  corral.  The  boys  were  drivin'  in 
the  animals,  and  we  were  all  standin'  round  to  get 'm  in  slick,  when  "  howgh- 
owgh-owgli-ough  "  we  hears  i-ight  behind  the  bluff,  and  'bout  a  minute  and  a 
pt^nect  crowd  of  Injuns  gallops  down  upon  the  animals.  —  Western  Adventures. 

AMieii  the  first  edition  of  this  work  was  issued,  the  word  corral 
was  used  only  in  its  original  sense,  as  above  given.  But  it  is  now 
used  at  the  Far  ^Vest  and  on  the  plains  in  a  far  more  extended  sense. 
jMr.  McClure  speaks  of  it  as  an  expressive  Westernism  in  common 
use.  "  If  a  man  is  embarrassed  in  any  way,  he  is  corra'led.  The 
Indians  corral  men  on  the  plains;  the  storms  corral  tourists  in  the 
mountains ;  the  criminal  is  corralled  in  prison ;  the  tender  swain  is 
corralled  by  crinoline ;  the  business  man  is  corralled  by  debt,  or  more 
successful  competitors ;  the  unfortunate  politician  is  corralled  by  the 
mountaineei-s,  the  gulchmen,  or  the  settlers;  the  minister  is  corralled 
when  he  is  called  to  be  the  pastor  of  a  congregation;  and  the  gam- 
bler corrals  the  dust  of  the  miner.  —  Rocky  Mountains^  p.  210. 

But  the  indications  are  that,  between  the  brigade  moving  up  from  Fort  Scott 
and  this  command.  General  Rains  will  get  cm-railed. — N.  Y.  Tribune,  Jan.  10, 
1862. 

Cotbetty.  A  man  who  meddles  in  the  woman's  part  of  household 
affairs.  Xorth  and  East.  It  is  probably  of  English  origin.  Halli- 
well  and  Wright  give  both  cot  and  cot-quean  with  the  same  meaning. 
See  BettJj. 

Cotch,  for  caught.    A  Negro  vulgarism. 

Snake  baked  a  hoe-cake, 
Left  a  frog  to  watch  it ; 
Frog  Avent  to  sleep. 

Lizard  come  and  cotch  it.  —  Virginia  Negro  Song. 

Cotton-Bagging.  A  coarse,  hempen  cloth,  chiefly  manufactured  in 
Kentucky,  for  packing  cotton  in.  Sometimes  called  simply  Bag- 
ging- 

Cottondom.  The  States  in  which  cotton  is  produced;  generally  at 
the  South. 

Cotton-Grower.    A  person  who  cultivates  the  cotton-plant. 

It  exhorts  the  cotton-grow trs  of  other  countries  to  take  courage  and  persevere. 
N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Cotton  is  King.  King  Cotton.  Before  the  late  rebellion,  and  for  a 
year  or  two  after  the  war  broke  out.  Southern  people  said,  "  Cotton 
isKinr/;^^  that  the  Northern  States  could  not  do  without  cotton, 
and  that  it  would  eventually  conquer.  Writers  and  political  econo- 
mists all  uttered  the  same  cry,  and  claimed  the  triumph  of  cotton, 


152 


COT 


the  ^reat  product  of  the  South.  A  book  by  E.  N.  Elliott,  bearing 
the  following  title,  was  published  at  Augusta,  in  1860: — 

Cotton  is  King,  and  Pro-Slavery  Arguments ;  comprising  the  writings  of  Ham- 
mond, Harper,  Christy,  Stringfellow,  Hodge,  Bledsoe,  and  Cartwright  on  this 
subject. 

See  this  new  king  wlio  comes  apace. 
And  treats  us  like  a  conquered  race: 
He  comes  from  Dixie's  Land  by  rail, 
His  throne  a  ragged  cotton  bale. 

On  to  the  White  House  straight 

He 's  marching,  — rather  late  ; 

Clanking  along  the  land, 

The  shackles  in  his  hand. 
Hats  off,  hats  off. 
Ye  slaves,  of  curs  begotten. 
Hats  off  to  great  Kincj  Cotton.  —  R.H.  Stoddard. 

Some  think  it  is  Law  that  rules  our  land ; 

Law  in  the  popular  British  will; 
But  I  know  better;  I  understand 
How  the  Cotton  King  holds  the  upper  hand. 

For  his  spindles  are  standing  still. 

Ballad  for  Ye  Bold  Briton,  N.  Y.  Vanity  Fair. 

"  Old  Cotton,  the  King,  boys,  — aha ! 

With  his  locks  so  fleecy  and  white," 
Descends  like  a  falling  star. 

To  the  sceptre  he  had  no  right. 

Old  Cotton,  the  once  potent  King, 

Is  struck  from  his  impotent  throne ; 
Each  continent  now  claims  a  limb. 

His  heart  cold  and  chill  it  has  grown. 

E.  V.  Smith,  in  N.  Y.  Evening  Fast. 

For  when  I  stooped  to  steal  and  fight 

I  thought  that  Cotton  still  was  King. 
I  did  not  know  the  Union's  might. 

Nor  count  upon  this  sort  of  thing. 

■  The  Ryme  of  the  Rebel,  Vanity  Fair. 

To  cotton  to.  "  To  cotton  to  one  "is  to  take  a  liking  to  him,  to 
fancy  him;  literally,  to  stick  to  him  as  cotton  would.  The  term  is 
common  at  the  South  and  West. 

There  were  divers  queer  characters  on  board  the  steamer,  with  whom  Tom  was 
a  great  favorite ;  but  none  of  them  cottoned  to  him  more  kindly  than  an  elderly 
Hoosier  from  the  depths  of  Indiana.  —  Field. 

Ain't  you,  now,  a  consistent  old  critter  V 

You  that  cracked  yourself  up  as  the  great  manumitter. 


To  make  love  to  the  system  you  once  proclaimed  rotten. 
And  cotton  to  slavery  for  slavery's  Cotton. 

Ballad,  Uncle  Sam  to  Mother  Britannia. 


COT 


153 


In  a  poem  in  the  "  London  Times,"  on  American  affairs,  published 
in  1861,  John  Bull  thus  speaks:  — 

I  knows  Jefferson  D.  is  a  rascally  chap, 

Who  goes  in  for  cribbin'  the  government  pap ; 

That  Exeter  Hall  may  be  down  upon  me, 

But,  as  Jeff,  has  the  cotton,  I  '11  cotton  to  he. 
The  expression  is  in  the  first  edition  of  this  Dictionary,  but  was 
omitted  from  the  second  for  the  reason  that  it  was  found  to  be  an 
old  English  one.  We  have  been  called  to  account  on  several  occa- 
sions, by  the  "  Atlantic  Monthly  "  among  others,  for  the  omission 
of  the  expression,  in  the  belief  that  it  was  an  Americanism,  and 
therefore  give  place  to  it  again,  with  examples  showing  its  ancient 
use. 

Dr.  Johnson  has  the  verb  To  Cotton,  "  to  unite  with."  Webster^ 
"  to  unite;  to  agree;  to  adhere."  The  former  quotes  the  following 
from  Swift:  — 

A  quarrel  will  end  in  one  of  you  being  turned  off,  in  which  case  it  will  not  be 
easy  to  cotton  with  another.  — Swift. 

Didst  see,  Frank,  how  the  old  goldsmith  cottoned  in  with  his  beggarly  com- 
panion ?  —  Walter  Scott. 
Styles  and  I  cannot  cotton.  —  Hist,  of  Copt.  Stukely,  B.  2. 
The  following  examples  of  the  use  of  the  expression  may  suffice  to 
show  its  ancient  use :  — 

So  feyneth  he,  things  true  and  false 

so  always  mingleth  he, 
That  first  with  midst,  and  midst  with  laste 
maye  cotton  and  agree.  — 

Drant,  Horace,  The  Arte  of  Poetry  (1567). 
He  meanes  whatever  horseman  next  he  spied 

To  take  his  horse  a  frend  or  else  a  foe. 
At  this  is  Discord  pleas'd,  and  said  to  Pride 
That  she  was  glad  their  bus'nes  cotned  so. 

Harrinfjton,  Orlando,  b.  xvii.  s.  17  (1561). 
Cottonia.    The  same  as  Cottondom,  which  see. 

The  Confederates  having  determined  to  abandon  all  the  Border  States,  and 
make  a  stand  in  Cottonia  proper.  —  Cincinnati  Times,  April,  1862. 

Cotton-Mouth.    A  poisonous  snake  of  Arkansas. 

Cottonocracy.  A  term  applied  to  the  Boston  manufacturers,  espe- 
cially by  the  "  Boston  Whig  "  newspaper. 

Cotton  Rock.  A  variety  of  magnesian  limestone,  of  a  light  buff  or 
gray  color,  found  in  Missouri.  It  is  very  soft  when  fresh  from  the 
quarry,  and  can  be  easily  wrought  for  building  purposes.  —  Swallow^s 
Geolof/j/  of  Missouri. 

Cotton-Wood     {Populus  monilifera.)    A  species  of  poplar,  so  called 


154 


COU 


from  the  cotton-like  substance  surrounding  the  seeds,  which  grows 
on  tlie  margins  of  hikes  and  streams  from  New  England  to  Illinois 
and  southward,  especially  westward.  In  Texas  and  New  ^lexico, 
it  is  called  Alamo. 

Coulee.  (French.)  A  narrow  rocky  valley  of  great  depth,  with  in- 
clined sides,  and  from  ten  to  fifty  miles  in  length,  distinguished 
from  a  canon  which  has  precipitous  sides.    They  occur  in  Oregon. 

Council  Fire.  The  sacred  fire  kept  burning  while  the  Indians  hold 
tlieir  councils. 

Couiicilmanic.  Pertaining  to  a  councilman.  "  Fifth  Councilmamc 
District.    Delegates  nominated." — N.  Y.  Tribune,  'Nov.,  18Q1. 

To  count.  To  reckon,  suppose,  think.  "  I  count  on  going  "  is  very 
common. 

Newman.    You  '11  pass  muster!  a  proper  fine  fellow. 
Doolittle.    I  calculate  I  be. 
Newman.    Ready  to  enter  on  duty  ? 

Doolittle.  I  should  be  glad  to  know  what  kind  of  way  you  count  to  improve 
nie.  —  D.  Hutnj^hreys,  The  Yankee  in  England. 

Count  St.  Luc     Read  the  superscription.    You  can  read  ? 
Doolittle.     I  count  I  can,  —  and  spell,  too. —  /bid. 

To  counter-brand.  To  destroy  a  brand  by  branding  on  the  opposite 
side.  In  the  praii'ie  regions  of  the  South-west,  the  calves  are 
marked  by  cropping  their  ears,  the  cross  as  well  as  the  brand  of  each 
stock-owner  being  i-ecorded  in  the  county  records.  When  cattle  are  a 
year  old,  they  are  branded;  and,  if  afterwards  sold,  the  same  brand 
is  burnt  in  on  the  opposite  side,  thus  destroying  the  original  title. 

Counter- Jumper.  A  clerk  in  a  retail  "  store,"  whose  place  is  behind 
a  counter ;  sometimes  called  a  counter-hopper. 

With  physical  forces  developed  in  the  school  of  slavish  endurance,  and  mind 
untasked  and  neglected,  what  wonder  the  farmer's  boy  deems  the  life  of  a  city 
counter-jumjier  close  upon  the  confines  of  heaven  !  —  Essay  by  L.  P.  Harvey,  1852. 

Countersign  Signal.  A  signal  which  serves  as  a  countersign;  much 
used  during  the  late  civil  war. 

Day  and  night  countersign  signals,  by  which  friendly  regiments  may  be  dis- 
tinguished, will  be  adopted  by  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  —  General  Order  of 
General  McClellan,  Oct.,  1861.' 

Country- Jakes.    People  from  the  backwoods.  Tennessee. 

County.  "  In  speaking  of  counties,''^  says  Mr.  Pickering,  "  the  names 
of  which  are  composed  of  the  word  shire,  we  say  the  county  of  Hamp- 
shire, the  county  of  Berkshire,  &c.  In  England,  they  would  say 
either  Hampshire  or  Berkshire  simply,  without  the  word  county  ;  or, 
the  county  of  Hants.,  the  county  of  Berks.,  &c.    The  word  shire  of 


cou— cow 


155 


itself,  as  everybody  knows,  means  county;  and  in  one  instance  (in 
Massachusetts)  this  latter  word  is  used  instead  of  shire ^  as  a  part 
of  the  name:  'The  county  of  Duke^s  County.^  "  —  Pickering'' s 
Vocabulary. 

Couple.  A  couple  of  any  thing  sometimes  means  a  few  ;  as,  "  Shall 
I  go  to  market  and  get  a  couple  of  cherries?  "  Pennsylvania. 

Court.  In  Xew  England,  this  word  is  applied  to  a  legislative  body 
composed  of  a  House  of  Representatives  and  a  Senate ;  as,  the  Gen- 
eral Court  of  Massachusetts.    See  Charter  of  Connecticut. 

Court-House.  The  county  towns  of  Vii-ginia  are  often  called  so 
without  regard  to  their  proper  names.  Thus  Providence,  the 
county  town  of  Fairfax,  is  unknown  by  that  name,  and  passes  as 
Fairfax  Court-House ;  Culpepper  Cow^t-House  has  superseded  its 
proper  name  of  Fairfax,  more  common  in  Lower  Virginia.  The 
same  practice  has  existed  to  some  extent  in  South  Carolina  and 
Maryland.  ."-^ 

Court  of  Assistants.  A  court  formerly  in  existence  in  New  England 
where  a  magistrate  or  an  Assistant  presided.  .  .  .  These  courts 
were  subsequently  merged  in  the  County  Court.  —  Caulkins^s  Hist. 
Norwich.    See  Assistant. 

Cove.    A  strip  of  prairie  extending  into  the  woodland. 

Cover.  To  cover  one^s  shorts.  A  AVall  Street  phrase.  Where  stock 
has  been  sold  and  the  market  rises,  the  seller  buys  where  he  can,  in 
order  to  protect  himself  on  the  day  of  delivery.  This  is  covering 
short  sales.  — Medbery,  Men  and  Mysteries  of  Wall  Street.,  p.  134. 

The  affairs  of  the  organization  were  wound  up,  and  on  dividing  the  assets  it 
■was  discovered  that  the  Treasurer  had  used  up  all  the  funds  in  a  frantic  effort  to 
cover.  — Ibid.,  p.  227. 

Coverclip.  (Genus  Achius.  Lacepede.)  The  popular  name  of  the 
sole,  a  fish  connnon  in  the  waters  of  New  York.  Ccdico  is  another 
name  for  it  — Nat.  Hist,  of  New  York. 

Cowbird,  Cow  Blackbird,  or  Cowpen  Bird.  {Icterus  pecoris.)  A 
bird  allied  to  the  Crow  Blackbird  and  Orchard  Oriole.  So  called 
from  its  often  alighting  on  the  backs  of  cattle  and  searching  for 
worms  in  their  dung. 

Cowberry.  (Vaccinium  vitis-idcea.)  A  plant  resembling  the  common 
cranberry,  but  larger.  It  is  found  on  certain  mountains  in  Massa- 
chusetts.—  Bigelow^s  Flora  Bostoniensis.  Also  in  Maine.  —  Tho- 
reau's  Maine  Woods.,  p.  316.    The  Wi-sa-gu-mi-na  of  the  Crees. 

Cowboys.  1.  A  contemptuous  appellation  applied  to  some  of  the 
tory  partisans  of  Westchester  County,  New  York,  during  the  Revo- 


15G 


COW— CRA 


lutionary  war,  who  were  exceedingly  barbarous  in  the  treatment  of 
their  opponents  who  favored  the  American  cause. 

2.  Many  things  will  be  taught  you  [in  Texas]  by  the  cowhoy^. 
The  cowboy  is  the  cattle-herder  and  drover.  A  cow-pony  the  mus- 
tang he  trains  and  uses.  —  Texas  Cor.  Chicago  Tribune. 

Cowboyism.  Spirit  and  practices  of  the  Cowboys.  Applied,  August, 
1861,  in  Fairfield  County,  Connecticut,  to  semi-secessionists  there 
and  elsewhere  in  New  England. 

Cow-Catcher.  A  contrivance  formerly  fixed  in  front  of  a  locomotive 
to  take  up  cattle  or  other  obstacles,  and  prevent  them  from  getting 
beneath  the  wheels  and  throwing  the  cars  off  the  track. 

Cow-Critter.    A  cow.    New  England  and  Western. 

And  so  that  pourin'  dissentions  in  our  cup; 

And  so  that  blamed  cow-critter  was  always  coming  up. 

Carlton,  Farm  Ballads,  p.  18. 

Cowhide  or  Cowskin.  A  particular  kind  of  whip  made  of  twisted 
strips  of  raw  hide ;  it  is  also  called  a  Raw  Hide. 

To  cowhide.    To  flog  with  a  cowhide  or  cowskin. 

To  be  out  of  office  and  in  for  a  cowhiding  is  not  a  pleasant  change  from  eight 
dollars  a  day  and  all  sorts  of  nice  pickings.  [Alluding  to  an  ex-member  of  Con- 
gress.] —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Cow-Lease.  A  right  of  pasturage  for  a  cow  in  a  common  pasture. 
Nev\^  England.  —  Pickering.    Provincial  in  the  west  of  England. 

Cow-Parsnip.  (Heraclewn  latanum.)  The  popular  name  of  a  plant, 
classed  among  the  herbs  prepared  by  the  "  Shakers,"  as  containing 
properties  carminative  and  diuretic. 

Cow-Pease.  A  small  black  bean  growing  luxuriantly  in  Texas. 
They  are  eaten  alike  by  cattle  and  their  owners. 

Cow-Pony.    A  young  and  unbroken  mustang.    See  Cowboy. 

Coyote.    (Mexican,  coy  oil.)    The  prairie-wolf  (Canis  latrans). 

Coyote  Diggings.  Small  shafts  sunk  by  the  gold  miners  in  California, 
so  called  from  their  resemblance  to  the  holes  dug  or  occupied  by  the 
coyote.  This  animal  lives  in  cracks  and  crevices  made  in  the  plains 
by  the  intense  summer  heat. 

The  coyote  diyyinys  require  to  be  very  rich  to  pay,  from  the  great  amount  of 
labor  necessary  before  any  pay-dirt  can  be  obtained.  —  Borthwick's  Calif oimia, 
p.  138. 

Crab-Grass.  (Gen.  Digitaria.)  A  species  of  grass  which  grows  spon- 
taneously in  the  cultivated  fields  of  Louisana  and  Texas,  is  very 
injurious  to  the  crops,  and  yet  makes  excellent  fodder,  being  equal 


CRA 


157 


to  the  best  hay.  In  appearance,  it  resembles  the  Orchard  grass  of 
the  North. 

Crab-Lantern.    A  small  turnover  pie.  South. 

Crab-Schooner.    The  sort  of  vessel  otherwise  termed  Crab^  Grab  ? 

The  ''Reliance,"  a  vessel  belonging  to  our  Potomac  flotilla,  has  captured  a 
crnb-schooner  named  the  "Monitor." — N.  Y.  Tribune,  June  14,  1862,  Letter 
y'/Wrt  Washington. 

Crack  of  Day.  Break  of  day,  or,  as  they  say  in  England,  "  creak  of 
day."  The  narrow  crack  of  light  on  the  horizon  which  is  the  first 
appearance  of  dawn.  — Wedgwood. 

Cracker.  1.  A  little  paper  cylinder  filled  with  powder,  imported  from 
China;  called  also  a  Fire-cracker.  It  receives  its  name  from  the 
noise  it  produces  in  exploding.    In  England,  it  is  called  a  squib. 

2.  A  small  biscuit.  So  called  also  in  the  north  of  England. 
All  the  kinds  of  bread  called  crackers  in  this  country  are  known  as 
biscuit  in  England. 

3.  A  nickname,  applied  to  the  poor  white  people  of  Georgia  and 
South  Carolina,  otherwise  called  Sand-killers,  which  see.  Probably, 
says  Olmsted,  from  their  peculiar  dialect,  almost  incomprehensible 
and  difficult  to  report  or  describe. 

"I  was  amused  enough,"  said  Nina,  "with  Old  Hundred's  indignation  at  hav- 
ing got  out  the  carriage  and  horses  to  go  over  to  what  he  called  a  Cracker  fune- 
ral."  —  -l/rs.  Stowe,  Bred,  Vol.  I.  p.  152. 

Cracker-Boy.  A  boy  employed  about  the  crackers  (machines  that 
crush  anthracite  coal). 

Young  boys  —  cracker-bnys  they  are  called  —  whose  duty  it  is  to  pick  out  and 
throw  away  the  bits  of  slate  and  other  impurities  which  come  whirling  along  with 
the  coal  —  The  Independent,  March  13,  1861. 

Cracklings.  1.  Cinders,  the  remains  of  a  wood  fire;  a  word  used  in 
the  Southern  States. 

When  it  lightened  so,  she  said  t'  other  eend  of  the  world  was  afire,  and  we 'd 
all  be  bumt  to  crncklin's  before  morning.  —  Major  Jones's  Courtship. 

2.  The  crisp  residue  of  hog  fat  after  the  lard  is  fried  out.  It  is 
kept  for  kitchen  use.  In  New  England  called  "pork  scraps." 
CracMinfj-breud  is  corn  bread  interspersed  with  cracklings.  In 
England,  crackling  is  the  crisp  rind  of  roast  pork. 

Well,  fetch  up  your  nag.  I  am  perhaps  a  leetle,  just  a  leetle,  of  the  best  man 
at  a  horse  swap  that  ever  stole  cracklings  out  of  his  mammy's  fat  gourd.  Where 's 
your  boss  V  —  Trai's  of  American  Humor,  Vol.  I. 

Crack-Loo.  A  game  among  bar-room  loafers  and  otliers.  Played  by 
pitching  coin  so  as  to  touch  the  ceiling,  the  object  being  to  have 


CRA 


your  coin  fall  as  near  as  possible  to  the  cracks  in  the  floor;  he  who 
conies  nearest  winning. 
To  crack  on.    To  put  on;  to  apply;  to  do  energetically. 

It  was  a  very  easy  matter  for  the  lagging  vessels,  by  crnckiny  on  all  steam,  to 
coine  up  with  the  others.  —  N.  Y.  Tiibune,  Letter  from  Steamer  Atlantic. 

Cradle-Scythe.  Called  also  simply  a  cradle.  It  consists  of  a  common 
scytlie  with  a  light  frame-work  attached,  corresponding  in  form  with 
the  scythe.  It  is  used  for  cutting  grain,  instead  of  the  sickle;  and 
enables  the  farmer  to  perform  treble  the  work  that  could  be  accom- 
plished with  the  latter  implement.  On  large  farms,  it  is  now  super- 
seded by  the  still  more  efficient  Reaping  ]Machine. 

To  cradle.  To  cradle  grain  is  to  cut  it  in  the  same  manner  that 
grass  is  cut  or  mowed  with  the  implement  above  described. 

The  operation  of  cradliny  is  worth  a  journey  to  see.  The  sickle  may  be  more 
classical  ;  but  it  cannot  compare  in  beauty  with  the  swaying,  regular  motion  of 
the  cradle.  —  .Urs.  Clavers,  Western  CltarhKjs. 

Cradle.  A  machine  resembling  a  child's  cradle  used  in  v,-ashing  out 
the  auriferous  earth  of  California.    Also  called  a  Rocker. 

Cradle  of  Liberty.  The  famous  old  building  in  Boston,  known  as 
Faneuil  Hall,  where  the  orators  of  the  Revolution  roused  the  people 
to  resistance  to  British  oppression. 

Cramp-Bark  (  Viburnum  oxycoccus.)  The  popular  name  of  a  medi- 
cinal plant;  its  properties  are  anti-spasmodic.  It  bears  a  fruit  in- 
tensely acid.    In  New  England,  it  is  called  the  Tree  Cranberry. 

Cranberry  Tree.  A  popular  name,  in  the  North-eastern  States,  of 
the  Viburnum  npulus  vel  oxijcoccus,  a  shrub  bearing  a  bright  pinkish 
berry,  which  has  a  sharp  acid  taste.  The  Moose-berry  {inon(ji<6a- 
mina)  of  the  Crees.    Charlevoix  calls  it  the  Pemine. 

Crank.  Unsteady,  capricious.  In  this  last  sense,  it  is  applied  to 
character  or  manner,  whence  it  has  passed  into  the  signification  of 
obstinate,  self-conceited,  opinionative,  abrupt. 

If  you  strong  electioners  didn  t  think  you  were  among  the  elect,  you  wouldn't 
be  so  crank  about  it.  — Mrs.  Stoice,  Bred,  Vol.  I.  p.  317. 

Cranky.    1.  Unsteady,  as  the  gait  of  a  tipsy  man. 

2.  Queer,  crotchety. 
Crawfish.    (Astacus  Barton ii.)    1.  The  popular  name  of  the  fresh- 
water lobster. 

2.  A  political  renegade.  In  English  parliamentary  phrase,  "a 
rat." 

To  crawfish.     To  back  out  from  a  position  once  taken;  particularly 


CRA— CRE 


159 


applied  to  politicians,  evidently  from  the  mode  of  progression  of  the 
animal.    Western.    The  English  term  is  "to  rat." 

We  acknowledge  the  corn,  and  retreat,  retrograde,  crawjish,  or  climb  down,  in 
as  graceful  a  style  as  the  circumstances  of  the  case  will  admit.  —  Cahv  Times. 

Crawfishy.  A  term  applied  to  wet  land,  because  inhabited  by  craw- 
fish.   See  Spnuty. 

Crazy-Bone.    The  point  of  the  elbow. 

Creamery.  A  place  where  butter  is  made;  also,  where  milk  and 
cream  are  put  up  in  cans  for  market. 

He  recently  purchased  a  creamery,  and  is  putting  up  milk  for  the  New  York 
Market.  —  Briihjeport  Conn,  Standard. 

In  the  general  features  of  the  butter  market  there  is  no  change.  The  fine 
ci-tameiies  are  considered  well  sold  at  23  cts.  ;  .  .  .  Western  creamery,  22  cts. ; 
State  creamery,  20  cts.  — Neio  Yorlc  Bulletin. 

To  crease.  To  shoot  an  animal  so  that  the  bullet  will  cut  the  skin 
on  the  upi:>er  part  of  the  neck,  without  doing  any  serious  injury. 
When  ahorse  cannot  be  caught,  he  is  frequently  creased.  Although 
he  is  not  much  hurt,  he  will  fall  at  the  touch  of  the  bullet,  and 
remain  quiet  and  powerless  until  his  pursuers  secure  him.  Used 
only  in  the  West. 

Finding  it  impossible  to  get  within  noosing  distance  [of  the  wild  horse],  and 
seeing  that  his  horse  was  receding  and  growing  alarmed,  Beatte  slid  down  from 
the  saddle,  levelled  his  rifle  across  the  back  of  his  mare,  and  took  aim,  with  the 
intention  of  creasinrj  him.  —  Irvine's  Tour  on  the  Prairies. 

Creature.  In  the  plural  number,  this  word  is  in  common  use  among 
farmers  as  a  general  term  for  horses,  oxen,  &c.  Ex. :  "  The  creatures 
will  be  put  into  the  pasture  to-day."  —  Pickering.  In  the  South,  a 
horse  is  generally  called  a  critter ;  while,  to  other  animals,  the  term 
stock  is  applied. 

The  owners  or  claimers  of  any  such  creatwes  [i.  e.  "swine,  neat  cattle,  horses, 
or  sheep"],  impounded  as  aforesaid,  shall  pay  the  fees,  &c. — Provincial  Laics 
of  Mass  —  Statute  10,  Wm.  III. 

Creek.  In  New  York,  Connecticut,  the  Middle  and  Western  States, 
and  in  Canada,  a  small  stream  is  called  a  creek.  The  term  is 
incorrectly  applied;  as  its  original  signification,  according  to  the 
dictionaries,  is  a  small  port,  a  bay  or  cove,  from  which  it  has 
gradually  been  extended  to  small  rivers. 

Creek-Bottom.    Low  land  near  a  creek. 

Creeper.  A  shallow  iron  dish  used  in  frying;  a  spider.  Nc^v 
England. 

Creole.    In  the  West  Indies,  in  Spanish  America,  and  in  the  South- 


160 


CRE— CRO 


ern  States,  one  born  of  European  parents;  but  as  now  used  in  the 
South  it  is  applied  to  every  thing  that  is  native,  peculiar  to,  or 
raised  there.  Jn  the  New  Orleans  market,  one  may  hear  of  Creole 
corn,  Creole  chickens,  creole  cattle,  and  creole  horses.  In  that  city, 
too,  a  Creole  is  a  native  of  French  extraction,  as  pure  in  pedigree  as 
a  Howard;  and  great  offence  has  been  given  by  strangers  apply- 
ing the  term  to  a  good-looking  mulatto  or  quadroon. 

Creosote  Plant.  (Larrea  Mexicana.)  This  plant  abounds  from  the 
Arkansas  to  the  Rio  del  Norte,  and  in  the  sandy  deserts  of  Cali- 
fornia. It  is  characterized  by  a  resinous  matter  of  powerful  odor. 
Animals  refuse  to  eat  it.  It  is  employed  as  an  external  application 
in  rheumatism. 

Crescent  City.  The  city  of  New  Orleans,  so  called  from  its  peculiar 
shape. 

In  the  City  of  the  Crescent,  by  red  Mississippi's  waves, 

Walks  the  haughty  Creole  lady  with  her  daughters  and  her  slaves. 

Ballad  of  the  Crescent  City,  Harper'' s  Weekly. 
The  restoration  of  the  authority  of  the  United  States  ...  is  a  guarantee  of 
the  future  prosperity  and  glory  of  the  Crescent  City  under  the  protection  of  the 
American  government.  —  Proc.  of  Gen.  Shepley,  1862. 

Crevasse.  (French.)  The  breaking  away  of  the  embankments  or 
levees  on  the  lower  Mississippi  by  pressure  of  the  water. 

Crispse  and  Cripsy,  for  crisp  and  crispy. 

Critters,  for  creatures,  is  a  common  vulgarism  in  pronunciation. 

You  hear  folks  say,  such  a  man  is  an  ugly-grained  critter,  he  '11  break  his 
wife's  heart ;  just  as  if  a  woman's  heart  was  as  brittle  as  a  pipe-stalk.  —  Sam 

Slick. 

Croaker.  A  small  and  very  beautiful  fish,  found  in  great  abundance 
in  the  bays  and  inlets  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  It  is  sometimes 
found  farther  north.  It  derives  its  name  from  a  peculiar  croaking 
sound,  which  it  utters  when  taken. 

Croke.    Miss  Ramsay,  speaking  of  the  plants  of  Virginia,  says:  — 

They  send  their  Negroes  to  the  fields 
For  the  wild  salads  nature  yields, 
Such  as  lamb's  quarters,  dock  and  poke, 
Purslain,  wild  ivy,  beet,  and  croke. 

Poetical  Picture  of  America. 

Croker.  A  water-fowl  that  inhabits  the  Chesapeake  and  the  larger 
rivers  of  Virginia. 

Crook-Neck.    A  species  of  squash.    New^  England. 

Ciccksd  Stick.    A  cross-grained,  perverse  person. 


CRO 


161 


So  as  I  ain't  a  croohed  stick,  just  like,  like  old  (I  swow, 

I  don't  know  as  I  know  his  name)  —  I  '11  go  back  to  my  plough. 

Biylow  Papers. 

The  widow  R  must  have  been  dreadfully  put  to  it  for  a  husband,  to  take 

up  with  such  a  crooked  stick  as  Elder  B  .  —  Major  Downing. 

To  crook.    To  crook  one's  elbow  or  one's  little  finger  is  to  tipple. 

Crooked  as  a  Virginia  Fence.  A  phrase  applied  to  any  thing  very 
crooked ;  and  figuratively  to  persons  of  a  stubborn  temper  who  are 
difficult  to  manage. 

Crooked  Whiskey.  Whiskey  upon  which  the  excise  tax  has  not 
been  paid.    See  Whiskey. 

Cropper.  One  who  cultivates  a  farm  on  shares,  or  raises  a  crop  in 
consideration  of  receiving  a  portion  of  it. 

Cropping.  This  term,  in  the  South  and  West,  means  devoting  the 
chief  attention  to  the  cultivation  of  one  article. 

Cross-Fox.  (Vulpes fulvus.)  A  fox  whose  color  is  between  the  com- 
mon reddish-yellow  and  the  silver-gray,  having  on  its  back  a  black 
cross.  These  animals  are  rare,  and  their  skins  command  a  high 
price.  Cartwright  says,  "  The  Cross  Fox  is  bred  between  a  silver 
and  a  yellow."  —  Labrador,  Vol.  III.  Glossary. 

To  cross  one's  Track.  To  oppose  one's  plans;  synonymous  with  the 
nautical  phrase  "  to  run  athwart  one's  hawse." 

Cross  Timbers.  A  belt  of  forest  or  woodland,  from  five  to  thirty 
miles  in  width,  which  extends  from  the  Arkansas  River  in  a  south- 
westerly direction  to  the  Brazos,  a  distance  of  four  hundred  miles. 
The  wood  is  chiefly  post-oak  and  black-jack.  The  forest  is  passable 
for  wagons,  and  is  a  marked  feature  in  the  region  where  it  is  found, 
being  the  boundary  between  the  cultivable  and  the  desert  portions. 

The  whole  of  the  cross  timber  abounds  in  mast.  There  is  a  pine  oak  which 
produces  acorns  pleasant  to  the  taste.  —  Jrving's  Tour  on  the  Prairies. 

Crotchical.    Crotchety.   A  common  colloquial  word  in  New  England. 

You  never  see  such  a  crotchical  old  critter  as  he  is.  He  flies  right  off  the 
handle  for  nothin'.  —  Sam  Slick  in  England. 

Crowd.  Any  number  of  persons  together  is  called,  in  Western  par- 
lance, a  crowd ;  so  that  the  word  is  often  equivalent  to  "  company." 

The  conveniences  of  the  toilet  were  wanting,  as  in  all  far  Western  places.  A 
couple  of  tin  basins,  filled  with  muddy  water  from  the  Missouri,  stood  on  a 
board ;  while  a  square  ff)ot  of  mirror,  with  a  brush  and  comb  attached  by  means 
of  a  string,  hung  upon  the  wall  for  the  use  of  the  crowd.  —  Description  of  a  Hotel 
in  Kansas. 

Here,  boys,  drink.  Liquors,  captain,  for  the  crowd.  Step  up  this  way,  old 
boss,  and  liquor. —  Gladstone,  Englishman  in  Kansas,  p.  43. 

11 


162 


CRO— CUX 


In  a  discussion  pending  the  election  of  chaplain  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  Mr.  Elliott,  of  Kentucky,  nominated  the  Rev.  John 
Morris  :  — 

"He  is,"  said  Mr.  E.,  "a  regular  member  of  the  Hardshell  Baptist  Church, 
a  very  pious  man,  not  of  very  eminent  ability,  but  just  the  man  to  pray  for  such 
a  crowd  as  this." 

The  "New  York  Tribune,"  of  June  1,  18-57,  in  speaking  of 
Walker's  party  of  filibusters  from  Costa  Rica,  says  :  — 

Commodore  Erskine  has  signified  his  intention  not  to  carry  any  more  of  this 
crowd  to  Aspinwall,  out  of  deference  to  the  New  Grenadian  authorities. 

I  recognized  a  man  as  one  of  my  fellow-passengers  from  New  York  to  Chagres. 
I  was  glad  to  see  him,  as  he  was  one  of  the  most  favorable  specimens  of  that 
crowd. — Borth  wick's  California,  p.  195. 

Grower.    Another  squeamish  substitute  for  Cock,  like  Booster. 

Cruel.  One  of  the  numerous  substitutes  for  very,  exceedingly.  A 
man  who  had  been  seriously  ill  with  cramp,  or  something  of  the 
kind,  sent  for  the  doctor,  who  arrived  after  the  painful  paroxysm 
had  ceased,  and  when  weakness  had  succeeded  to  pain. 

"How  are  you,  my  friend?"  said  the  Doctor.  "Oh,  Doctor,  I'm  powerful 
weak,  but  cruel  easy." 

Cruller.  (Dutch  Icruller,  a  curler.)  A  cake,  made  of  a  strip  of  sweet- 
ened dough,  boiled  in  lard,  the  two  ends  of  which  are  twisted  or 
curled  together.  Other  shapes  are  also  employed.  The  New  York- 
ers have  inherited  the  name  and  the  thing  from  the  Dutch.  In 
Maryland,  the  words  cruller,  doughnut,  and  fossnock  are  used  indis- 
criminately for  the  same  kind  of  cake. 

Crush-Hat.    A  soft  hat. 

To  cry.  To  publish  the  banns  of  marriage  in  church.  New  England. 
I  should  not  be  surprised  if  they  were  cried  next  Sabbath.  —  Margaret. 

Cucumber  Tree.  (Magnolia  acuminata.)  A  tree,  so  called  from  a 
slight  resemblance  of  its  young  fruit  to  a  cucumber.  As  it  grows, 
the  resemblance  is  lost,  and  the  fruit  becomes  pinkish-red. 

Cuffy.    A  very  common  term  for  a  Negro. 

To  cultivate.    To  use  the  implement  named  "  cultivator;  "  as  a  verb 

tr.  and  intr.    The  ordinary  word  in  Eastern  Connecticut. 
Cunners.    Univalve  shells  of  the  genus  Patella.    New  England. 

Two  fishermen  had  been  despatched  at  daybreak  to  procure  a  supply  of  cod 
for  a  chowder  and  cunners  for  a  fry,  and  we  were  expecting  a  rare  supper.  — 
Lee,  Merrimaclc,  p.  133. 

Cunning.  A  word  used  chiefly  by  women  ;  as,  "  a  cunning  little  hat," 
meaning  a  neat,  pretty  hat;  tiny. 


CUN— CUR 


163 


Cunnuck  or  K'nuck.  A  name  applied  to  Canadians  by  the  people 
in  the  Northern  States.    See  Canuck. 

Missus  didn't  affection  Yankees  much ;  and  Cunnucks  she  hated  like  poison, 
'cause  they  enticed  off  Negroes.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature. 

Cupalo,  for  cupola,  is  a  common  error  of  pronunciation.    It  is  also  a 
very  old  one,  as  appears  from  the  following  passage:  — 
Whose  roof  of  copper  shineth  so, 

It  excells  Saint  Peter's  cupello.  —  Political  Ballads,  1660. 

Curb-Stone  Brokers.  Stock-operators,  whose  place  of  business  is  on 
the  edge  of  the  pavement  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Merchants'  Ex. 
change,  and  whose  account-books  are  said  to  be  kept  in  their  hats. 
"  This  is  a  very  large  class  of  speculators,  and  is  composed  of  the 
oldest  and  most  experienced  operators  in  the  street  [Wall  Street^ 
New  York].  Many  of  them  have  been  members  of  the  Stock  Ex- 
change, but  from  having  failed  to  fulfil  their  contracts  during  some 
of  the  numerous  ups  and  downs  of  the  market  have  been  compelled 
to  vacate  their  seats,  and  lost  their  membership.  The  curbstone 
brokers  have  leased  a  large  room  directly  under  that  occupied  by  the 
regular  board ;  and  during  the  session  of  the  board  a  communication 
is  kept  up  between  the  rooms,  so  that  any  transaction  is  known 
below  as  soon  as  made.  Upon  information  derived  in  this  way, 
the  curb-stone  brokers  operate  among  themselves,  and  frequently 
with,  and  for  the  account  of,  the  outsiders.  This  class  of  specula- 
tors are  particularly  fond  of  operating  in  '  puts  '  and  '  calls,'  and  in 
fact  resort  to  all  the  different  methods  of  doing  a  large  business  on 
a  small  capital."  —  Hunt's  Merchant'' s  Mag.,  Vol.  XXXVII. 
A  more  recent  name  for  curb-stone  brokers  is  gutter-snipes. 

The  outside  Board  Avas  becoming  a  power.  There  were  two  hundred  regular 
brokers  ;  but  the  irregular,  curbstone,  outside  phalanx  was  far  more  numerous; 
and  the  "  New  York  Herald  "  asserted  that  the  curb-stone  men  were  held  in  better 
repute  in  matter  of  contracts  than  their  competing  brethren.  —  Medbery,  Men  and 
Mysteries  of  Wall  Street,  p.  305. 

Curios.    Curiosities.    "  He 's  a  dealer  in  curios." 

Japanese  cunos  are  as  powerful  as  mercury  to  attract  gold.  —  Griffis,  The 
Mikados  Empire,  p.  351. 

Curious.  "  This  wwd  or  curious  is  often  heard  in  New  England 
among  the  common  farmers,  in  the  sense  of  excellent,  or  peculiarly 
excellent ;  as  in  these  expressions :  '  These  are  curious  apples ; '  '  This 
is  curious  cider,'  &c.  This  use  of  the  word  is  hardly  known  in  our 
seaport  towns."  —  Pickering. 

Curleycues.    See  Carlicues. 


164 


CUS— CUT 


Cuspidor,  Cuspidore.    (Sp.  escupidor,  a  spitter.)    A  8pittx)on,  usu- 
ally globe-shaped. 
Cuss.    A  vulgar  pronunciation  of  the  word  curse. 
Cuss  (for  customer).   A  worthless  fellow;  a  scamp.  *'  An  ugly  cuss.^* 

Colonel  J  ,  of  New  York,  and  being  a  jovial,  festive,  and  lively  ctias,  his 

comrades  always  spoke  of  him  as  the  Gay  Yorker.  — Leavenworth  Conservative. 
The  cuss  that  specs  in  man's  necessities. 
An'  makes  big  profits,  in  sich  times  as  these, 
An'  has  to  lie  in  poor  men's  doubtin'  faces 
To  help  him  out,  is  wus  'n  t'  other  cases. 

Ballad,  Vanity  Fair,  1862. 

Cussedness.    Malice;  perverseness ;  spite. 

The  Constitution  is  about  to  be  used  once  more  by  the  Democrats  as  a  screen 
for  "pure  cussedness.''''  They  have  already  started  the  inquiry  M-hether  or  not 
it  Avill  be  constitutional  for  Congress  when  it  meets  to  appropriate  money  for  the 
support  of  the  army  which  the  President  has  maintained  in  an  unconstitutional 
manner  V  —  N.  Y.  Tnbune,  May  12,  1877. 

Cuss-Words.  Oaths. 

Custard- Apple.    See  Sioeet  Sop ;  also  Papaw. 

Customable.  Subject  to  the  payment  of  duties  called  customs. — Webster. 
The  term  dutiable  is  in  general  use  in  New  York;  customable  is 
rarely  heard. 

Customer,  A  chap;  and,  figuratively,  an  awkward  person  to  deal 
with  or  manage;  as  "an  ugly  customer,"  a  "  rum  customer." 

Cut.  A  term  used  in  colleges  to  denote  the  failure  of  either  an  officer 
or  a  student  to  appear  at  the  appointed  time  and  place  for  prayers 
and  recitations. 

To  cut  Didoes.  Synonymous  with  to  cut  capers,  i.  e.  to  be  frolick- 
some. 

Who  ever  heerd  them  Italian  singers  recitin'  their  jabber,  showin'  their  teeth, 
and  cuttin'  didoes  at  a  private  concert  ?  —  S.  Slick  in  Enylnnd. 

Watchman!  take  that 'ere  feller  to  the  watch-house;  he  comes  here  a  cutting 
up  his  didoes  every  night.  — Pickings  from  the  Picayune. 

On,  on  he  splurged,  until  not  two  ounces  of  vital  air  filled  his  breathing  appa- 
ratus; over  the  fence  of  his  relative's  grounds  Xick  flew,  and  up  the  lane  he  trav- 
elled, bustled  into  the  house,  foamed,  fumed,  and  cut  up  such  wondrous  strange 
didoes  that  his  wife  and  friends  believed  he  had  gone  stark  mad.  —  N.  Y.  Spiiit 
of  the  Times. 

To  cut  Dirt.  To  run;  to  go  fast.  Synonymous  with  "  to  cut  one's 
stick."  A  vulgar  expression,  probably  derived  from  the  quick 
motion  of  a  horse  or  carriage  over  a  country  road,  which  makes  the 
dirt  fly. 

Well,  the  way  the  cow  cut  dirt  yras  cautionary;  she  cleared  stumps,  ditches, 
windfalls,  and  every  thing.  —  Sam  Slick  in  England. 


CUT 


165 


"Noyf  cut  dirt!  screamed  I;  and,  Jehu  Gineral  Jackson!  if  he  didn't  make  a 
straight  shirt-tail  for  the  door,  may  I  never  make  another  pass.  —  Field^  Western 
Tales. 

To  cut  a  Swathe.    The  same  as  to  cut  a  dash. 

The  expression  is  generally  applied  to  a  person  walking  who  is 
gayly  dressed,  and  has  a  pompous  air  or  swagger  in  his  or  her  gait, 
in  allusion  to  the  sweeping  motion  of  a  scythe. 

The  Miss  A  s  cut  a  tall  suxithe,  I  tell  you,  for  they  say  they  are  descended 

from  a  governor  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  that  their  relations  in  England  are  some 
punkins  too.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature. 

Awake !  arouse  ye,  sinners !  Know  that  you  are  but  a  notch  or  two  lower  than 
the  angels ;  that  you  are  not  only  put  here  to  make  money,  kiss  the  women,  and 
cut  a  swathe,  but  to  fill  a  higher  and  more  important  destiny.  —  Dow's  Sermons. 

To  cut  a  Splurge.  The  same  as  the  foregoing,  to  make  a  show  or 
display  in  dress. 

Since  Miss  C  has  got  a  hyst  in  the  world,  she  tries  to  cut  a  splurge,  and 

make  folks  think  she 's  a  lady.  — Widow  Bedott  Papers. 

Cute.  (An  abbreviation  of  acute.)  Acute,  sharp,  keen.  It  is  pro- 
vincial in  various  parts  of  England.  In  New  England,  it  is  a  com- 
mon colloquialism,  though  never  used  by  educated  people. 

Now,  says  I,  I 'm  goin'  to  show  you  about  as  cute  a  thing  as  you 've  seen  in 
many  a  day.  —  Major  Downing's  Letters,  p.  214. 

Mr.  Marcy  was  a  right  cute,  cunning  sort  of  a  man  ;  but  in  that  correspondence 
General  Taylor  showed  himself  able  to  defend  himself  against  the  fire  in  the 
rear.  —  Mr.  Gentry'' $  Remarks  at  the  Taylor  Meeting  in  jV.  F. 

Miss  Allin,  in  her  "  Home  Ballads,"  in  describing  the  Yankee, 
says: — 

No  matter  where  his  home  may  be. 

What  flag  may  be  unfurled, 
He  '11  manage,  by  some  cute  device, 

To  whittle  through  the  world. 

Cuteness.    Acuteness,  keenness. 

He  had  a  pair  of  bright,  twinkling  eyes,  that  gave  an  air  of  extreme  cuteness 
to  his  physiognomy.  —  Knickerbocker  Mag.,  Aug.,  1845. 

Cut-Grass.  {Leersia  oryzoides.)  The  common  name  of  a  species  of 
grass,  with  leaves  exceedingly  rough  backward,  so  as  to  cut  the 
hands  if  drawn  across  them.  —  Bigelow^s  Flora. 

To  cut  it  too  Fat.  To  overdo  a  thing.  Synonymous  with  ' '  going  it 
too  strong." 

It's  bad  enough  to  be  uncomfortable  in  your  own  house  without  knowing 
why;  but  to  have  a  philosopher  of  the  Sennaar  school  show  you  why  you  are  so 
is  cutting  it  rather  too  fat.  — Potiphar  Papers,  p.  131. 

When  the  U.  S.  mail  was  carried  to  California  by  stage,  the  con- 


166 


CUT 


tractors  claimed  from  the  government  damage  for  the  loss  of  horses 
by  the  Indians. 

When  the  teams  are  so  placed  as  to  invite  the  raids  of  the  savage,  and  the 
government  expected  to  pay  the  company  double  or  treble  value  for  practicably 
handing  over  their  stock  to  the  Indians,  it  is  cuttiny  it  rather  fat.  —  McClure. 
Rocky  Mountains^  p.  182. 

Cut-off.  1.  Passages  cut  by  the  great  Western  rivers,  particularly  the 
Mississippi,  affording  new  channels,  and  thus  forming  islands. 
These  cut-offs  are  constantly  made. 

When  the  Mississippi,  in  making  its  cut-offs,  is  ploughing  its  way  through  the 
virgin  soil,  there  fioat  upon  the  top  of  this  destroying  tide  thousands  of  trees, 
that  covered  the  land  and  lined  its  curving  banks.  —  Thorpt's  B'ickwoods,  p.  172. 

The  settlement  was  one  of  the  prettiest  places  on  the  Mississippi,  —  a  perfect 
location ;  it  had  some  defects,  until  the  river  made  the  cut-off' at  Shirt  Tail  Bend, 
which  remedied  the  evil.  —  Thorpe,  Biy  Bear  of  Arkansas. 

Since  my  own  day  on  the  Mississippi,  cut-offs  have  been  made,  .  .  .  which 
shortened  the  river  sixty-seven  miles.  In  my  own  time,  a  cut-off' wsls  made  at  the 
American  Bend  which  shortened  the  river  ten  miles  or  more.  —  Mark  Twain,  in 
Atlantic  Monthly,  for  August,  1875,  p.  198. 

2.  A  part  of  a  steam-engine.    "  The  Corliss  cut-off.^' 
To  cut  round.    To  fly  about ;  to  make  a  display. 

The  widow  made  herself  perfectly  ridiculous.  She  was  dressed  off  like  a 
3'oung  gal,  and  cut  round,  and  laughed,  and  tried  to  be  wonderful  interesting.  — 
Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  91. 

Instead  of  sticking  to  me  as  she  used  to  do,  she  got  to  cuttin'  round  with  all 
the  young  fellows,  just  as  if  she  cared  nothin'  about  me  no  more.  — N.  Y.  Spirit 
of  the  Times. 

To  cut  Stick  or  To  cut  one's  Stick.    To  be  off;  to  leave  imme- 
diately, and  go  with  all  speed.     A  vulgar  expression  and  often 
heard.    It  is  also  provincial  in  England. 
Dinner  is  over.    It 's  time  for  the  ladies  to  cut  stick.  —  Sam  Slick  in  England, 
If  ever  you  see  her,  and  she  begins  that  way,  up  hat  and  cut  stick  double  quick. 
To  cut  under.    To  undersell  in  price.    New  York. 
To  cut  up.    1.  To  employ  severe  language  towards  a  person;  to 
shame,  to  put  to  pain,  &c.,  chiefly  used  in  a  passive  sense;  as,  "  ikir, 
A.  was  quite  cut  up  at  what  you  said." 

2.  To  interrupt  one  rudely  in  talk. 

3.  To  be  riotous. 

Now,  say,  what 's  the  use 

Of  all  this  abuse. 
Of  cutting  up,  and  thus  behaving  riotr, 
And  acting  with  such  awful  impropriety? 

Leland,  Meister  KarVs  Sketch-Booh,  p.  265. 

To  cut  up  Shines.    To  cut  capers,  play  tricks. 


CUT— DAG 


167 


A  wild  bull  of  the  prairies  was  cutting  up  shines  at  no  great  distance,  tearing 
up  the  sod  with  hoofs  and  horns.  —  Knickerbocker  Mag. 

"  What  have  these  men  been  doing?  "  asked  the  Recorder. 

"  Oh,  they  were  cutting  up  all  kinds  of  shines ;  knocking  over  the  ashes  barrels, 
shying  stones  at  lamps,  kicking  at  doors,  and  disturbing  the  peace  of  the  whole 
city." — Pickings  from  the  Picayune,  p.  61. 

Cutter.    A  light  one-horse  sleigh. 

Sleighs  are  swarming  up  and  down  the  street,  of  all  sorts  and  sizes,  from  the 
huge  omnibus  with  its  thirty  passengers  to  the  light,  gayly  painted  cutters,  with 
their  solitary,  fur-capped  tenants,  &c.  —  The  Upper  Ten  Thousand,  p.  4. 

And  then  we  '11  go  sleighing,  in  warm  raiment  clad, 

With  fine  horses  neighing  as  if  they  were  glad, 

The  shining  bells  jingle,  the  swift  cutter  flies; 

And,  if  our  ears  tingle,  no  matter ;  who  cries  V  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Cuttoes.  (French  couteau,  a  knife.)  A  large  knife,  used  in  olden 
times  in  New  England. 

There  were  no  knives  and  forks,  and  the  family  helped  themselves  on  wooden 
plates,  with  cuttoes.  —  Margaret,  p.  10. 

Cymbling.  A  variety  of  squash,  so  called  at  the  South,  in  speaking 
of  which  Beverly  says,  "The  Clypeatse  are  sometimes  called 
cymnels,  from  the  lenten-cake  of  that  name,  which  many  of  them 
much  resemble."  —  Hist,  of  Virginia.,  p.  113.  In  the  dialect  of 
Somerset,  simlin  is  a  kind  of  cake;  and  elsewhere  simnel  is  a  rich 
cake  of  a  peculiar  form.  In  Salop  the  term  is  applied  to  a  plum- 
cake  with  a  raised  crust.  —  Halliwell. 

Cypress-Brake.  A  basin-shaped  depression  of  land  near  the  margin 
of  shallow,  sluggish  bayous,  into  which  the  superabundant  waters 
find  their  way.  In  these  places,  are  vast  accumulations  of  fallen 
cypress-trees,  which  have  been  accunmlating  for  ages.  These  are 
called  cypress-brakes.  — Dickeson  on  the  Cypress  Timber  of  Louisiana. 

D. 

Daddock.    The  heart  or  body  of  a  tree  thoroughly  rotten.  —  Asu. 

This  old  word  is  not  noticed  by  Johnson,  Todd,  or  Webster.  It 
is  introduced  by  Mr.  Worcester  in  his  new  dictionary. 

The  great  red  daddocks  \ay  in  the  green  pastures,  where  they  had  lain  3'ear  after 
year,  crumbling  away,  and  sending  forth  innumerable  forms  of  vegetable  life.  — 
Margaret,  p.  215. 

Daddy-Long-Legs.    A  small-bodied  spider  with  very  long  legs. 

Dagos.  Originally  people  of  Spanish  parentage,  born  in  Louisiana, 
now  applied  there  to  all  Italians,  Sicilians,  Spanish,  and  Por- 
tuguese. 


168 


DAM— DAR 


Damaged.  Intoxicated. 

Damson  Plums,  of  the  West  Indies.  See  Star- Apple. 
Dander.    1.  Scurf  at  the  roots  of  the  hair;  dandruff. 

2.  To  get  one^s  dander  up,  or  to  have  one^s  dander  raised,  is  to  get 
into  a  passion.  Here,  it  would  seem,  the  dandruff  is  ludicrously 
put  for  the  hair  itself,  which  is  represented  as  being  raised  on  end, 
like  the  fur  of  some  animals  when  enraged.  This  as  well  as  the 
preceding  use  of  the  word  is  found  in  English  dialects. 

The  Department  of  State  did  not  keep  back  the  letters  of  Mr.  Rives,  in  which 
he  boasts  that  he  had  outwitted  the  French.  Well,  this  sort  of  jnit  up  the  dander 
of  the  French.  —  Crockett,  Tour,  p.  198. 

The  fire  and  fury  that  blazed  in  her  eye  gave  ocular  evidence  of  her  dander 
being  up  — Pickinys  from  the  New  Orleans  Picayune,  p.  163. 

As  we  looked  at  the  immense  strength  of  the  "Northumberland's  "  mast,  we 
could  not  help  thinking  that  Neptune  must  have  his  dander  considerably  raised 
before  he  could  carry  it  away.  —  N.  Y.  Com.  Adv. 

I  felt  my  dander  lisin'  when  the  impertinent  cuss  went  and  tuck  a  seat  along- 
side of  Miss  Mary,  and  she  begun  to  smile  and  talk  with  him  as  pleasin'  as  could 
be.  —  Major  Jo?ies's  Courtship,  p.  77. 

Dandyfied.    Dandyish ;  like  a  dandy. 

Dandy-Trap.  Loose  brick  in  the  pavement;  when  stepped  upon,  the 
muddy  water  underneath  gushes  up  and  soils  boots  or  clothing. 

Dangerous.  Endangered,  being  in  danger.  —  Forhy.  This  sense  is 
local  in  England,  and  colloquial  in  the  United  States.  —  Worcester. 

Dangle-Berry.    (Gaylussacia.)    A  species  of  the  blue  whortleberry. 

Dangnation.    A  euphemism  for  damnation. 

Danites. 

If  the  enemies  of  the  Mormons  are  to  be  trusted,  they  have  a 
secret  battalion  of  Danites,  serpents  in  the  path,  destroying  angels, 
who  are  banded  for  any  deed  of  daring  and  assassination ;  and  the 
frequent  violent  deaths  of  travellers  are  attributed  to  the  treacher- 
ous stroke  of  some  brother  of  the  fraternity. — North  Am.  Rev.^ 
Article  on  Mormonism,  July,  1862. 
Dark  and  Bloody  Ground  (The).  An  expression  foiTnerly  much 
used  in  allusion  to  Kentucky,  of  which  name  it  is  said  to  be  a  trans- 
lation. The  phrase  is  an  epitome  of  the  early  history  of  the  State, 
of  the  dark  and  bloody  conflicts  of  the  first  white  settlers  with  their 
savage  foes;  but  the  name  originated  in  the  fact  that  this  was  the 
grand  battle-ground  between  the  Northern  and  Southern  Indians. 
—  Wheeler''s  Dictionary. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  reception  of  President  Hayes  at  Louisville, 
Kentucky,  Sept.  17,  1877,  Gov.  Wade  Hampton  said:  — 


DAR— DEA 


169 


I  came  here  chiefly  that  I  might  extend  a  warm  greeting  to  the  President  as  he 
struck  Southern  soil,  as  he  stood  on  the  once  dark  and  bloody  ground  of  Ken- 
tucky, no  longer  so,  but,  as  I  trust  in  God,  here  and  elsewhere  a  land  of  peace, 
prosperity,  and  happiness. 

Darky.    A  common  term  for  a  Negro. 

I  wish  de  legislatur  would  set  dis  darlcie  free, 

Oh !  what  a  happy  place  den  de  darlcie  land  would  be. 

We  'd  have  a  darkie  parliament, 

An'  darkie  codes  of  law. 
An'  darkie  judges  on  de  bench, 

Darkie  barristers  and  aw.  —  Ethiopian  Melodies  (1848). 

Dark  Moon.  The  interval  between  the  old  and  the  new  moon. 
Western.    Qu.  Dark  o' the  Moon? 

I  always  alter  my, colts  and  plant  my  'taters  during  the  dark  moon.  — Letter 
from  a  Western  Farmer. 

Darsen't,  for  dares  not.   It  is  vulgarly  used  in  all  persons  and  numbers. 

To  deacon  a  Calf  is  to  knock  it  in  the  head  as  soon  as  it  is  born.  — 

Connecticut. 

To  deacon  Land  is  to  extend  one's  fence  so  as  to  include  a  portion 
of  the  highway.  —  Haddam.  Connecticut. 

To  "  Deacon  Berries  "  is  to  put  the  largest  on  top.  To  "  Deacon 
Apples  "  is,  when  barrelling  them  for  sale,  to  put  the  best  on  top. 

To  deacon  off  To  give  the  cue  to.  Derived  from  a  custom,  once 
universal  but  now  extinct,  in  the  New  England  Congregational 
Churches.  An  important  part  of  the  office  of  deacon  was  to  read 
aloud  the  hymns  given  out  by  the  minister,  one  line  at  a  time,  the 
congregation  singing  each  line  as  soon  as  read.  —  Lowell.  In  some 
of  the  interior  parts  of  New  England,  the  custom  of  deaconing  off 
hymns  is  still  continued.  It  used  to  be  called  "  lining  out  the 
psalm." 

The  custom  is  nearly  as  old  as  the  Reformation,  and  long  ante- 
dates early  colonial  days  in  New  England.  It  was  recommended  to 
churches  not  supplied  with  books,  by  the  Westminster  Assembly, 
in  1664;  and  Dr.  Watts  complained  of  its  prevalence  in  congrega- 
tions and  private  families  in  England,  —  in  the  preface  to  an  early 
edition  of  his  psalms.  —  Hood^s  Hist.  Music  in  New  England.,  p.  184, 
201. 

When  all  was  ready  [to  commence  the  religious  exercises],  a  prayer  was  made 
and  the  chorister  deaconed  the  first  two  lines.  —  Goodrich's  Reminiscences,  Vol.  I. 
p.  77. 

To  funk  right  out  o'  p'lit'cal  strife  ain't  thought  to  be  the  thing, 
Without  you  deacon  off  the  tune  you  want  your  folks  should  sing. 

The  Biylow  Papers, 


170 


DEA 


Deacons'  Hiding-Places.    Curtained  stalls  in  Boston  oyster-saloons. 
Deacon's  Meeting.    One,  in  the  pastor's  absence,  conducted  by  a 
deacon. 

Deacons'  Seat.  A  pew  formerly  made  on  the  pulpit's  front,  for 
deacons  to  occupy.  The  chief  edifice  at  Hanover  (Dartmouth 
College)  had,  in  1832,  and  before,  a  pulpit  buttressed  by  two  pews, 
the  higher  for  a  "  ruling  elder." 

Dead-Beat.  1 .  A  mixture  of  ginger-soda  and  whiskey,  taken  by  hard 
drinkers  after  a  night's  carousal. 

2.  One  who  lives  on  others;  a  most  hardened  sponge. 

Dead-beat.    Worn  out;  exhausted;  good  for  nothing. 

Dead-broke.    Utterly  exhausted  of  cash,  penniless. 

Damphool  squared  up  his  board  bill  and  paid  his  washer-woman,  which  left 
him  dead-broke.  —  Doesticks,  p.  141. 

To  be  dead-broke  was  really,  as  far  as  a  man's  comfort  was  concerned,  a  matter 
of  less  importance  in  the  mines  than  in  ahnost  any  other  place.  —  Borthwick's 
Cali/b/nia,  p.  255. 

To  deaden.  1.  In  newly  settled  parts  of  the  West,  where  it  is  de- 
signed to  make  a  "  clearing,"  some  of  the  trees  are  cut  down;  the 
others  are  girdled,  or  deadened,  as  they  say,  i.  e.  deprived  of  force 
or  sensation.  If  the  majority  of  trees  are  thus  girdled,  the  field  is 
called  a  deadening ;  otherwise,  it  is  a  clearing.  —  Carlton,  The  New 
Purchase,  Vol.  I.  240. 

2.  A  political  candidate  at  the  West  deadens  his  competitor's 
votes  in  a  district  by  doing  away  with  false  impressions,  misstate- 
ments, &c.,  originating  with  the  other  party. 

Deadening.  A  piece  of  land  the  trees  on  which  have  been  deadened 
by  girdling. 

Dead  Heads.  Persons  who  drink  at  a  bar,  ride  in  an  omnibus  or 
railroad  car,  travel  in  steamboats,  or  visit  the  theatre,  without 
charge,  are  called  dead  heads.  These  consist  of  the  engineers, 
conductors,  and  laborers  on  railroads;  the  keepers  of  hotels;  the 
editors  of  newspapers,  &c. 

"  The  principal  avenue  of  our  city,"  writes  a  learned  friend  in  Detroit,  "  h;is  a 
toll-gate  just  by  the  Elmwood  Cemetery  road.  As  the  cemetery  had  been  laid 
out  some  time  previous  to  the  construction  of  the  plank-road,  it  was  made  one  of 
the  conditions  of  the  company's  charter  that  all  funeral  processions  should  go 
back  and  forth  free.  One  day.  as  Dr.  Price,  a  celebrated  physician,  stopped  to 
pay  his  toll,  he  remarked  to  the  gate-keeper:  — 


DEA 


171 


"  '  Considering  the  benevolent  character  of  our  profession,  I  think  you  ought 
to  let  us  pass  free  of  charge.' 

"'No,  no,  doctor,'  the  keeper  readily  replied,  'we  couldn't  afford  that,  ^ou 
send  too  many  dead  heads  through  here  as  it  is.' 

"The  doctor  paid  his  toll,  and  never  asked  any  favors  after  that."  — Wash, 
Even.  Star,  Oct.,  J857. 

Deadheadism.    The  practice  of  travelling  with  free  tickets. 

As  I  had  never  experienced  the  blessed  privilege  of  deadheadism,  I  could  not 
naturally  resist  the  opportunity  of  enjoying  so  new  a  sensation;  and  I  beg  to 
assure  you  that  it  is  by  no  means  so  unpleasant  as  you  might  imagine.  It  was  a 
pleasure  similar  to  that  which  Lucretius  describes  as  enjoyed  by  standers  on  the 
shore  when  they  see  ships  tossed  about  on  the  sea,  to  behold  wretches  crowding 
to  the  ticket-offices  and  disbursing  their  money,  when  you  have  nothing  to  do  but 
to  take  your  seat  and  be  carried  through  the  air  without  money  and  without  price. 
Letter  inN.  Y.  Tiibune,  June,  1857. 

It  is  also  too  much  the  practice  of  railway  companies  to  give  free 
passes  to  members  of  State  Legislatures,  in  order  to  make  them 
friendly  disposed.  In  many  instances,  however,  the  members 
exact  the  privilege  of  riding  free  over  the  roads. 

The  Superior  Court  has  enjoined  the  New  York  and  New  Haven  Railroad 
from  issunig  free  passes  to  members  of  the  Legislature.  .  .  .  This  action  will  be 
rather  agreeable  to  the  Railroad  Company,  as  it  will  relieve  all  the  railroads  in 
the  State  from  the  practice  of  dead-headiny  members  of  the  Legislature.  —  Con- 
necticut Paper. 

Dead  Horse.  Work  for  which  one  has  been  paid  before  it  is  per- 
formed. When  a  printer,  on  Saturday  night,  includes  in  his  bill 
work  not  yet  finished,  he  is  said,  on  the  following  week,  to  "  work 
oif  a  dead  horse. ''^    Also  used  in  England. 

Dead  Rabbits.  A  name  recently  assumed  by  the  Irish  faction  in  the 
city  of  New  York. 

If  the  Dead  Rabbit  think  he  slays, 

Or  the  Plug-Ugly  think  he 's  slain, 
They  do  but  pave  the  subtle  ways 

I  've  trod,  and  mean  to  tread  again. 

Parody  on  Emerson'' s  Brahma,  N.  Y.  Even'g  Post. 

Dead-Set.  Opposition;  resolute  antagonism;  hostility;  as  "it  was 
a  dead-set  between  them." 

Dead  set  against.    Strongly  opposed  to. 

Deaf  Adder.    See  Dlauser. 

Deaf  Nut.    A  nut  the  kernel  of  which  is  decayed.  Pennsylvania. 

Provincial  in  England. 

Death.  To  be  death  on  a  thing  is  to  be  completely  master  of  it,  a 
capital  hand  at  it ;  like  the  quack-doctor  who  could  not  manage  the 


172 


DEA— DEE 


whooping-cough,  but  was,  as  he  expressed  it,  "  death  on  fits." 
Vulgar. 

Did  you  ever  hearn  tell  of  the  man  they  calls  Chunkey  ?  born  in  Kaintuck  and 
raised  on  the  Mississippi!  death  on  bar,  and  smartly  in  a  panther  fight.  — N.  Y. 
Spirit  of  the  Times. 

Women,  I  believe,  are  born  with  certain  natural  tastes.  Sally  was  death  on 
lace,  and  old  Aunt  Thankful  goes  the  whole  figure  for  furs.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human 
Nature.,  p.  225. 

Death-Horses.    An  insect,  perhaps  the  "  death's  head  moth." 
Among  the  insects  of  Virginia,  Miss  Ramsay  mentions  :  — 

Locusts,  tobacco-worms,  and  slugs, 
Death-horses,  or  the  hard-shell  bugs. 

Poetical  Picture  of  America,  p.  168. 

Decedent.    A  deceased  person.  — Laivs  of  Pennsylcania. 

Deceiving  for  deceitful ;  as,  *'  A  very  deceiving  hole  in  the  road." 

Deck.    A  pack  of  cards.    This  term  is  old  English.    Thus  Shak- 

soeare  says,  — 

But,  whiles,  he  thought  to  steal  the  single  ten. 
The  king  was  slily  fingered  from  the  deck.  —  3  Henry  VI.,  v.  1. 
I'll  deal  the  cards,  and  cut  you  from  the  deck. —  Tioo  Maids  of  Moreclacke,  1609. 
"Waiter,"  cried  out  an  Arkansas  traveller,  "bring  down  my  baggage." 
"  What  is  it,  sir  ?"    "A  bowie-knife,  a  pair  of  pistols,  a  deck  of  cards,  and  one 
shirt." 

Deck  is  defined  by  Ash,  "a  pack  of  cards  piled  one  upon 
another. ' ' 

Deck.    Twenty-Deck  Poker  is  a  variety  where  twenty  cards  are  used. 

Declension.  We  sometimes  see  this  word  used  in  the  newspapers,  in 
speaking  of  a  person's  declining  to  be  a  candidate  for  office.  Ex. : 
In  consequence  of  the  declension  of  our  candidate,  we  shall  be 
obliged  to  vote  for  a  new  one.  —  Pickering. 

Declination.  Used  in  the  same  sense  as  the  preceding  word.  It  is 
said  to  have  been  first  employed  by  Mr.  John  Pintard,  when  he 
declined  a  re-election  as  president  of  the  American  Bible  Society. 

Decoration-Day.  Day  appointed  for  decoration,  especially  of  graves 
of  soldiers  and  sailors,  who  fell  in  the  late  civil  war. 

Deed,  for  indeed.  Very  common  throughout  the  South.  Ask  a 
Negro  if  it  is  cold,  he  will  answer,  "  Deed  it  is." 

To  deed.  To  convey  or  transfer  by  deed.  A  popular  use  of  the 
word  in  America;  as,  "  He  deeded  all  his  estate  to  his  eldest  son." 
—  Webster. 

Deestrick.    A  common  pronunciation  among  the  illiterate  for  district. 


DEL— DEP 


173 


Deliver.  Many  of  the  clergy  now-a-days  "  deliver "  the  Scriptures 
and  hymns  to  their  hearers  instead  of  reading  them. 

Delivery.  In  Wall  Street  parlance,  when  stock  is  brought  to  the 
buyer  in  accordance  with  the  rules  of  the  Stock  Exchange,  it  is 
called  a  "  good  delivery."  When  there  are  irregularities,  the  power 
of  attorney  not  being  satisfactory,  or  in  some  other  way  the  rules 
of  the  Exchange  are  contravened,  the  delivery  is  pronounced  bad,  and 
the  buyer  can  appeal  to  the  Board.  —  Medbery,  Men  and  Mysteries 
of  Wall  Street^  p.  135. 

To  demonstrate.    To  show  one's  self;  to  make  exhibitions. 

Certain  judges,  hostile  to  the  purpose  and  scope  of  the  law,  soon  began  to 
demonstrate  against  it.  — iV.  Y.  Tribune,  Feb.  10,  1862. 

To  demoralize.  To  corrupt  and  undermine  the  morals  of;  to  destroy 
or  lessen  the  effect  of  moral  principles  on. —  Webster.  Professor 
Lyell,  who  visited  Dr.  Webster,  says,  "  When  the  Doctor  was  asked 
how  many  words  he  had  coined  for  his  Dictionary,  he  replied,  only 
one,  '  to  demoralize ; '  and  that  not  for  his  Dictionary,  but  in  a  pam- 
phlet published  in  the  last  century." —  Travels  in  the  United  States, 
p.  53.  Mr.  Jodrell,  in  his  "  Philology  of  the  English  Language," 
gives  the  word  a  place,  and  cites  as  an  example  a  passage  from 
a  speech  by  Lord  Liverpool,  in  the  House  of  Lords,  March  11, 
1817:  — 

They  had,  endeavored  to  guard  and  protect  the  people  against  the  attempts 
which  were  made  to  corrupt  and  demoralize  them. 

The  native  vigor  of  the  soul"  must  wholly  disappear,  under  the  steady  influence 
and  the  demoraliziny  example  of  profligate  power  and  prosperous  crime.  — 
Walsh,  Letters  on  France. 

Dengu^.    See  Break-Bone  Fever. 

Department.  (Fr.  departement.)  The  principal  offices  of  the  federal 
government  at  Washington,  at  the  head  of  each  of  which  is  a  Sec- 
retary, are  styled  departments.  Thus  we  have  the  State  Department, 
Literior  Department,  Treasury  Department,  &c.  This  expression 
and  also  the  following  are  borrowed  from  the  French. 

Departmental.    Pertaining  to  a  department  or  division.  —  Webster. 

The  game  played  by  the  revolutionists  in  1789  was  now  played  against  the 
departmentfd  guards  called  together  for  the  protection  of  revolutionists.  — 
Burke,  Pre/,  to  Brissofs  Address. 

Which  it  required  all  the  exertion  of  the  departmental  force  to  suppress.  — 
H.  M.  Williams,  Letters  on  Fi-ance. 

Depot,  French.  (Pron.  dee'po.')  A  railroad  station-house.  In  Eng- 
land, it  is  called  a  Station. 

We  have  also  provision  depots,  butter  depots,  &c. 


174 


DEP— dp:v 


To  deputize.  To  depute ;  to  appoint  a  deputy ;  to  empower  to  act  for 
aiiotlier,  as  a  sheriff.  — Webster. 

This  word  is  not  in  any  of  the  English  dictionaries  except  one  of 
the  early  editions  of  Bailey,  where  it  appears  in  the  preface  among 
words  in  modern  authors,  collected  after  the  Dictionary  was  printed. 
Mr.  Pickering  remarks  that  the  word  is  sometimes  heard  in  con- 
versation, but  rarely  occurs  in  writing,  and  has  always  been  consid- 
ered as  a  mere  vulgarism." 

They  seldom  think  it  necessary  to  deputize  more  than  one  person  to  attend  to 
their  interests  at  the  seat  of  government.  —  Port  Folio,  January,  1811. 

Deseret.  A  name  (which  they  say  means  honey  bee)  given  by  the 
Mormons  to  the  Territory  of  Utah,  which  they  occupy.  When  Mr. 
Edward  Everett  was  Secretary  of  State,  he  prevented  the  name 
being  used  as  the  official  one  for  the  Territory. 

Desk.  The  pulpit  in  a  church,  and  figuratively  the  clerical  profes- 
sion. "The  Rev.  Mr.  Poundtext  appears  well  at  the  desk/^  "  He 
intends  one  son  for  the  bar,  and  another  for  the  desk.^^  This  New 
England  word  is  not  generally  used  in  other  parts  of  the  country. 

The  pulpit,  or  as  it  is  here  [in  Connecticut]  called,  the  desk,  was  filled  by  three, 
if  not  four,  clergymen ;  a  number  which,  by  its  form  and  dimensions,  it  was  able 
to  accommodate.  —  KendaWs  Travels,  Vol.  I.  p.  4. 

They  are  common  to  every  species  of  oratory,  though  of  rarer  use  in  the  desk, 
&c.  —  Adams's  Lecture  on  Rhetoiic. 

Dessert.  (Fr.  dessert,  desservir,  to  clear  away.)  This  term,  which 
properly  signifies  the  fruits  and  nuts  or  second  course  brought  on 
the  table  after  the  substantial  parts  of  a  dinner,  is  often  improperly 
applied  in  the  United  States  to  the  puddings  and  pies.  A  common 
error  is  that  of  accenting  the  first  syllable. 

To  desulphurize.  To  take  the  sulphur  out  of  ^^llcanized  Caoutchouc. 
Devil's  Darning-Needle,  Devil's  Needle.    A  common  name  for  the 

Dragon-fly.    In  England,  according  to  Wright,  it  is  called  the 

Devil's  Needle. 

Now  and  then  a  long-legged  spider  would  run  across  our  track  with  incredible 
rapidity,  or  a  devil's  darniny-needle  would  pertinaciously  hover  above  our  heads, 
and  cause  me,  impressed  with  an  old  nursery  caution,  to  duck  and  dodge,  and 
hold  my  hands  over  my  ears,  until  the  winged  spectre  would  fly  away  across  the 
garden.  —  Putnam's  Monthly,  June,  1854. 

Devil-Fish.    (Genus  Lophius.    Cuvier.)    1.  The  common  name  of 
the  American  Angler,  so  called  from  its  hideous  form.    It  is  also 
known  by  the  names  of   Sea-devil,  Fishing-frog,  Bellows-fish, 
Goose-fish,  Monk-fish,  and  others.  —  Storer^s  Fishes  of  Mass. 
2.  At  the  South,  this  name  is  applied  to  the  Stingray,  vulg.  Stin- 


DEV— DIG 


175 


garee  (CepTialoptera  vampyras),  which  sometimes  grows  to  a  great 
size.    See  Stingaree. 

The  Devil-Jish  of  the  Mediterranean  is  the  Octopus^  a  gigantic 
squid. 

Devilment.    Deviltiy;  wickedness. 

As  those  bridges  took  fire  while  I  was  out  of  town,  they  swore  that  I  was  the 
bell-wether  and  ringleader  of  all  the  devilment  that  was  going  on,  and  hence  that 
I  must  have  had  a  hand  in  it.  —  N.  Y.  Herald,  Speech  of  W.  G.  Brownlow  of 
Tennessee. 

Devil  Wood.    {Olea  Americana.)    American  olive  growing  in  the 
Southern  States.    A  small  evergreen,  but  its  fruit  has  no  value. 
It  is  impossible  to  split,  hence  its  name. 
Dewberry.    (Riibus  Canadensis.)    A  low- trailing  species  of  Black- 
berry.   See  Low  Blackberry. 
Dicker.    Barter;  also  articles  received  in  barter.  Western. 

Grant  that  the  North 's  insulted,  scorned,  betrayed, 
O'erreached  in  bargains  with  her  neighbor  made, 
When  selfish  thrift  and  party  held  the  scales 
For  peddling  dicker,  not  for  honest  sales, 
Whom  shall  we  strike?  —  Whittier,  The  Panorama. 

To  dicker.    To  barter.    Used  in  New  York  and  New  England. 

The  white  men  who  penetrated  to  the  semi-wilds  [of  the  West]  were  always 
ready  to  dicker  and  to  swap,  and  to  trade  rifles  and  watches,  and  whatever  else 
they  might  happen  to  possess.  —  Cooper,  The  Oak  Openinys. 

Difference.  Among  stock  operators,  the  price  at  which  a  stock  is  bar- 
gained for  and  the  rate  on  day  of  delivery  are  usually  not  the  same. 
The  variation  is  known  as  the  difference,  and  occasionally  brokers 
pay  over  this  money  balance  instead  of  furnishing  the  stock.  —  Med- 
hery.  Men  and  Mysteries  of  Wall  Street. 

Different  from.  We  say  one  thing  is  "  different  froin  "  another.  In 
England,  the  expression  is  "  different  ^o,"  and  so  the  old  English 
writers  quoted  in  Richardson's  Dictionary.    Comp.  Averse. 

DifiBculted.  Perplexed.  Mr.  Sherwood  has  this  among  the  words 
peculiar  to  Georgia,  and  there  are  examples  of  its  use  to  be  found 
in  some  of  our  well-known  authors.  It  is  in  common  use  at  the 
bar:  "  The  gentlemen,  I  think,  will  be  difficulted  to  find  a  parallel 
case." 

There  is  no  break  in  the  chain  of  vital  operation ;  and  consequently  we  are  not 
difficulted  at  all  on  the  score  of  the  relation  which  the  new  plant  bears  to  the  old. 
Bush  on  the  Resurrection,  p.  51. 

Dr.  Jamieson  has  the  verb  to  difficult  in  his  Scottish  Dictionary. 
Dig.    1.  A  diligent  student,  one  who  learns  his  lessons  by  hard  and 
long-continued  exertion.  —  HaWs  College  Words. 


176 


DIG 


There  goes  the  dig,  just  look! 

How  like  a  parson  he  eyes  his  book ! 

N.  Y.  Literary  World,  Oct.  11,  1851. 
By  this 't  is  that  we  get  ahead  of  the  diy. 
'Tis  not  we  that  prevail,  but  the  wine  that  we  swig. 

Amherst  Indicator,  Vol.  II.  p  252. 

2.  A  thrust.    "  Hit  him  a  dig.''''    In  vulgar  use. 

Digger,  Digger  Indian.  A  name  applied  to  various  wretched  tribes 
of  Indians,  of  California,  too  degraded  or  enfeebled  to  hunt.  They 
live  chiefly  upon  roots,  which  they  obtain  by  digging.  Hence  their 
name. 

Digging.  1.  A  word  first  used  at  the  Western  lead  mines,  to  denote  a 
place  where  the  ore  was  dug.  Instead  of  saying  this  or  that  mine, 
the  phrase  in  vogue  is  these  diggings  or  those  diggings. 

Mr.  Charles  F.  Holfman  visited  the  Galena  lead-mines,  and  while 
there  was  shown  about  to  the  various  estates,  where  the  people  were 
digging  for  ore.    The  person  who  accompanied  him  said:  — 

Mr.  ,  from  your  State,  has  lately  struck  a  lead,  and  a  few  years  will 

make  him  independent.  We  are  now,  you  observe,  among  his  digginys.  —  Win- 
ter  in  the  West,  Let.  25. 

The  principal  diggings  near  Hangtown  were  surface  diggings,  but,  with  the 
exception  of  river  diggings,  ever}^  kind  of  mining  was  seen  in  full  force.  —  Borth- 
wick's  California,  p.  120. 

In  California,  the  term  is  applied  to  places  near  gold  mines.  Wet 
diggings  are  near  rivers  or  wet  places.  Dry  diggings  are  upon  flats 
or  higher  lands  which  are  usually  dry. 

The  phrase  these  diggings  is  now  provincial  in  the  Western  States, 
and  is  occasionally  heard  in  the  Eastern,  to  denote  a  neighborhood 
or  particular  section  of  country. 

Boys,  fellars,  and  candidates,  I  am  the  first  white  man  ever  seed  in  these 
diggings.  I  killed  the  first  bar  [bear]  ever  a  white  skinned  in  the  county,  and 
am  the  first  manufacturer  of  whiskey,  and  a  powerful  mixture  it  is  too.  —  Robb, 
Squatter  Life. 

I  ain't  a  vain  man,  and  never  was.  I  hante  a  morsel  of  it  in  my  composition. 
I  don't  think  any  of  us  Yankees  is  vain  people;  it 's  a  thing  don't  grow  in  our 
diggings.  —  Sam  Slick  in  England,  ch.  24. 

2.  The  act  of  studying  hard;  diligent  application.  —  Hall. 

I've  had  an  easy  time  in  college,  and  enjoyed  the  "otium  cum  dignitate,"  — 
the  learned  leisure  of  a  scholar's  life,  —  always  despised  digging,  you  know.  — 
Harvard  Beg.,  p.  194. 

3.  Dear  or  costly;  as,  "A  mighty  digging  Tprice.^^  A  Southern 
word.  —  Sherwood's  Georgia. 

4.  To  dig  is  used  among  the  lower  classes  at  the  South  for  the 


DIL— DIN 


177 


act  of  dipping  or  rubbing  snuff.    A  friend  informs  me  that  to  dig 
is  more  common  than  to  dip  snuff. 
To  dill.    (Probably  the  same  as  to  dull.)    To  soothe.    The  word  is 
used  in  the  north  of  England. 

I  know  what  is  in  this  medicine.  It  '11  dill  fevers,  dry  up  sores,  stop  rheumatis, 
drive  out  rattlesnake's  bite,  kill  worms,  &c. — Margaret,  p.  140. 

Dime.    (Fr.  dixme  or  dvne^  tenth.)     A  silver  coin  of  the  United 
States,  in  value  the  tenth  of  a  dollar,  or  ten  cents. 

This  term,  peculiar  to  our  decimal  currency,  is  now  in  common 
use  at  the  South  and  West;  but  in  the  Eastern  and  Xorthern  States, 
Avhence  the  Spanish  real  and  half-real,  which  long  formed  a  large 
portion  of  the  circulation,  have  only  recently  been  banished,  it  is 
usually  called  a  ten-cent  piece,  and  the  half-dime  a  Jive-cent  piece. 

Small  articles  are  sold  in  the  New  Orleans  markets  by  the  picayune  or  dime's 
worth.  If  you  ask  for  a  pound  of  tigs,  you  will  not  be  understood ;  but  for  a 
dime^s  worth,  and  they  are  in  your  hands  in  a  trice.  —  Sketches  of'  New  Orleans, 
N.  Y.  Tribune. 

The  currency  [in  New  Orleans]  is  more  truly  national  than  that  of  any  other 
part  of  the  United  States.  Every  thing  sells  by  dimes  and  \\Q\i-dimes,  "bits  " 
and  "picayunes"  being  the  same  value;  and  as  for  copper  money,  I  have  not 
seen  the  tirst  red  cent.  —  Bayard  Taylor,  Letter  from  N.  0.,  July,  1849. 

Dimes.    Common  in  the  West  and  South  for  money.    "  She 's  got 

the  dimes;  "  i.  e.,  she  is  an  heiress. 
Dime  Novels.    Cheap,  trashy  novels  sold  for  a  dime  (ten  cents)  each. 

There  is  also  a  great  variety  of  song  books,  known  as  "  Dime  Song 

Books." 

Ding.    Very,  excessively.    A  Southern  word.    See  Darn. 

It  was  ding  hot ;  so  I  sot  down  to  rest  a  bit  under  the  trees.  —  Chron.  of  Pine- 
ville. 

Dingbat.    A  bat  of  wood  that  may  be  thrown  (dinged) ;  a  piece  of 
money ;  a  cannon-ball ;  a  bullet. 

Instead  of  feathers  and  bristles  flying  in  all  directions  [shooting  fowls],  it  has 
been  found  necessary  [by  the  United  States  government]  to  expend  the  dinybats, 
to  put  something  more  substantial  on  the  "fly  "  [in  motion]  to  bring  our  unruly 
relatives  to  their  P's  and  Q's. — N.  H.  Palladium,  Letter  from  U.  S.  Ship 
"  Cumberland,''  Dec.  25,  1861. 

Dinged.    Very,  excessively.    An  expletive  peculiar  to  the  South,  the 
equivalent  of  the  Northern  darned. 

You  know  it 's  adinged  long  ride  from  Pineville,  and  it  took  me  most  two  days 
to  get  there.  —  Major  Jones's  Courtship. 

Dingee,  Dinky.    Common  in  New  England  for  a  flat-bottomed  boat 

made  of  boards.    Used  indiscriminately  with  Dory. 

12 


178 


DIN— DIS 


Dingling.    Tottering;  insecure;  prob.  i.  q.  dangling. 

We  have  been  telling  our  readers  that  Federalism  is  just  now  in  a  very  dinyling 
■way,  while  the  "Express"  insists  that  the  Democracy  is  in  the  same  condition. 
—  N.  Y.  True  Sun,  Aug.  26,  1848. 

Dining-Room  Servant.    A  male  house-servant  or  waiter. 

Dip.    Sauce  for  puddings.  South-western. 

To  dip  Snuff.  A  mode  of  taking  tobacco,  practised  by  women  in 
some  parts  of  the  United  States,  and  particuhirly  at  the  South,  may 
be  thus  described:  A  little  pine  stick  or  bit  of  rattan  about  three 
inches  long,  split  up  like  a  brush  at  one  end,  is  first  wetted  and  then 
dipped  into  snuff;  with  this  the  teeth  are  rubbed,  sometimes  by  the 
hour  together.  Some  tie  the  snuff  in  a  little  bag,  and  chew  it. 
These  filthy  practices  originated  in  the  use  of  snuff  for  cleansing 
the  teeth. 

Dipper.  1.  A  vessel,  generally  with  a  handle,  used  to  dip  water  or  other 
liquor. 

2.  The  seven  bright  stars  in  the  constellation  of  the  Great  Bear; 
popularly  so  called  from  their  arrangement  in  the  form  of  a  dipper 
with  a  handle;  they  are  also  known  as  Charles's  Wain. 

3.  A  small  aquatic  bird,  common  throughout  the  United  States; 
also  called  the  Water-witch  and  Hell-diver.  (Horned  Grebe.  Xut- 
tall,  Ornith.)— iVa^.  Hist,  of  New  York. 

Dippers.    Those  who  use  snuff  as  above.    "  She 's  a  dipper. " 

Dipsy.  A  term  applied,  in  some  parts  of  Pennsylvania,  to  the  float  of 
a  fishing-line.  From  "deep  sea."  The  deep  sea  or  d ipsij  lea.d  is 
used  for  obtaining  soundings  off-shore  or  in  deep  water. 

Dirt.  This  word  is  used  more  commonly  and  frequently  with  us  than 
in  England,  to  denote  earth,  clay,  &c.  An  English  traveller  in  the 
United  States  observes  that  he  heard  a  man  speak  of  his  having 
wheeled  dirt,  to  repair  a  road.  A dirt  road,"  as  distinguished 
from  a  turnpike-road,  is  often  heard  in  the  West.  The  "  ^i>f-cart," 
or  cart  which  removes  street  sweepings,  would  in  London  be 
called  a  "dust-cart." 

In  Califarnia,  is  the  universal  word  to  signify  the  substance  dug, — 

earth,  clay,  gravel,  or  loose  slate.  The  miners  talk  of  rich  dirt  and  poor  dirt, 
and  of  stripping  off  so  many  feet  of  "top  dirt  "  before  getting  to  ''pay  dirt,"  the 
latter  meaning  dirt  with  so  much  gold  in  it  that  it  will  pay  to  dig  it  up  and  wash 
it.  —  B or th wick's  Calif urnia,  p.  120. 

Dirt-Eaters,  Dirt-Eating.    See  Clay-Eaters. 

Disciples  of  Christ.  Sometimes  called  Campbellites,  or  Reformers. 
As  is  usual  in  similar  cases,  the  brethren  who  unite  under  the  name 


DIS 


179 


of  Disciples  of  Christ,  or  Christians,  are  nicknamed  after  those  who 
have  been  prominent  in  gathering  them  together.  —  Encyc.  Religious 
Knoioledge. 

Mr.  Campbell,  the  author  of  the  above  "  article,"  affirms  that,  in 
1823,  the  Baptists  at  first  favored  his  views.  He  had  adopted  their 
leading  tenet.  The  editor  of  "  The  Christian  Reformer,"  Rev.  W. 
B.  Orvis,  "  was  originally  a  Baptist.  He  now  recognizes  no  New 
Testament  ordinances  to  be  binding  as  a  ritual  law,  in  that  respect 
agreeing  with  the  Friends."  Campbell  was  originally  a  Presby- 
terian. 

To  disfellowship.    To  dispossess  of  church-membership.    A  mon- 
strous word.    See  To  fellowship. 

No  person  that  has  been  disfellowshipped,  or  excommunicated  from  the  church, 
will  be  allowed  to  go  forth  in  the  dance  that  is  conducted  by  the  sanction  and 
authority  of  the  church.  —  Mormon  Regulation, published  in  the  Froiitier  (Iowa) 
Guardian,  Nov.  28,  1849. 

Disgruntled.    Disappointed;  disconcerted. 

Congressman  Carr  of  Indiana  was  not  brought  up  by  hand.  He  misses  no 
opportunity  of  getting  in  a  whack  at  his  disgruntled  party  friends.  —  A'".  Y. 
Ti-ibune,  Feb.  28,  1877. 

At  a  hearing  before  the  Legislative  Committee  of  Rhode  Island, 
on  the  subject  of  reducing  the  number  of  the  school  committee  of 
Providence,  Mr.  D.  R.  Ballou  made  a  speech  against  the  measure, 
in  which  he  said :  — 

We  have  had  enough  exercise  of  extraordinary  power,  and  this  continual 
grasping  after  authority  for  the  purpose  of  meeting  the  individual  case  of  some 
disgruntled  persons  should  receive  the  stamp  of  this  committee's  disapprobation. 
Providence  Journal,  March  1,  1877. 

The  men  of  all  others  most  inconsolable  in  view  of  the  election  of  Hayes  are 
the  disgruntled  Republicans  who  forsook  their  party  and  went  over  to  Tilden, 
counting  upon  his  success  and  the  rewards  he  was  to  bestow  on  them.  —  Orange 
{N.  J. )  Journal. 

We  have  also  heard  the  word  undisgruntled  used. 

Rev.  Dr.  Newman  Hall,  of  London,  tells  how  when  he  was  journeying  to 
Chicago,  an  apple-peddling  boy,  on  the  cars,  without  any  preliminaries  took  hold 
of  and  immediately  examined  his  breast-pin.  Nevertheless  the  reverend  gentle- 
man, quite  undisgruntled,  remarked,  "  Was  it  not  there  to  be  seen  V  Was  he  not 
a  man  and  a  brother?  "  — Springrfield  Republican,  Nov.  20,  1809. 

Disguised  in  Liquor,  or  simply  disguised.  Intoxicated. 

To  disremember.    To  forget.    Used  chiefly  in  the  Southern  States. 

"  Well,  I  disremember  about  that,"  said  the  Widow  Bedott,  "  but  I  do  remem- 
ber o' hearin'  you  blow  the  Elder  up  for  goin'  to  Baptist  meetin'."  —  Widow 
Btdott  Papers,  p.  129. 


180 


DIS— DIV 


It 's  a  curious  story,  and  I  '11  tell  you  all  of  it  I  can  think  on.  But  some 
things  perhaps  I  may  disi  emember.  —  Western  Tale,  N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

I  '11  thank  3'ou,  when  we  meet  again,  not  to  disremember  the  old  saying,  but 
let  every  man  skin  his  own  skunks.  —  David  Crockett. 

Distressed.  (Fron.  dis-tr ess'- ed.)  Miserable;  wretched.  Distressed 
man!  "  was,  and  perhaps  is,  a  favorite  exclamation  with  ladies  at 
the  North. 

"  Why,"  said  the  peddler  to  the  Widow  Bedott,  who  had  selected  an  article 
for  her  wedding-dress,  "a  body 'd  think  'twas  some everlastin'  old  maid,  instead 
of  a  handsome  young  widder  that  had  chosen  such  a  distressed  thing  for  a  weddin' 
dress."  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  313. 

District.    A  common  pronunciation  of  this  word  in  the  country  is 

DeestJ'ick. 

District  Courts.  In  American  law.  Courts  held  in  each  of  the 
thirty-five  districts  into  which  the  United  States  are  divided,  con- 
sisting each  of  a  single  judge,  and  which  act  both  as  courts  of  com- 
mon law  and  as  courts  of  admiralty. 

District  School.    A  public  or  free  school  within  a  district. 

District  Schoolmaster.    The  teacher  of  a  district  school. 

The  district  schoolmaster  hain't  got  a  friend  on  the  flat  side  of  earth.  The 
boys  snowball  him  during  recess  ;  the  girls  put  hot  water  in  his  hair-dye ;  and 
the  school-committee  make  him  work  for  half  the  money  a  bar-tender  gets,  and 
board  him  around  the  neighborhood,  where  they  give  him  rye  coffee,  sweetened 
with  molasses  to  drink,  and  codfish  balls  three  times  a  day  for  victuals. — Josh 
Billings''s  Works,  p.  325. 

Dite.    A  little  thing;  a  doit.    "  I  don't  care  a  dite.''^    New  England. 

Ditty-Bag.    A  sailor's  housewife,  containing  his  thread,  needles,  tape, 

&c.,  for  mending  his  clothes. 
Divide.    The  name  applied  by  Western  hunters  and  guides  to  a  ridge 

of  land  which  divides  waters  running  in  different  directions;  a 

dividing  ridge. 

We  commenced  to  ascend  another  divide ;  and,  as  we  approached  the  summit, 
the  narrow  valley  leading  to  it  was  covered  with  timber  and  long  grass.  — 
Emory's  New  Mexico  and  California,  p.  105. 

The  eastern  fork  [of  the  Arkansas]  skirts  the  base  of  the  range,  coming  from 
the  ridge,  called  the  divide,  which  separates  the  waters  of  the  Platte  from 
the  Arkansas.  —  Buxton's  Adventures,  p.  241. 

Continued  our  route  towards  an  opening  in  the  elevated  ridge  which  stretched 
across  our  path  in  a  direction  from  north  to  south,  called  the  divide.  — BartletVs 
Personal  Narrative,  Yol.  I.  p.  73. 

Divert.  This  word  expresses  fully  what  no  word  at  present  does. 
The  word  "  divide  "  is  not  etymologically  applicable,  as  it  does  not 
convey  the  idea  of  altitude  as  the  cause  of  separation ;  while  the 


DIX— DOC 


181 


word  dicoi't  implies  elevation,  the  cause  of  the  divortia  aquarum^ 
whence  its  derivation  also.  — Dr.  Antisell,  Geolog.  Rept,  Pacific  R.R, 
Survey,  Vol.  VII. 
We  think  the  word  watershed  expresses  the  meaning  as  fully. 

On  crossing  the  divortheUveen  the  small  stream,  a  tributary  of  the  Salinas,  and 
the  waters  of  the  San  Antonio,  this  bed  was  found  to  occupy  a  large  surface  and 
to  be  the  uppermost  rock.  —  Dr.  Antisell,  Ibid.,  p.  40. 

Disianic.    Noting  Dixie  and  what  pertains  to  it. 

Unless  the  blockade  is  raised  very  soon,  the  Dixianic  provinces  will  soon  be 
resolved  into  .  .  .  Egyptian  darkness.  —  Cincinnati  Gazette,  Feb.,  1862. 

Dixie,  Dixie  Land.    An  ideal  paradise  in  the  Southern  States. 

In  a  small  volume  entitled  Bryant's  "  Songs  from  Dixie's  Land  " 
is  the  following  note  on  the  origin  of  the  term  of  Dixie'' s  Land :  — 

"In  the  popular  mythology  of  New  York  City,  Dixie  was  the 
Negro's  paradise  on  earth  in  times  when  slavery  and  the  slave- 
trade  were  flourishing  in  that  quarter.  Dixie  owned  a  tract  of  land 
on  Manhattan  Island,  and  also  a  large  number  of  slaves ;  and  his 
slaves  increasing  faster  than  his  land,  an  emigration  ensued,  such 
as  has  taken  place  in  Virginia  and  other  States.  Naturally,  the 
Negroes  who  left  it  for  distant  parts  looked  to  it  as  a  place  of  un- 
alloyed happiness,  and  it  was  the  '  old  Virginny '  of  the  Negroes 
of  that  day.  Hence  Dixie  became  synonymous  with  an  ideal 
locality,  combining  ineffable  happiness  and  every  imaginable  requi- 
site of  earthly  beatitude." 

The  sweetest,  the  happiest  place  on  earth 
Is  Dixie,  sweet  Diode  the  land  of  my  birth. 
I  wish  I  was  in  de  land  of  cotton, 
'Simmon  seed  and  sandy  bottom  — 

Chortis.    Look  away  —  look  away  —  Dixie  Land. 
In  Dixie's  Land  whar  I  was  born  in. 
Early  on  one  frosty  mornin', 

Chortis.    Look  away  —  look  away  —  Dixie  Land. 

Negro  Melodies,  Dixie's  Land. 

Dobber.    A  float  to  a  fishing-line.    So  called  in  New  York. 

The  most  singular  luck  attended  Ten  Broeck,  who,  falling  overboard,  was  mi- 
raculously preserved  from  sinking  by  his  nether  garments.  Thus  buoyed  up,  he 
floated  on  the  waves  like  an  angler's  dobber,  &c.  —  Knickerbocker,  N.  York. 

DociouB.    A  corruption  of  docile,  as  "a  docious  young  man,''  "a 
docious  horse." 

I  was  so  mad  that  I  swore  just  nigh  on  to  half  an  hour,  right  straight  on  eend. 
I  can  hardly  keep  my  tongue  docious  now  to  talk  about  it.  —  Western  Life, 
N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

Docity.    (Fr.  docilite.)    A  low  word,  used  in  some  parts  of  the 


182 


DOC— DOG 


United  States  to  signify  quick  comprehension.  It  is  only  used  in 
conversation,  and  generally  with  a  negative,  thus  :  "  He  has  no 
docifi/.^^    It  is  a  provincial  word  in  England.  — Pickering. 

Dock.  We  often  apply  the  term  to  the  "  slip  "  or  space  between  two 
piers  for  the  reception  of  vessels.  It  is  believed  to  be  restricted  in 
England  to  an  enclosed  basin.  "  Balance  dock,^'  "  sectional  dock,'^ 
"  screw  dock,^^  are  none  of  them  really  docks,  but  contrivances  by 
which  vessels  are  raised  from  the  water  for  repair. 

Dock-Loafer.    A  loafer  that  hangs  about  the  docks. 

Dock-loafers,  rag-pickers,  wandering  gypsies,  wild  Indians.  —  The  Indepen- 
dent, March,  1862. 

Dockmackie.  {Viburnum  aceri folium').  Probably  named  by  the 
Dutch,  among  whom  the  plant  was  used  for  external  applications 
in  tumors,  &c.,  —  a  practice  learned  by  them  from  the  Indians. 

Dock  Walloper.  A  loafer  that  hangs  about  the  wharves.  New 
York. 

Doctor.    The  cook  on  board  a  ship  ;  so  called  by  seamen. 

To  doctor.    To  cook  up;  manage,  oversee,  modify. 

The  news  [of  success  to  the  United  Slates  armies,  said  the  English  leading 
journals]  all  came  through  Northern  channels,  and  was  doctored  by  the  govern- 
ment which  controlled  the  telegraph. — H.  Greeley,  in  the  N.  Y.  Independent, 
June,  1862. 

Dod  Fetched.    A  euphemistic  form  of  swearing. 

Liddy,  don't  be  so  pesky  starch,  I  '11  be  dod  fetched  if  I  meant  any  harm.  — 

Southern  Sketches. 

Dodger.  A  hard-baked  cake  or  biscuit.  Dead  and  garred,  i.  e.  thor- 
oughly done.  Dead  gar.  —  Thomson^  Eng.  Etymons.  See  Corn- 
Dodger  and  Beef- Dodger. 

Do  don't,  for  do  not  or  donH^  is  a  common  expression  in  Georgia  and 
South  Carolina,  and  not  by  any  means  confined  to  the  uneducated 
classes. 

Dod  rot  it,  Dod  drat  it.    Confound  it.    A  euphemistic  oath. 

He  began  cussin'  like  all  wrath,  and  says  he,  Dod  rot  that  old  Mike  Shouter.  — 
Southern  Sketches,  p.  31. 

Here  's  the  old  man  agoin'  to  give  you  another  wallopin'.  I  '11  cut  and  run, 
and  dot  drot  me  if  I  don't.  — Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature,  p.  60. 

To  dog.    To  hunt  with  dogs. 

What  is  to  be  the  fate  of  Soulouque  and  his  subjects  ?  How  long  will  it  take 
to  pick  a  quarrel  with  them,  and  when  will  regiments  from  the  South,  trained  at 
home  to  the  hunting  and  dogging  oi  fugitive  slaves,  achieve  what  Bonaparte  could 
not,  the  re-enslavement  of  Hayti,  and  wipe  out  in  blood  ''the  horrors  of  St. 
Domingo,"  the  standing  bugbear  of  emancipation  ?  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Nov.  8, 1854. 


DOG— DOL 


183 


Dog-gauned.    A  euphemistic  form  of  swearing.  Southern. 

If  there 's  a  doy-goned  abolitionist  aboard  this  boat,  I  should  like  to  see  him. 
I  'ni  the  man  to  put  a  chunk  o'  lead  into  his  wooU}'  head  right  off.  —  Gladstone^ 
EiKjlishman  in  Kansas,  p.  46. 

No,  says  I,  I  won't  do  no  sicli  dog  on  thing;  for  when  I  likes  a  chap,  I  likes 
him.    But  if  you  want  to  fight,  I 'm  your  man.  —  Southern  Sketches,  p.  33. 

Mr.  Carlton,  in  describing  the  reception  by  the  choir  of  the  new 
church  organ,  says :  — 

But  when  that  choir  got  up  to  sing, 

I  couldn't  catch  a  word ; 
They  sung  the  most  dog-yondest  thing 

A  body  ever  heard !  —  Farm  Ballads,  p.  80. 

Dogged.    A  euphemistic  oath;  as,  "I  '11  be  dogged  if  I  do  it." 

Doggery.  A  low  drinking-house.  West  and  South.  The  "  Cleve- 
land Plaindealer,"  in  speaking  of  the  riotous  proceedings  connected 
with  the  Erie  Railroad  troubles,  says:  — 

The  mob  crowded  the  sheriff  on,  and  drove  him  into  the  Key  Stone  Saloon,  a 
small  dogya'y,  where  they  kept  him  for  half  an  hour. 

Dog  my  Cat.    Small  swearing. 

Dog-Power.    1 .    Force  exerted  by  a  dog. 

2.  A  machine  for  churning  worked  by  a  dog.    "  The  dog  Carlo 

refused  to  go  on  the  dog-power/^    Such  machines  are  much  used  in 

Central  New  York,  and  probably  elsewhere. 
Dog's  Age.    A  long  time. 

Doings.  (Pron.  doins.)  Prepared  food;  victuals.  A  Western  vul- 
garism.   See  Chicken  Fixings. 

If  thar  wasn't  cold  doins  about  that  time  (in  the  mountains),  this  child  wouldn't 
say  so.  Thar  was  no  buffalo  and  no  meat,  and  we  had  been  livin'  on  our  mocca- 
sins for  weeks  ;  and  poor  doins  that  feedin'  is.  —  Buxton's  Life  in  the  Far  West, 
p.  17. 

Dollar  Mark  ($).  The  origin  of  this  sign  to  represent  the  dollar  has 
been  the  cause  of  much  discussion.  One  writer  says  it  comes  from 
the  letters  U.  S.  (United  States),  which,  after  the  adoption  of  the 
Federal  Constitution,  were  prefixed  to  the  Federal  currency,  and 
which  afterwards,  in  the  hurry  of  writing,  were  run  into  one 
another;  the  U  being  made  first  and  the  S  over  it.  Another,  that 
it  is  derived  from  the  contraction  of  the  Spanish  word  pesos,  dollars, 
or  pesos  fuertes,  hard  dollars.  A  third,  that  it  is  a  contraction  for 
the  Spanish  fuertes,  hard,  to  distinguish  silver  or  hard  dollars 
from  paper-money.  The  more  probable  explanation  is  that  it  is  a 
modification  of  the  figures  f ,  formerly  used  to  denote  a  piece  of 
eight  reals,  or,  as  a  dollar  was  then  called,  a  piece  of  eight. 


184 


DOL— DON 


As  to  my  boat,  it  was  a  very  good  one ;  and  that  he  saw,  and  told  me  he  would 
buy  it  of  me  for  the  ship's  use;  and  asked  me  what  I  would  have  for  it.  I  told 
him  that  I  could  not  ofter  to  make  any  price  of  the  boat,  but  left  it  entirely  to 
him ;  ui)on  which  he  told  me  he  would  give  me  a  note  of  hand  to  pay  me  eighty 
pieces  of  ei<jht  for  it  in  IJrazil.  He  offered  me  also  sixty  yweces  of  ei<jht  more  for 
my  boy  Xury,  which  I  was  loath  to  take  ;  not  that  I  was  not  willing  to  let  the 
captaii;  have  him,  but  I  was  loath  to  sell  the  poor  boy's  liberty,  who  had  assisted 
me  so  faithfully  in  procuring  my  own.  — Robinson  Crusoe,  sec.  4. 

A  variety  of  other  theories  will  be  found  in  the  "Historical 
Magazine,"  Vol.  I.  pp.  122,  186,  245. 
Doless.    Inefficient.    "  He 's  a  sort  of  a  fellow." 

Dolittle.    A  drone;  an  idle  person. 

Do  me.  Such  a  thing  will  do  me,  meaning  that  it  will  answer  my 
purpose. 

Domestics.    (Used  only  in  the  plural.)    Domestic  goods,  i.  e.  cotton 

goods  of  American  manufacture. 
To  donate.    To  give  as  a  donation;  to  contribute.    The  word  has 

only  recently  been  admitted  into  the  dictionaries  of  Worcester  and 

Webster. 

There  have  been  received  from  the  Foreign  Bible  Society  $7,000,  not  including 
$1,000  recently  donated.  — Baptist  Missionary  Herald,  Rep.  1846. 

The  display  of  articles  exhibited  [at  the  Fair  in  Albany]  was  very  tasteful  and 
attractive  ;  and  the  friends  of  the  cause  in  Massachusetts  and  other  places  donated 
liberally.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Nov  6,  1846. 

Mr.  Peabody  donates  to  the  city  of  Baltimore  an  institute  for  the  moral  and 
intellectual  culture  of  the  inhabitants.  — N.  Y.  Herald,  Feb.  19,  1857. 

Donation.  That  which  is  given  or  bestowed;  a  gift,  a  grant.  Do- 
nation is  usually  applied  to  things  of  more  value  than  presents.  — 
Webster. 

Webster  says  that  donation  is  usually  applied  to  things  of  more  value  than 
presents;  but  while  such  may  be  true  in  the  States,  I  have  known  it  applied  here 
to  a  basket  of  musty  cakes.  I  suppose  that  donation  has  a  certain  meaning  in 
law.  Its  most  ordinary  English  application  is  to  a  single  gift  in  money,  in  con- 
tradistinction to  the  periodical  payments  of  a  fixed  sum  or  subscription.  When 
applied  to  ajiresent,  public  or  private,  I  apprehend  such  an  application  of  the 
term  has  its  origin  in  mere  pomposity.  The  language  stands  in  no  need  of  such 
an  expression  so  long  as  we  have  our  old  Saxon  t/ift.  —  Rev.  A.  C.  Geikie,  Cana- 
dian Journal,  Sept.,  1857. 

Donation  Party.  A  party  consisting  of  the  friends  and  parishioners 
of  a  country  clergyman  assembled  together,  each  individual  bring- 
ing some  article  of  food  or  clothing  as  a  present  to  him.  Where 
the  salary  of  a  clergyman  is  small,  the  contributions  at  a  donation 
party  are  very  acceptable.  It  is  also  called  a  giving  party.  See 
Pound  Party. 


DON 


185 


In  the  Bedott  Papers  "  is  an  amusing  description  of  a  donation 
party  given  to  a  country  minister  who  had  a  salary  of  but  |400  a 
year.  On  this  occasion,  the  visitors  were  very  numerous,  and  the 
articles  presented  so  very  few  that  the  minister's  family  were  com- 
pelled to  contribute  the  larger  portion  of  the  refreshments.  The 
poor  clergyman  sent  in  his  resignation  immediately  after,  and,  on 
being  asked  by  a  deacon  for  the  reason  of  his  sudden  withdrawal, 
answered :  — 

I 've  been  your  pastor  two  years,  and  you 've  had  the  kindness  to  give  me  two 
donation 2}nrties.  I 've  stood  it  so  far,  but  I  can't  stand  it  any  longer;  brethren, 
I  feel  convinced  that  one  more  donation  party  would  completely  break  me  down, 
p.  271. 

Marietta  Holley,  in  her  amusing  book  called  "  My  Opinions  and 
Betsy  Bobbet's,"  has  an  amusing  account  of  a  donation  party. 

Some  folks  carried  the  littlest  things.  There  was  a  family  of  seven  hearty 
men  and  women,  and  all  they  carried  was  a  book-mark  of  perforated  paper  and 
a  plate  of  cookeys.  There  Avere  seven  book-marks  and  fourteen  pair  of  slips  for 
the  minister's  only  boy.  Of  course  there  were  some  other  things;  a  few  sassige, 
a  little  flour,  and  some  dried  blackberries.  —  Ibid.,  p.  207. 

Done,  instead  of  did;  as,  "I  done  it,"  "  They  done  the  business." 
A  common  vulgarism  in  the  State  of  New  York,  also  heard  in  the 
province  of  Leinster,  Ireland.  An  officer  wrote  to  his  general,  in 
the  late  war,  that  his  troops  "tZone  their  duty;"  and  in  certain 
letters  pui-porting  to  be  from  the  "upper  ten,"  in  praise  of  Dr. 
Townsend's  medicines,  we  read  that  "they  done  the  writers  great 
good." 

Done  with  a  past  participle,  as  "he's  done  come,  done  gone,  done 
said,  done  did  it,"  &c.,  is  a  Negro  vulgarism  frequently  heard  at 
the  South. 

Oh!  she  waked  me  in  the  mornin',  and  it 's  broad  day; 
I  look'd  for  my  canoe,  and  it 's  done  gone  away. 

Porter's  Tales  of  the  South-west,  p.  133. 

I 'm  mighty  easy  on  the  trigger,  and  the  next  mornin'  I  was  done  gone.  I 
kissed  the  old  woman,  spanked  the  children,  threaten'd  the  niggers,  promised 
the  overseer  a  new  covering  and  demijohn  of  red  eye  if  all  went  straight,  got  all 
my  little  fixins  together,  and  off  I  set.  —  N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

'•Why,  Tomtit,  what  upon  earth  is  this  for?  "  said  Nina. 

"Laws,  missis,  there's  been  a  gentleman  waiting  for  3'ou  these  two  hours. 
And,  missis,  she 's  done  got  on  her  best  cap,  and  gone  down  in  the  parlor  for 
him."  —  Afrs.  Stowe,  Dred,  Vol.  I.  p.  139. 

**  How  d'y  Miss  Kate,"  returned  Bob,  grinning ;  "  Uncle  Pete  is  done  dead  and 
buried." 

'*  Is  that  a  fact  ?  "  asked  Mr.  Mitchell,  looking  out. 

"Fac  truf,  Mas'r !  an'  what 's  more.  Aunt  Milly  is  like  to  die  too;  she 's  gruv 
herself  nearly  to  death  'bout  it."  — Emma  Bartlttt. 


186 


DON— DOO 


When  you  come  in  too  late  for  the  early  breakfast  at  a  Texas  hotel,  the  sable 
attendant  will  tell  you  "dey's  all  done  had  breakfast  an  hour  ago."  A  thing 
is  never  done  in  Texas,  it  is  done  done.  A  person  has  never  gone  anywhere, 
but  done  yune.  And  if  the  waiter  tells  you  he  has  really  done  something  you 
have  employed  him  to  do,  he  will  say  that  he  has  "(/one  yone  and  done  done  it." 
His  power  of  assertion  can  g^  no  further.  — Texas  Cor.  Chicayo  Tribune. 

Donock.  A  stone;  a  term  almost  peculiar  to  Arkansas,  though  usei 
more  or  less  throughou^-the  South.    In  the  West  it  is  Dornick. 

Then  bring  me  a  couple  of  donocks, 
Place  them  at  my  head  and  my  toe, 
And  do  not  forget  to  write  on  it 

The  name  of  old  Kosin-the-bow.  — Sony,  Rosin  the  Bow. 

Do-Nothing.  An  idle,  worthless  fellow,  who  will  take  his  ease  in 
his  own  way,  and  labor  only  when  compelled  to. 

Every  New  England  village,  if  you  only  think  of  it,  must  have  its  do-nothiny 
as  regularly  as  it  has  its  school-house  or  meeting-house.  —  Mrs.  Stowe,  Oldtown 
Folks,  eh.  iv. 

There  is  on  the  face  of  the  earth  no  do-notliiny  whose  softness,  idleness,  general 
Inaptitude  of  labor,  and  universal  shiftlessness  can  compare  with  that  of  this 
worth}'  as  found  in  a  brisk  Yankee  village.  —  Ibid.,  ch.  iv. 

The  Rip  Van  Winkle  of  Irving  is  a  good  specimen  of  the  do- 
nothing  class  of  village  idlers. 

Don't  amount  to  much.  In  speaking  of  a  person  of  little  account, 
or  one  of  no  consequence,  it  is  common  to  say,  "  He  don't  amount 
to  much."    In  England,  they  would  say  "no  great  shakes." 

Don't  know.    Often,  indeed  generally,  pronounced  dunno. 

Don't  know  as  I  know.  These  expressions  are  often  used  intro- 
ductorily  in  reply  to  a  question.  One  asks  a  question,  when  the 
reply  is,  "Wall,  don't  know  as  I  know,"  though  pronounced 
Dono-zi-no.    A  story  told  in  Salem,  Mass.,  runs  thus:  — 

A  West  India  merchant  described  to  an  English  friend  the  Yankees  as  being 
remarkable  for  their  want  of  information ;  they  didn't  know  what  they  had,  and 
they  readily  confessed  to  that  effect.  The  friend  was  incredulous,  but  at  that 
moment  a  Yankee  skipper  entered  the  counting-room,  was  asked,  "  What  have 
you  brought  this  time?"  and  replied  "Well,  I  don't  know:  onions,  flour,  »&c." 
Said  the  merchant  to  his  friend,  "  Didn't  I  tell  you  the  truth  ?  " 

I  don't  know  as  I  shan't,  for  I  don't  know  but  I  shall.  This  un- 
couth expression,  Mr.  Hurd  says,  is  very  common  in  the  eastern 
towns  of  Massachusetts,  near  Cape  Cod.  —  Grammatical  Corrector. 

Don't  see  it.  /  donH  see  it  is  a  very  common  expression,  equivalent 
to  dissent. 

Doodle.    A  Yankee-doodle ;  a  Yankee;  a  Unionist. 


DOO— DOU 


187 


Whoop !  the  Doodles  have  broken  loose, 

Roariijg  round  like  the  very  deuce ! 
Want  a  weapon  ?    Wliy,  capture  one ! 

Ever}^  Doodle  has  got  a  gun, 
Belt,  and  bayonet,  bright  and  new,  — 

Kill  a  Doodle,  and  capture  two. 

Rockinyham  Virg.  Register,  War  Song. 

Doodle  Bugs.    A  kind  of  beetles  which  live  in  holes  in  the  ground. 

By  calling  doodle  several  times  near  their  holes,  it  is  said  the  bugs 

will  come  out.  Louisiana. 
To  doom.    To  tax  at  discretion.    A  New  England  term. 

When  a  person  neglects  to  make  a  return  of  his  taxable  property 

to  the  assessors  of  a  town,  those  officers  doom  him;  that  is,  judge 

upon,  and  fix  his  tax  according  to  their  discretion.  — Pickering. 

The  estates  of  all  merchants,  shopkeepers,  and  factors,  shall  be  assessed  b}-- 
the  rule  of  common  estimation,  according  to  the  will  and  doom  of  the  assessors. 
—  Massachusetts  Colony  Laws,  p.  14,  ed.  1660. 

Doomage.  A  penalty  or  fine  for  neglect.  Laws  of  New  Hampshire.  — 
Webster. 

Door-Rook.    The  door  stone  or  step.  Western. 

Doree.    A  fish  commonly  called  John  Dory  with  us  as  in  England. 

This  last  name  is  a  corruption  of  the  French  jaune  doree.,  golden 

yellow,  which  is  the  color  of  the  fish. 
Dory.    A  kind  of  boat  for  fishermen. 

Doted.    Changed,  or  half  rotten ;  as,  "  doted  wood. "    West  and  South. 

Do  tell !  A  vulgar  exclamation  common  in  New  England,  and  synony- 
mous with.  Really!  Indeed  !  Is  it  possible! 

A  bright-eyed  little  demoiselle  from  Virginia  came  running  into  the  dairy  of  a 
country-house  in  New  Hampshire,  at  which  her  mother  was  spending  the  sum- 
mer, with  a  long  story  about  a  most  beautiful  butterfly  she  had  been  chasing; 
and  the  dairy-maid,  after  hearing  the  story  through,  exclaimed.  Do  tell  1  The 
child  immediately  repeated  the  story,  and  the  good-natured  maid,  after  hearing 
it  through  a  second  time,  exclaimed  again,  in  a  tone  of  still  greater  wonder.  Do 
tell!  A  third  time  the  story  was  told,  and  the  third  time  came  the  exclamation 
of  wonder,  Do  tell  !  The  child's  spirits  were  dashed,  and  she  went  to  her  mother 
with  a  sad  tale  about  Ruth's  teasing  her;  while  poor  Ruth  said  that  "those 
dnown  country  gals  were  so  strange  ;  keep  telling  me  the  same  thing  over  and 
over.    I  never  see  any  thing  like  it!  "  —  iV.  Y.  Com.  Adv. 

Double.  A  flower  the  number  of  whose  petals  is  increased  by  culti- 
vation is  said  to  be  double;  when  the  increase  is  vei-y  great,  it  is 
termed  very  double ! 

Double-Ender.  A  kind  of  steam  gunboat  built  and  employed  dur- 
ing the  late  civil  war,  round  at  both  ends. 

Double-Horse.     Doing  or  attempting  to  do  two  things  at  once; 


188 


DOU 


twaddling;  having  a  two-faced  character  or  position.  See  One- 
Horse. 

Members  of  Congress  who  perforin  the  great  double-horse  act  of  riding  both 
[Gen.  Fremont's]  proclamation  and  Halleclt's  General  Order  No.  3  [regarded 
as  contradictory  to  or  inconsistent  with  said  Proclamation].  —  N.  Y.  Tribune^ 
Dec.  27,  1861. 

Double-jadsd.    To  ride  double-jaded  is  to  ride  with  a  pillion. 
Double  Ripper.    Two  sleds  from  six  to  ten  feet  apart  connected  by  a 

plank,  upon  which  boys  slide  down  hill.     Many  accidents  have 

been  caused  by  their  use.    Also  called  a  Douhler. 

The  double-ripj^er  now  is  laid  aside  with  other  engines  of  calamity.  —  News- 
pajMr. 

Dough.    Dough-facism ;  semi-secessionism ;  want  of  loyalty. 

The  Rhode  Islanders  should  have  given  us  our  Loyalt}^  and  our  Dough  oa 
separate  plates  ;  for  the  strongest  stomachs  will  hardly  relish  such  a  salmagundi 
as  this.  — iV.  Y.  Tribune,  Feb.  27,  1862. 

Dough-Faces.  A  contemptuous  nickname,  applied  to  the  i^orthern 
favorers  and  abettors  of  negro  slavery.  The  term  generally  means 
a  pliable  politician,  one  who  is  accessible  to  personal  influences 
and  considerations.  It  was  first  applied,  however,  by  John  Ran- 
dolph of  Roanoke  to  such  Northern  members  of  Congress  as  mani- 
fested especial  willingness  to  fall  in  with  the  views  and  demands  of 
the  South  on  questions  involving  the  "  peculiar  institution."  Speak- 
ing of  the  Northern  Democrats,  he  bitterly  said:  — 

I  knew  that  these  men  would  give  way.  They  were  scared  at  their  own  dough- 
faces, —  yes,  they  were  scared  at  their  own  dough-faces.  We  had  them ;  and,  if 
■we  had  wanted  more,  we  could  have  had  them. 

The  truth  is  that,  while  the  Southerners  need  and  are  willing  to  pay  for  the 
services  of  the  dough-faces,  they  dislike  their  persons  and  despise  their  discourse. 
JV.  Y.  Tiibune,  April,  1848. 

Thanks  to  a  kind  Providence  and  the  manly  straightforwardness  of  John  C. 
Calhoun,  the  great  question  of  extension  or  non-extension  of  human  slavery 
under  the  flag  of  this  republic  is  to  be  pressed  to  a  decision  now.  Desperate, 
idolatrous,  and  blind  as  is  his  devotion  to  slavery,  we  would  sooner  see  him 
President  to-morrow  than  any  dough-face  in  the  Union. 

This  term  has  also  been  applied  to  Southern  men  w^ho  are  false 
to  the  principles  of  slavery,  as  Northern  dough-faces  are  to  the 
principles  of  freedom. 

There  was  a  disposition  in  the  Senate  to  evade  the  question,  — to  slip  a  bill  for 
the  establishment  of  the  Oregon  territory  through  the  Senate,  without  calling 
attention  to  the  slavery  question,  and  under  the  immediate  pressure  of  the  demand 
made  for  the  military  defence  of  the  territory  from  the  Indians  The  Whigs  of 
the  North  and  of  the  South  were  silent.  The  Democratic  Cass  men  of  the  North 
and  of  the  South  were  mum.  Two-thirds  of  the  Senate  were  dough-faced.  There 
«tre  Southern  as  well  as  Northern  dough-faces;  men  looking  to  the  spoils  care 


DOU— DOW 


189 


not  for  principles,  whether  they  be  of  the  North  or  of  the  South. —  Washing- 
ton Cor.  N.  Y.  Com.  Adv.,  June  4,  1848. 

Dough-Facism.    Truckling  to  the  slave  power. 

The  slaveholders  will  cling  to  the  institutions  of  slavery  as  long  as  new  markets 
are  being  opened  for  their  slaves.  Let  the  people  of  the  free  States  see  to  it  that 
it  is  circumvented  by  every  reasonable  means.  If  they  are  firm,  the  douyh-facism 
of  their  representatives  will  be  cured.  — Letter  of  J.  C.  Snodyrass,  oj'  Baltimore, 
1849. 

Dough-Head.    A  soft-pated  fellow,  a  fool. 

Doughnut.  A  small,  roundish  cake,  made  of  flour,  eggs,  and  sugar, 
moistened  with  milk,  and  boiled  in  lard.  —  Webster.  According  to 
Halliwell,  the  term  donnut  is  used  in  Hertshire,  to  denote  a  pancake 
made  of  dough  instead  of  batter.  In  speaking  of  the  preparations 
for  a  picnic,  Mr.  Shillaber  says: 

And  then  he  lays  in  lots  of  pickings. 
Mammoth  douyhnuts,  legs  of  chickens  ; 
For  prices  down  at  Hampton  Beach 
Are  very  much  beyond  his  reach.  — Poems. 

]VIr.  Elliott,  in  describing  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  olden 
time  in  New  England,  says:  — 

At  the  supper-table  many  a  sweet  thing  was  whispered  behind  a  douyhniit, 
and  many  a  sentiment  tucked  in  a  pie.  — New  Enyland  History,  Vol.  I.  p.  468. 

Hannah  is  a  smart,  willin'  gall,  and  a  rael  worker,  and  a  prime  cook  into  the 
bargain ;  but  let  her  alone  for  in  the  douyhnut  line  and  for  pumpkin  pies.  — 
McClintock' s  Tales. 

Dove.  Dived.  Very  common  among  seamen,  and  not  confined  to 
them.  The  Rev.  A.  C.  Geikie  says:  In  England,  when  a  swimmer 
makes  his  first  leap,  head  foremost,  into  the  water,  he  is  said  to  dive, 
and  is  spoken  of  as  having  dived,  in  accordance  with  the  ordinary 
and  regular  construction  of  the  verb.  Not  so,  however,  is  it  with 
the  modern  refinements  of  our  Canadian  English.  In  referring  to 
such  a  fact  here,  it  would  be  said,  not  that  he  dived,  but  that  he 
dove.  Even  Longfellow  makes  use  of  this  form  —  so  harsh  and 
unfamiliar  to  English  ears  —  in  the  musical  measures  of  his  Hia- 
watha :  — 

"  Straight  into  the  river  Kwasind 
Plunged  as  if  he  were  an  otter. 
Dove  as  if  he  Avere  a  beaver,"  &c. 

Canadian  Journal,  Sept.,  1857. 

Dowd.  A  woman's  night-cap,  composed  of  two  pieces  of  cloth,  the 
seam  running  from  the  forehead  to  the  neck.  It  is  sometimes  called 
a  "  squaw-shaped  cap."  New  York.  The  word  is  used  in  the  same 
sense  in  Devonshire,  England. 


190 


DOW— DRA 


Down.  A  low  condition;  feeling  less  sang-uine  than  is  usual;  as 
"  Up  "  denotes  a  condition  or  state  of  mind  higher  than  is  usual. 
"  He  has  his  ups  and  downs."  "  The  ups  and  downs  of  business." 
See  at  In. 

Down  Cellar,  for  down  in  or  into  the  cellar,  is  a  common  New  England 
expression.    So,  too,  is  "up  garret." 

Down  Country.  Used  in  the  interior  to  denote  on  or  toward  the  sea- 
board; occasionally,  the  sea-board,  or  the  land  near  a  river's  mouth. 
Comp.  Up  Country^  &c. 

Down  East.    1 .  In  or  into  the  Eastern  States,  i.  e.  New  England. 
2.  Maine,  sea-coast  of  Massachusetts,  and  New  Hampshire. 

"We  have  never  heard  of  better  missionary  ground  than  down  East ;  the  people 
int''llic:ent,  the  climate  healthful,  the  villages  numerous  and  wealthy.  —  A''.  Y. 
Christian  Enquirer,  Sept.  9,  18-48. 

Mr.  Hill,  in  one  of  his  visits  down  East,  was  belated  one  evening,  and  was 
compelled  to  seek  shelter  in  a  farm-house.  —  G.  H.  Hill,  Tales. 

Down  Easter.    1.  A  New  Englander. 

2.  Properly,  as  used  in  Massachusetts,  a  native  or  resident  of 
Maine. 

Down  upon.    To  be  down  upon  is  to  seize  with  avidity,  as  a  bird  of 
prey  would  pounce  doion  upon  its  victim.    Alluding  to  the  state  of 
the  poultry  market,  the  "  New  York  Tribune  "  says:  — 
The  boarding-house  keepers  are  down  upon  geese. 

This  phrase  is  also  used  to  express  disapprobation,  dislike,  or 
enmity;  as,  "I  '11  be  down  upon  you,"  i.  e.  I  '11  come  up  with  you, 
or  pay  you  off  for  some  injury  or  insult,  &c.  A  common  expression 
at  the  West  is,  "I  '11  be  down  upon  you  like  a  thousand  of  brick." 
To  doxologize.  To  give  glory  to  God,  as  in  doxology;  to  praise 
with  doxologies.  —  Webster. 

No  mstance  is  to  be  found  in  which  primitive  Christians  doxologized  the  spirit 
of  God  as  a  person.  —  Christian  Disciple,  Vol.  II.  p.  295. 

Mr.  Pickering  says  he  "  never  met  with  the  word  in  any  other 
American  work  nor  in  any  English  publication,  but  that  it  may 
possibly  be  a  part  of  the  professional  language  of  divines."  Mr.  P. 
further  observes  that  he  found  it  in  the  early  editions  of  the  diction- 
aries of  Ash  and  Bailey,  from  which  it  was  afterwards  discarded. 
Drag  out.  A  "knock  down  and  drag  out''''  is  a  fight  carried  to 
extremities.  The  term  drag  out  seems  to  be  also  used  at  the  South, 
to  denote  a  bully,  a  tearer. 

"Knock  down  and  drag  out,  — 
Carry  on  the  war,  boys."  —  Old  War  Song  of\%\Z. 


DRA— DRE 


191 


Set  to  your  partner,  Dolly,  —  cut  him  out,  Jim,  —  Sal  does  put  her  foot  down 
good.  The  yallow  roan 's  up!  He 's  a  rael  storraer,  ring  clipper,  snow  belcher, 
and  drag  out.  —  Southern  Sketches. 

Dragged-out.    Fatigued;  exhausted;  worn  out  with  labor. 

Drat  it.  To  curse  a  thing.  Derived,  probably,  from  the  expression 
"Odd  rot  it." 

To  draw  a  Bead.  To  take  aim  with  a  rifle,  by  gradually  raising  the 
front  sight,  called  the  bead,  to  a  level  with  the  hind  sight. 

One  look  from  the  Colonel  brought  White's  rifle  up  to  his  cheek;  he  drew  a 
bead  on  him  mighty  quick,  and  the  lawyer  stopped  his  lumbering  and  moved  off. 
N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Tirnes,  Western  Tale. 

The  Missourians,  with  their  long,  five-foot  barrel  rifles,  which  were  their  con- 
stant companions,  could  draw  a  bead  on  a  deer,  a  squirrel,  or  the  white  of  an 
Indian's  eye,  with  equal  coolness  and  certainty  of  killing.  —  Borthwick's  Calif or- 
nian,  p.  151. 

The  moon  rose,  .  .  .  and  rifle  in  hand  we  approached  the  trees  where  the 
unconscious  birds  were  roosting.  Creeping  along  the  round,  I  raised  my  rifle 
and  endeavored  to  obtain  a  sight,  but  the  light  was  too  obscure  to  draw  a  bead. 
Ruodon's  Adventures  in  Mexico.,  p.  181. 

To  draw  a  Straight  Furrow.  A  metaphor  taken  from  the  plough- 
man. Also,  "  to  run  a  straight  furrow."  To  mind  one's  own  busi- 
ness; to  do  one's  proper  work,  without  turning  aside  or  being 
diverted  to  "side  issues;  "  to  go  straight  ahead. 

Governor  B.  is  a  sensible  man ; 

He  stays  to  his  home  and  looks  arter  his  folks ; 
He  draws  his  furrow  as  straight  as  he  can. 

And  into  nobody's  tater-patch  pokes. 

Lowell,  The  Biglow  Papers. 

Dreadful.  Very,  exceedingly.  This  and  the  words  awful,  terrible., 
de.<iperate,  monstrous,  &c.,  are  indiscriminately  used  by  uneducated 
people  for  the  purpose  of  giving  emphasis  to  an  expression. 

I  never  see  a  woman  on  the  road  so  dreadfuU  late,  in  all  the  days  of  my  'ver- 
gall  life.    Who  are  you  V  —  Madam  KnighV s  Journal  (1704),  p.  12. 

A  con-espondent  says,  "  I  shall  never  forget  how  emphatically  a 
man  in  about  1842  said  what  I  did  not  understand,  'Dr.  Fisk  [of 
New  Braintree,  Mass.]  is  a  dreadful  good  man.'  " 

There  was  a  swod  of  fine  folks  at  Saratoga,  and  dreadful  nice  galls.  —  Major 
Downiny^s  Letter,  p.  3.5. 

It 's  a  fact.  Major,  the  public  has  a  dreadful crA\\xi'  appetite  for  books.  —  Ibid., 
May-day  in  N.  F.,  p.  4. 

The  young  ladies  thought  Mr.  Harley's  new  storekeeper  a  dreadful  nice  young 
man,  if  he  hadn't  such  a  horrid  nose.  —  Chronicles  of  Pineville. 

She  was  a  dreadful  good  creature  to  work.  —  Mrs.  Clavera. 


192 


DRE— DRI 


It  is  used  in  the  same  way  in  England,  in  the  "Westmoreland  and 
Cumberland  dialects :  — 

I  send  to  this  an,  to  tell  thee  amackily  what  dreadful  fine  things  I  saw  i'  th' 
road  tuv  at  yon  Dublin.  —  Poems  and  Glossary,  p.  125. 

Dress.    A  woman's  gown. 

To  dress.  To  dress  to  death,  dress  to  kill,  dress  to  the  nines,  and,  in 
the  South,  to  dress  up  drunk,  are  women's  phrases,  which  signify  to 
overdress,  dress  to  excess. 

When  you  see  a  gentleman  tipteering  along  Broadway,  with  a  lady  wiggle- 
wagging  by  his  side,  and  both  dressed  to  kill,  as  the  vulgar  would  say,  you  may 
say  that  he  looks  out  for  himself  and  takes  care  of  A.  No.  1.  —  Dow's  Sermons, 
Vol.  I.  p.  208. 

Dressing.    Stuffing;  forced  meat;  gravy. 

Drink.  A  river.  "The  Big  Drink  is  a  common  term  applied  by 
South-western  people  to  the  Mississippi  River. 

The  old  boat  was  a  rouser,  — the  biggest  on  the  drink,  had  the  best  officers, 
and  paid  the  best  prices.  —  Major  Bunkum,  in  N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

He  kept  shoving  the  boat  out,  and  the  first  thing  I  knowd,  down  I  went,  ker- 
wash,  into  the  drink.  —  Southern  Sketches,  p.  36. 

About  evenin'  I  got  my  small  dug-out,  and,  fixin'  my  rifle  in  the  fore  eend,  I 
jest  paddled  over  the  diink.  —  A  Niyht  on  the  Missouri. 

Drinking.    "  He 's  a  drinking  man,"  i.  e.  a  toper. 

Drinks.    Mixed  Drinks.    See  Liquors. 

Drive.  1.  In  Texas,  the  annual  gathering  of  large  herds  of  cattle  for 
the  purpose  of  branding.    This  is  provided  for  by  law  in  California. 

See  Rodeo  and  Judges  of  the  Plain. 

When  a  regular  drive  is  made,  a  dozen  neighbors,  from  twenty  miles  or  more 
about,  assemble  at  a  place  agreed  upon,  each  man  bringing  two  or  three  extra 
horses.  These  are  driven  before  the  companv,  and  form  the  nucleus  of  the  cattle 
herd  collected.  They  first  drive  the  outer  part  of  the  circuit,  within  which  their 
cattle  are  supposed  to  range,  the  radius  of  which  is  here  about  forty  miles.  All 
cattle  having  their  marks,  and  all  calves  following  their  cows,  are  herded  and 
driven  to  pens  which  have  been  prepared.  They  are  absent  from  two  to  three 
weeks  upon  the  first  drive,  usually  contriving  to  arrive  by  night  at  a  pen  in 
which  the  stock  are  enclosed,  otherwise  guarding  them  in  the  open  prairie. 
When  the  vicinity  of  a  house  is  reached,  the  cattle  are  divided.  The  calves  are 
branded,  and  all  turned  loose  again.  —  Olmsted's  Texas,  p.  369. 

2.  The  great  mass  of  logs  accumulated  during  the  winter  near  a 
stream  for  the  purpose  of  being  floated  down  to  tide-water  in  the 
following  spring.    Maine  and  Canada. 

Driver.    1.  He  or  that  which  drives;  a  coachman,  a  carman.  —  Wor- 
cester. In  England,  the  driver  of  a  carriage  is  called  a  "  coachman." 
2.  A  negro-driver,  an  overseer  of  slaves  on  a  plantation. 


DRI— DRO 


193 


The  estates  [of  the  planters]  were  managed  by  overseers,  who  directed  the 
agricultural  operations  and  managed  the  slaves  through  colored  deputies  called 
drivers.  —  South  Carolina  Society,  Atlantic  Monthly  for  1877,  p.  671. 

3.  Among  lumbermen,  the  man  who  directs  the  floating  or  driving 
of  logs  and  timber  from  the  woods  where  cut  down  a  river  to  navi- 
gable waters.     Maine  and  Canada. 

Throughout  this  long  and  painful  journey,  the  driver  is  ever  present,  constantly 
hovering  near  his  precious  charge  ;  now  working  for  hours  in  the  chilling  water, 
where  the  ice  runs  in  masses,  lifting  with  heavy  pikes,  &c.  —  Harper's  May., 
Vol.  XX.  p.  449. 

To  drive  the  River.  An  expression  used  by  lumbermen,  meaning  to 
direct  the  passage  of  rafts,  logs,  or  timber  down  a  river  to  tide-water. 
It  is  a  hazardous  business,  and  requires  men  of  great  experience. 
Maine  and  Canada. 

How  glad  I  am,  dear  Tom,  that  you  have  obtained  a  substitute  to  drive  the 
river,  instead  of  going  down  yourself;  you  will  be  home  sooner,  and  escape  the 
many  dangers  of  the  river.  — Hai-per's  Mag  ,  Vol.  XX.  p.  448. 

Drive- Way.  1.  A  passage;  as  from  the  passage  to  one's  stable,  or 
into  a  yard. 

2.  An  unfloored  strip  of  ground  covered  with  a  hay-loft  used  in 
stage-coach  days  at  hotels,  &c. 

3.  A  passage  overhung  with  a  roof  to  shelter  church-goers  alight- 
ing at  the  side  door  of  a  church.    New  England. 

Driving  Park.  Euphemistic  designation  of  a  race-course;  ground 
appropriated  to  horse-racing.  "A  five-mile  race  at  the  Driving- 
Park.  ' '  —  Boston  Journal. 

To  be  driving  at.  "What  are  you  driving  atV^  that  is,  what  are 
you  about?  what  object  have  you  in  view?  A  colloquial  expres- 
sion, in  very  common  use. 

We  confess  that  we  are  exceedingly  puzzled  to  know  exactly  what  our  long- 
cherished  friend  is  driving  at,  in  his  repeated  discussions  of  the  question  above 
involved.  —  N.  Y.  Com.  Advertiser. 

People  ludicrate  my  situation,  and  say  they  don't  know  what  the  deuce  I 'm 
dHving  at.  — NeaPs  Charcoal  Sketches. 

"I  have  heard  enough  now,"  said  the  recorder,  "to  know  what  you  and  he 
would  be  driving  at.''  —  Pickings  from  the  Picayune,  p.  135. 

Droger  or  Drogher.  (Dutch,  draager,  a  carrier,  a  porter.)  Lumber 
droger,  cotton  droger,  &c.  A  vessel  built  solely  for  burden,  and 
for  transporting  cotton,  lumber,  and  other  heavy  articles. 

Drop.  The  top-front  of  pantaloons.  See  the  name  formerly  used  for 
the  same  part,  at  Fall. 

Drop  Game.    A  trick  practised  by  the  light-fingered  gentry  of  New 

13 


194 


DRO— DUB 


York  and  other  Eastern  cities  on  their  country  cousins.  One  drops 
a  pocket-book  containing  a  large  roll  of  bank-notes  a  short  distance 
before  an  approaching  stranger,  which  a  confederate  picks  up  just 
as  the  stranger  is  about  to  do  so.  He  opens  the  roll,  affects  surprise 
at  his  discovery,  manifests  sympathy  for  the  loser,  and  tells  the 
stranger  that,  being  about  to  leave  town,  he  will  surrender  it  to 
him  for  |10  or  ^20,  on  condition  that  he  will  advertise  it  and  en- 
deavor to  find  the  owner.  Greenhorn  eagerly  snaps  at  the  tempt- 
ing bait;  but  on  reaching  his  hotel  finds,  of  course,  that  he  is  the 
possessor  of  a  package  of  spurious  money. 

Drop-Letter.  A  letter  dropped  into  the  post-office  for  a  resident  of 
the  same  place,  and  which  is  therefore  not  to  be  mailed. 

Drummer.  A  person  employed  by  city  houses  to  solicit  the  custom  of 
country  merchants.    See  Drumming. 

Drumming,  in  mercantile  phrase,  means  the  soliciting  of  customers. 
It  is  chiefly  used  in  reference  to  country  merchants,  or  those  sup- 
posed to  be  such.  Instead  of  patiently  waiting  for  these  persons  to 
come  and  purchase,  the  merchant  or  his  clerk  goes  to  them  and 
solicits  their  custom.  In  this  manner,  the  sale  of  goods  is  often 
expedited ;  and  though  the  practice  of  drumming  is  held  by  some  to 
be  neither  very  modest  nor  very  dignified,  still  it  must  be  owned  to 
add  very  largely,  in  certain  cases,  to  the  amount  of  goods  sold. 
Indeed,  without  drumming,  it  is  suspected  that  sundry  houses  which 
make  a  remarkable  show  and  noise  would  do  very  little  business. 

The  expenses  of  drumming  amount  to  no  small  sum.  Besides 
employing  extra  clerks  and  paying  the  extra  price  for  their  board 
at  the  hotels,  the  merchant  has  to  be  very  liberal  with  his  money  in 
paying  for  wdne,  oyster  suppers,  theatre  tickets,  and  such  other 
means  of  conciliating  the  favor  of  the  country  merchant  as  are  usu- 
ally resorted  to  by  drurrmers.  — Perils  of  Pearl  Street,  ch.  9. 

Drunk.  A  drinking  bout.  The  expression  is  common,  "  Such  a 
one  is  on  a  big  drunk. 

Dry  up.  1.  To  be  or  become  cheerful.  2.  To  be  silent;  to  "  hush  up." 

Dubersome.  Doubtful.  A  vulgarism  common  in  the  interior  of  New 
England.    Duberous  is  used  in  England. 

I  have  been  stvidyin'  Tattersall's  considerable,  to  see  whether  it  is  g  safe  shop 
to  trade  in  or  no.  But  I 'm  dubersome  ;  I  don't  like  the  cut  of  the  sporting  folks 
here.  —  Sam  Slick  in  Enyland,  ch.  28. 

Before  noon,  rain  came,  and  then  the  pilot  muttered  that  he  felt  dubersome 
about  the  appearances.  —  Lieutenant  Wise,  Scampavia,  p.  18. 

Dubous    A  mispronunciation  of  dubious. 


DUD— DUN 


195 


Dud-Chest.   A  clothes'  chest.   Duds  is  a  Scottish  word  for  old  clothes, 

and  is  much  used  here  in  the  same  sense. 
Duk'  o'  Darby.    (Duke  of  Derby.)    The  bobolink,  which  see. 
Dug-out.    1.  The  name,  in  the  Western  States,  for  a  boat  or  canoe 

hewn  or  dug  out  of  a  large  log.    They  are  common  in  all  the  rivers 

and  creeks  of  the  United  States  and  Canada.    In  the  latter  country, 

they  are  called  log  canoes. 

A  cj'press  suitable  for  a  canoe,  or  dug-out,  was  selected,  and  in  two  da3's  shaped, 
hollowed  out,  and  launched.  — A  Stray  Yankee  in  Texas,  p.  35. 

After  a  fashion  I  got  to  my  dug-out,  with  no  weapon  along  but  the  paddle. 
Snags  were  plent3^  I  felt  strong  as  a  boss  too;  and  the  c^M^-ot«<  hadn't  leaped 
more 'n  six  lengths  afore  —  co-souse  I  went!  —  the  front  eend  jest  lifted  itself 
agin  a  sawyer  and  emptied  me  into  the  element.  —  Rohh,  Squatter  Life. 

2.  A  house  set  on,  and  partly  consisting  of,  a  hillside.  Western. 

Dull  Music.    A  term  applied  to  any  thing  tedious. 

Dumb  Betty.  A  washing  machine,  barrel-shaped,  with  a  rotary  shank. 

Dumb  Chill  or  Dumb  Ague.    An  expression  common  in  malaria 

regions  to  denote  that  form  of  intermittent  fever  which  has  no  well 

defined  "  chill." 

To  dump.  To  unload  wood,  coal,  &c.,  from  a  cart  by  tilting  it  up. 
The  word  is  used  in  Devonshire  in  the  sense  of  to  knock  heavily, 
to  stump.    Hence,  probably,  its  American  application. 

You  would  have  thought  it  ridiculous,  my  fair  friends,  if  your  parents  had  told 
you  that  you  were  to  love  such  a  one,  and  nobody  else,  as  though  the  heart's 
affections  were  a  load  of  wood,  —  as  easily  dumped  at  one  door  as  another.  —  Bow's 
Sermons,  Vol.  I.  p.  254. 

I  once  got  twenty  dollars  from  an  omnibus  driver  for  running  into  my  carriage, 
knocking  off  a  wheel,  and  dumping  my  wife  and  child  into  the  street.  —  The 
Upper  Ten  Thousand,  p.  149. 
Dumpage.    1.  The  privilege  of  dumping  loads  from  carts,  especially 
loads  of  refuse  matter.  — Webster. 

2.  A  fee  paid  for  such  a  privilege.  —  Ihid. 
Dump-Cart.    A  cart  that  tilts  up  in  front,  and  so  "  dumps  "  its  load 
Vjehind. 

Dumping-Ground.  A  low  piece  of  ground  where  earth,  &c.,  is  to  be 
deposited  for  the  purpose  of  raising  its  level. 

There  is  much  difficulty  in  getting  dumping-grounds  for  the  dirt  from  the  streets ; 
but  the  contractors  say  they  can  and  will  do  the  work.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Dumpy.    Sad;  surly;  dumpish. 

The  sweet,  courteous,  amiable,  and  good-natured  "Saturday  Review"  has 
dumpy  misgivings  upon  the  same  point.  —iV.  Y.  Trilmne,  March  12,  18(i2. 

Dunflsh.    Codfish  cured  in  a  particular  manner,  by  which  they  acquire 


196 


DUN— DUT 


a  dun  color.  They  command  a  higher  price,  and  are  much  superior 
to  those  cured  in  the  ordinary  way. 

Dungaree.    A  vessel  used  for  conveying  dung,  as  at  New  York  and  in 

along  the  shores  of  Connecticut. 

Dunning.  A  peculiar  operation  for  curing  codfish. —  Webster.  Fish 
for  dunning  are  caught  early  in  the  spring,  and  often  in  February. 
At  the  Isles  of  Shoals,  off  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  the  cod  are 
taken  in  deep  water,  split,  and  slack-salted;  then  laid  in  a  pile  for 
two  or  three  months,  in  a  dark  store,  covered  for  the  greatest  part 
of  the  time  with  salt  hay  or  eel-grass,  and  pressed  with  some  weight. 
In  April  or  May,  they  are  opened  and  piled  as  close  as  possible  in  the 
same  dark  store  till  July  or  August,  when  they  are  fit  for  use.  — 
J.  Haven. 

The  process  of  dunning,  which  made  the  [Isle  of]  Shoals  fish  so  famous  a  cen- 
tury ago,  is  almost  a  lost  art,  though  the  chief  fisherman  at  Star  still  duns  a  few 
yearly.  —  Thaxter,  Isles  of  Shoals,  p.  83. 

Dunnow'z  I  know.  The  nearest  your  true  Yankee  ever  comes  to 
acknowledge  ignorance.  — Lowell. 

Durham  Boat.  A  large,  open,  flat-bottomed  boat,  formerly  used  on 
the  St.  Lawrence,  Mohawk,  and  other  rivers.  They  were  used  as 
freight  boats  only,  and  were  propelled  against  the  current  by  means 
of  poles. 

Durned.    A  softened  pronunciation  of  damned. 
Dust.    To  dust  is  to  depart  rapidly. 

Duster.  An  outside  garment,  generally  made  of  browai  linen,  to  protect 
railway  travellers  from  dust.  During  the  late  Centennial  Exhibi- 
tion, thousands  of  people  from  the  country  flocked  to  the  Eastern 
cities,  wearing  this  garment,  who  were  known  to  the  hotel-clerks  as 
the  "  duster  community." 

"  They  go  everywhere,"  said  a  clerk  of  a  New  York  hotel,  "  and  are  the  busiest 
people  you  ever  heard  of .  They  don't  have  time  to  take  their  c/ws^ers  off ;  they 
come  in  their  dusters,  they  eat  in  their  dusters,  and  to  the  best  of  my  belief  they 
sleep  in  their  dusters.  Why,  a  man  told  me  that  he  counted  914  linen  dusters  the 
other  morning  on  Broadway  between  Union  Square  and  Wall  Street.  But  if  any 
one  supposes  that  behind  that  expanse  of  linen  there  beats  a  heart  unused  to  the 
ways  of  the  world,  he  is  very  much  mistaken.  I  have  found  our  guests  to  be 
shrewd,  well-informed,  well-to-do  persons,  with  no  desire  to  take  advantage  of 
others,  and  with  no  intention  of  being  cheated  themselves."  —  N.  Y.  Tribune, 
Sept.  23,  1876. 

Dutch.  It  beats  the  Dutch  is  an  expression  often  applied,  in  New  York 
and  New  England,  to  any  thing  astonishing.    The  earliest  instance 


DUT— EAR 


197 


of  its  occurrence  that  I  have  met  with  is  in  a  Revolutionary  ^ong 
written  during  the  siege  of  Boston,  in  1775:  — 

And  besides  all  the  movtars,  bombs,  cannons,  and  shells, 
And  bullets  and  guns,  as  the  newspaper  tells. 
Our  cargoes  of  meat,  drink,  and  cloaths  beat  the  Dutch  ; 
Now  who  would  not  tarry  and  take  t'  other  touch  ? 

Neiv  Eng.  Hist.  Register,  April,  1857,  p.  191. 

Dutch-Curse.  The  white  field  daisy,  so  called  from  its  annoyance  to 
farmers. 

Dutchman.  A  flaw  in  a  stone  or  marble  slab,  filled  up  by  an  insertion. 
Dutch  Oven.    A  tin  screen  placed  before  a  kitchen  range,  or  open 

wood-fire,  within  which  is  the  meat  to  be  roasted. 
Dutiable.    Subject  to  the  imposition  of  duties  or  customs.  —  Webster. 
This  is  a  very  convenient  word,  and  is  in  common  use,  both  by  the 

ofiicers  of  the  customs,  and  by  merchants  having  transactions  with 

them. 

The  dutiable  imports  this  year  amount  to  about  two  hundred  and  ten  million 
dollars,  nearh'  one-half  of  which  were  imported  the  first  quarter  of  the  year.  — 
Speech  of  Senator  Wilson,  May  24,  1858. 

Dyed  in  the  Wool.    Ingrained;  thorough. 

The  Democrats,  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Cameron's  letter,  are  beginning  to 
claim  General  Taylor  as  a  Democrat  dyed  in  the  wool,  as  a  Democrat  of  the  Jeffer- 
sonian  order  of  1798.  —iV.  Y.  Com.  Adv.,  May  24, 1847. 

E. 

Eagle.  A  gold  coin  of  the  United  States,  of  the  value  of  ten  dollars, 
so  called  from  its  bearing,  on  the  reverse,  the  figure  of  the  American 
eagle.  There  are  also  double-eagles  of  twenty  dollars,  as  well  as 
half  and  quarter  eagles. 

jBar-Bob.    An  ear-drop. 

Early  Candle-Light.  Used  to  denote  the  beginning  of  the  evening; 
as,  "  The  meeting  will  begin  at  early  candle-light.''^ 

Ear-Mark.  The  mark  made  on  the  ear  of  a  horse,  cow,  pig,  or  sheep 
by  its  owner;  and  hence  the  token  or  signal  by  which  a  thing  is 
known.  So  used  also  in  the  north  of  England.  The  laws  of  sev- 
eral of  the  States  require  the  ear-mark  of  every  proprietor  to  be 
recorded  with  the  town-clerk,  as  evidence  for  reclaiming  strays,  &c. 

Earnest.  Boys  call  it  playing  marbles  in  earnest,  when  it  is  under- 
stood that  the  winners  shall  keep  the  marbles.  Sometimes  they  say, 
Let's  play  for  keeps. 


198 


£AR— EEL 


Earth  Almond.  (Cyperus  esculentus.)  A  perennial,  indigenous  to 
Southern  Europe,  growing  in  the  form  of  a  rush,  some  three  feet 
high,  producing  small  tubers  the  size  of  a  common  bean,  and  called 
b}^  the  Valencians  "  Chufas."  It  was  one  of  the  plants  distributed 
by  the  Patent  Office  in  1854.  —  White,  Gardening  for  the  South.  It 
is  the  huh  al  azeez  of  Egypt. 

Easy.  A  word  in  common  use  among  merchants  and  bankers.  "  Our 
bank  is  easy,''''  meaning  that  its  loans  are  not  extended,  or  that 
money  is  plentiful.  "  The  money  market  is  easy  ;  "  or  "  money  is 
cas?/,"  i.  e.  loans  of  money  may  easily  be  procured. 

East,  for  yeast.    North  Carolina. 

East.  About  east  is  about  right;  in  a  proper  manner.  A  common 
slang  expression  in  New  England. 

I  went  into  the  dining-room,  and  sot  down  afore  a  plate  that  had  my  name  writ 
on  a  card  onto  it ;  and  I  did  Avalk  into  the  beef  and  'taters  and  things  about  east. 
H.  Bigelow''s  Letters  in  Family  Comp. 

To  eat,  V.  a.    To  supply  with  food.    A  Western  use  of  the  word.  It 

was  used  in  the  same  way  along  the  line  of  the  Massachusetts  and 
Vermont  railways  in  1843-47  at  the  cheap  boarding-houses. 

Hoosier.    Squire,  what  pay  do  you  give  '? 
Contractor.    Ten  bits  a  day. 

Hoosier.    Why,  Squire,  I  was  told  you 'd  give  us  two  dollars  a  day  and  eat 
us.  —  Pickings  from  the  Picayune,  p.  47. 

To  eat  Dirt.    To  retract ;  to  be  penitent. 

A  poem  in  the  "  New  York  Evening  Post,"  entitled  "  A  Vision  of 
January  4,  1861,"  in  describing  a  procession  in  Broadway,  says:  — 
Houses  in  the  Southern  trade,  although  their  skirts  were  clear, 
Had,  for  the  sake  of  example,  come  in  from  far  and  near  ; 
They  bore  a  sable  banner,  all  lettered  in  gold  foil, 
"  After  eating  so  much  dirt,  are  we  asked  to  swallow  free  soil  ?  " 

Eddoes.    See  Cocos. 

Educational.  Pertaining  to  education;  derived  from  education;  as, 
educational  habits.  —  Webster.  The  authority  cited  by  Webster  for 
the  use  of  this  word  is  "  Smith,"  —  a  rather  indefinite  one.  Mr. 
Pickering  says  the  word  was  new  to  him  until  he  saw  it  in  the 
following  extract:  — 

It  is  believed  that  there  is  not  an  individual  of  the  college  who  would,  if  ques- 
tioned, complain  that  he  has,  in  any  instance,  felt  himself  pressed  with  opinions 
which  interfered  with  his  educational  creed.  —  Dr.  Grant^s  Beport  to  the  Trustees 
of  New  Jersey  College,  1815. 

Eel-Giass.  (Zostera  marina.)  A  plant  thrown  ashore  in  large  quan- 
tities by  the  sea.   It  is  also  called  Sea-wrack. 


EEL — ELE 


199 


A  large  number  of  good-looking  swine  are  kept,  and  are  littered  with  eel-grass, 
which  is  converted  into  compost.  — Jackson,  Geology  of  Rhode  Island,  p.  153. 

Eel- Skin.  A  thin,  narrow  slip  of  paper,  with  the  name  of  a  candi- 
date on  one  side,  and  coated  with  mucilage  on  the  other,  so  as  to  be 
quickly  and  secretly  placed  over  the  name  of  an  opponent,  on  a 
printed  ballot.  (New  England  and  New  York.)  "  Eel-skins," 
judiciously  distributed,  are  the  most  efficient  instruments  for  "  split- 
ting tickets,"  and  securing  the  election  of  some  favored  nominee  on 
a  ticket  otherwise  in  the  minority. 

Eel-Spear.  A  sort  of  trident  for  catching  eels.  Called,  in  England, 
an  Eel-shear. 

E'en  a'most,  for  almost.    A  vulgarism. 

He  knows  the  catechism,  and  has  got  the  whole  Bible  e''eny  most  by  heart.  — 
Margaret,  p.  113. 

The  village  boys  would  raise  a  party  of  gals,  and  start  off  early  in  the  morning* 
for  Toad  Hill,  where  the  blackberries  was  e'en  almost  as  plentiful  as  mosquitoes 
in  these  diggings. — Lafayette  Chronicle. 

Oh,  'tis  a  dreadful  thing  to  be 
In  such  distress  and  misery ! 
I 'm  e'en,  a'' most  a  nateral  fool. 

All  on  account  o'  Sally  Poole.  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers. 
Eend,  for  end.    A  vulgar  pronunciation  of  the  word,  which  is  also 

common  in  various  parts  of  England. 
To  egg.    To  pelt  with  rotten  eggs. 

\V.  S.  Bailey,  the  abolition  editor  of  the  "Newport  (Ky.)  News,"  was  egged  out 
of  Alexandria,  Campbell  County,  in  that  ^tate,  on  Monday.  —  Bolt.  Sun,  Aug.  1, 
1857. 

To  egg  on.    To  urge  on. 

Egypt.  A  nickname  given  to  southern  Illinois:  according  to  some, 
on  account  of  its  fertility;  according  to  others,  because  of  the  men- 
tal darkness  of  its  inhabitants.    See  example  at  Yankeedom. 

To  elect.  To  choose,  to  prefer,  to  determine  in  favor  of.  — Webster. 
The  Americanism  consists  in  the  construction  of  this  verb  with  a 
following  infinitive. 

In  pursuance  of  the  joint  resolution  of  Congress  "for  annexing  Texas  to  the 
United  States,"  my  predecessor,  on  the  third  day  of  March,  1845,  elected  to  sub- 
mit the  first  and  second  sections  of  that  resolution  to  the  republic  of  Texas,  as  au 
overture,  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  for  her  admission  as  a  State  into  our 
Union.    This  election  I  approved.  —  Message  to  Congress,  Dec.  1,  1845. 

If  it  be  said  that  all  travellers  will  not  elect  to  go  by  the  express  train,  and  that 
there  should  be  further  time  and  greater  allowance  than  five  days,  many  trav- 
ellers will  take  other  routes,  &c.  — Eejwrt  on  Pacifc  Railroad. 

Elephant.    To  see  the  elephant  is  to  gain  experience  of  the  world,  gen- 


200 


ELE— ENG 


erally  at  some  cost  to  the  investigator.  The  phrase  doubtless  origi- 
nated from  some  occurrence  at  a  menagerie. 

Elevator.  1.  A  mechanical  contrivance  for  lifting  grain,  &c.,  to  an 
upper  floor ;  also  a  building  containing  one  or  more  elevators. 

2.  A  mechanical  contrivance  now  in  use  at  large  hotels  for  carry- 
ing guests  to  the  upper  stories. 

Josiah  Allen's  wife,  being  on  a  visit  to  New  York,  stopped  at  the  Astor  House. 

"  My  room,"  says  she,  "was  on  the  fifth  story,  and  I  told  J.  Beans'es  ex-wife 
that  how  I  was  goin'  to  climb  up  them  stairs  I  didn't  know,  I  was  so  tuckered 
out.  ...  I  guess  I  can  weather  it  some  way." 

Mrs.  Bean.    "Here  is  the  elevator,  be  carried  up." 

There  was  a  big  nigger  comin'  right  towards  us,  and  I  thought  she  meant  him; 
for  they  have  been  called  such  funny  names  ever  since  the  war,  that  I  thought 
like  Elevator''''  was  one  of  'em.  But  I  jest  put  my  foot  right  down  to  once, 
and  saj's  I,  firmly,  — 

"I  hain't  a-goin'  to  be  dogged  upstairs  by  that  nigger,"  &c. 

But  Beans'es  ex-wife  explained  it  {the  elevator']  to  me.  There  was  a  little  room 
about  as  big  as  our  smoke-house,  all  fixed  off  as  neat  as  a  pin,  and  all  we  had  to  do 
was  to  get  in,  and  then  we  was  histed  right  up  in  front  of  our  room.  —  Betsy 
Bobhet,  p.  295. 

Empire  State.  The  State  of  New  York ;  so  called  from  the  enter- 
prise of  its  people,  its  wealth,  population,  extent  of  canals,  rail- 
roads, &c. 

The  Emjyire  State  is  your  New  York  ; 

I  grant  it  hard  to  mate  her; 
Yet  still  give  me  the  Nutmeg  State, 

"Where  shall  we  find  a  greater  ?  —  Allin,  Yankee  Ballads. 

Empt.  From  the  participle  emptied,  a  word  coined  by  old  ladies  in 
New  England;  as,  "  Go  and  empt  out  the  water." 

Emptyings.  (Pron.  emptins.)  The  lees  of  beer,  cider,  &c. ;  yeast,  or 
any  thing  by  which  bread  is  leavened. 

'T  will  take  more  emptins,  by  a  long  chalk,  than  this  new  party 's  got, 
To  give  such  heavy  cakes  as  these  a  start,  I  tell  ye  what. 

The  Biyloto  Papers. 

To  engage.  To  promise  or  pledge  one's  self  to  perform  certain  duties. 
In  the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  all  civil  or  military  officers,  instead  of 
being  sworn  to  perform  the  duties  which  appertain  to  their  offices, 
and  to  obey  the  laws,  are  engaged  so  to  do. 

From  the  formation  of  this  colony  in  1647,  no  person  was  compelled  to  take  an 
oath,  for  the  reason,  probably,  that  it  involved  an  act  of  worship ;  nor  has  any 
person  since,  under  any  circumstances,  been  obliged  to  take  one.  An  affirmation, 
on  penalty  of  perjury,  has  been  received  with  as  full  effect  as  an  oath.  Persons 
appointed  to  office  were,  in  the  technical  language  of  Rhode  Island,  engaged  to 
the  faithful  performance  of  their  duties ;  and  the  appointing  power  at  the  same 
time  entered  into  a  reciprocal  engagement  to  the  officer,  wherein  they  engage 


ENG— ENW 


201 


themselves  to  the  utmost  of  their  power  to  support  and  uphold  the  officer  in  the 
lawful  performance  of  his  duties.  —  Colonial  Records  of  Rhode  Island. 

Jlngine.  (Pron.  hijine,  the  last  syllable  rhyming  with  line.)  A  Fire- 
engine.    See  Machine. 

Engineer.  The  engine-driver  on  our  railroads  is  thus  magniloquently 
designated. 

To  enjoy.  To  enjoy  bad  health  is  a  whimsical  yet  by  no  means  un- 
common expression. 

My  husband  enjoyed  miserable  health  for  a  number  of  years  afore  he  died.  — 
Widow  Bedott,  p.  143. 

A  correspondent  furnishes  me  the  following:  — 

On  meeting  a  friend,  he  said  to  him,  How  are  you  to-da}^  ?  On  his  replying, 
with  a  very  sober  face,  "  Oh,  /  enjoy  very  poor  health,  indeed,"  he  stared  a  mo- 
ment at  my  assurance :  Then  you  have  made  a  high  attainment  in  respect  to 
Christian  duties.  I  have  enjoyed  poor  health  considerable  in  ni}'  life,  but  never 
did  I  enjoy  so  much  sickness,  in  so  short  a  time,  as  I  did  on  that  pleasure  excur- 
sion to  the  island. 

Enpishemo.  A  word  used  West  at  the  Rocky  Mountains,  to  denote 
the  housings  of  a  saddle,  the  blanket  beneath  it,  &c.  The  late 
George  Gibbs,  who  gave  me  the  word,  said  he  could  not  trace  it 
to  the  Spanish,  and  thought  it  might  be  Indian. 

To  ensilage.  (Fr.)  The  act  of  preparing  fermented  corn-fodder; 
process,  &c.  This  method  is  known  in  France  as  the  ensilage  of 
fodder,  because  the  fodder  is  sometimes  packed  in  "  silos  "  or  pits. 
In  Germany,  the  product  is  called  "  sour  hay."  —  N.  Y.  Tribune, 
April,  1877. 

To  enthuse.  1.  To  show  enthusiasm;  to  manifest  great  delight  in 
any  thing.    A  recent  word  which  is  still  confined  to  newspapers. 

He  did  not,  if  we  may  be  allowed  the  expression,  enthuse  to  any  extent  on  the 
occasion.  —  Cor.  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

The  Providence  liquor-dealers  sent  an  emissary  to  this  cit}'  to  see  if  they  could 
not  work  up  some  enthusiasm  for  Barnaby ;  but  the  dealers  here  would  not  enthuse 
worth  a  cent.  —  Cor.  Providence  Journal. 

2.  In  a  religious  sense,  to  infuse  a  divine  spirit  within. 

You  present  to  them  an  object  large  enough  to  enthuse  an  angel's  soul.  —  Rev. 
C.  L.  Woodworth. 

Entry.  The  fee  paid  to  the  State  upon  entering  an  action  in  the 
Supreme  Court  or  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  Rhode  Island.  Some 
other  States  use  the  same  term. 

To  enweave.    To  inweave. 

It  is  true  that  God  has  given  to  us,  and  enwoven  in  our  nature,  a  desire  for  per- 
fection and  completeness  made  manifest  to  our  senses.  —  Mrs.  H.  B.  Stowe  in 
The  Indejjendent,  April  3.  1802 


202 


ERI— EVE 


Erie.  Hennepin  (ch.  xix.)  says,  "  The  Havens  call  this  Lake  Erige, 
or  Erilke,  that  is,  the  Lake  of  the  Cat;  "  but  the  inhabitants  of 
Canada  have  softened  it  into  Erie.  In  ch.  Ixix.  he  again  men- 
tions it  as  "  Lake  Erie,  or  of  the  Cat." 

Esquipomgole.  Another  name  for  Kinnickinnick,  or  a  mixture  of 
tobacco  and  cornel  bark. 

Esquire.  In  England,  this  title  is  given  to  the  younger  sons  of  noble- 
men, to  officers  of  the  king's  courts  and  of  the  household,  to  coun- 
sellors at  law,  justices  of  the  peace  while  in  commission,  sheriffs, 
and  other  gentlemen.  In  the  United  States,  the  title  is  given  to 
public  officers  of  all  degrees,  from  governors  down  to  justices  and 
attorneys.  Indeed,  the  title,  in  addressing  letters,  is  bestowed  on 
any  person  at  pleasure,  and  contains  no  definite  description.  It  is 
merely  an  expression  of  respect.  —  Webster. 

In  our  own  dear  title-bearing,  democratic  land,  the  title  of  esquire,  officially 
and  by  courtesy,  has  come  to  include  pretty  much  everybody.  Of  course  every- 
body in  office  is  an  esquire,  and  all  who  have  been  in  office  enjoy  and  glory  in 
the  title.  And  what  with  a  standing  arni}^  of  legislators,  an  elective  and  ever- 
changing  magistracy,  and  almost  a  whole  population  of  militia  officers,  present 
and  past,  all  named  as  esquii'es  in  their  commissions,  the  title  is  nearly  universal. 
N.  Y.  Com.  Advertiser. 

Essence-Pedler.    A  skunk. 

Euchre.     A  sort  of  game  played  with  cards,  very  much  in  vogue 

throughout  the  United  States.    See  Yuca. 
Euchred.    To  be  beaten  at  Euchre ;  checkmated ;  used  up ;  and  figura- 
tively applied  to  one  who  has  been  defeated,  outwitted,  or  foiled  in 
any  scheme.    Comp.  Looed. 

Now  Jefferson  D.,  when  you  come  to  reflect. 

Don't  it  strike  you  that  somehow  you  've  failed  to  connect? 

Don't  you  think  you  cried  game  just  a  little  too  fast. 

That  you  played  a  lone  hand  and  got  euchred  at  last  ?  —  Vanity  Fair. 

Evacuation  Day.  The  day  on  which  the  British  army  evacuated  the 
city  of  New  York,  Nov.  25,  1783,  the  annual  return  of  which  has 
been  celebrated  in  that  city  for  nearly  a  century.  Speaking  of  old 
times  in  New  York,  Samuel  Wood  worth  thus  alludes  to  the  day  •  — 

The  British  troops  had  gone  away ; 

And  every  patriot  true 
Then  kept  Evacuation  Day, 

When  this  old  house  was  new. 

New  York  Post,  March  27,  1877. 

Evener  (of  a  carriage).    The  swing  splinter-bar. 
Evening.    In  the  South  and  West  there  is  no  afternoon.    From  noon 
till  dark  is  evening.    It  is  strange  to  an  unaccustomed  ear  to  be 


EVE— EXP 


203 


accosted  with  "  Good  evening, at  two  or  three  o'clock  in  the  day. 
Where  this  usage  prevails,  immediately  after  sunset  it  is  "  night." 

To  eventuate.  To  happen;  to  issue;  to  take  effect.  A  word  not 
unfrequently  used  in  the  United  States,  but  rarely  used  by  English 
writers.  —  Worcester. 

Everglades.  Tracts  of  land  covered  with  water  and  grass ;  peculiar 
to  the  Southern  States.  In  Florida,  the  term  is  applied  to  portions 
of  the  land  lower  than  the  coast,  and  but  little  above  the  level  of 
the  sea,  covered  with  fresh  water.  The  islands  elevated  above  this 
swamp  are  called  "  hummocks." 

Everlasting.    Very;  exceedingly. 

New  York  is  an  everlasting  great  concern.  — Major  Downing,  May-day  in  New 
York. 

Everlasting,  Life  Everlasting.  (Gnaphalium.)  So  called  from  its 
medicinal  properties  (so  the  books  say),  but  much  more  likely  from 
the  French  "Immortelle,"  a  similar  plant,  so  named  from  the  en- 
durance of  its  flowers  when  dried. 

Every  Once  in  a  While.  A  singular  though  very  common  expression, 
signifying  the  same  as  every  now  and  then.    It  is  probably  English. 

Every  which  Way.  Everyway:  anywise.  Colloquial.  It  sometimes 
mars  otherwise  well- written  works ;  e.  g.,  "  The  Land  and  the  Book." 

Excellency.  A  title  given  by  courtesy  to  governors  of  States  and  to 
ministers  of  foreign  countries.  In  Massachusetts,  the  title  is  given 
by  the  Constitution.  We  sometimes  see  it  given  to  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  for  which  there  is  no  authority. 

Exchangeability.  The  quality  or  state  of  being  exchangeable.  — 
Webster. 

The  law  ought  not  to  be  contravened  by  an  express  article  admitting  the  ex- 
changeability of  such  persons.  —  Washington. 

Excursionist.  A  person  who  goes  on  a  pleasure  trip.  A  common 
newspaper  term. 

At  a  few  minutes  past  seven  o'clock,  on  Saturday  evening,  the  steamer  "  Pow- 
hatan'' was  loosed  from  her  moorings,  and,  with  some  two  hundred  excursionists 
on  boai-d,  steamed  down  the  Potomac  River.  —  Wash.  Evening  Star,  July  6, 1858. 

The  Executive.  The  officer,  whether  king,  president,  or  other  chief 
magistrate,  who  superintends  the  execution  of  the  laws;  the  person 
who  administers  the  government;  executive  power  and  authority  in 
government.  —  Webster. 

The  Executive  City.  Washington. 

To  expect.    To  think;  to  suppose,  to  anticipate.    As,  "  I  expect  he 


204 


EXP— EYE 


is  at  home."  In  speaking  of  this  use  of  the  word,  Webster  says, 
This  blunder,  which  is  far  too  common,  even  among  educated 
persons,  ought  to  be  studiously  avoided  by  every  one." 
Escperience.  To  give,  tell,  or  relate  one's  experience,  are  phrases  in 
use  among  certain  sects,  and  meaning,  to  relate  before  a  meeting 
of  the  church  the  progress  of  one's  mind  in  becoming  an  ardent 
believer  in  the  doctrines  of  Christianity. 

Now,  brethren  and  sisters,  I 'm  going  to  give  my  experience,  —  to  tell  how  I 
got  religion.  —  Western  Pulpit. 

At  these  meetings  there  was  praying  and  exhorting,  and  telling  experiences., 
and  singing  sentimental  religious  hymns.  —  GoodricJi's  Reminiscences^  Vol.  I. 
p.  214. 

To  experience  Religion.    To  become  converted. 

I  experienced  religion  at  one  of  brother  Armstrong's  protracted  meetings  ;  — 
and  I  tell  ye,  them  special  efforts  is  great  things,  —  ever  since  I  came  out  I 've 
felt  like  a  new  critter.  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  108. 

Express.  A  rapid  conveyance  of  packages  and  goods,  which  in  the 
course  of  the  last  twenty  years  has  grown  up  into  an  enormous  busi- 
ness in  the  United  States. 

To  express.  To  transmit  by  a  special  messenger  in  anticipation  of 
the  regular  mail. 

The  President's  message  will  be  expressed  through  to  Boston,  by  order  of  the 
Postmaster-General.  —  Washington  Republic. 

Express-Man.  A  man  belonging  to  an  express  office,  who  calls  for  and 
bi'ings  parcels  with  a  wagon. 

Express-Office.  An  establishment  from  which  are  transmitted  par- 
cels and  goods. 

Express -Wagojn.    The  wagon  in  which  packages,  boxes,  &c.,  are 

taken  to  and  from  an  express  office. 
Eye-Opener.    That  which  causes  surprise. 

Eyes  skinned-  To  keep  oneh  eyes  skinned  or  eyes  peeled  is  to  be  on 
the  alert. 

Keep  your  eyes  skinned  and  your  rifles  clean  ;  and  the  minute  you  find  I  'm 
back,  set  off.  —  iV.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

Keep  your  eye  skinned  for  sign,  and  listen  to  my  horn.  —  Traits  of  Amencan 
Humor,  Vol.  II. 

Now,  Mr.  Arch,  I 've  got  you,  and  if  you  don't  keep  your  eye  skinned,  I  '11  lick 
you  till  your  hide  won't  hold  shucks.  — Mike  Hooter,  hy  a  Missourian. 


FAC— FAL 


205 


F. 

To  face  the  Music.    To  meet  the  emergency.    It  correspomis  to  the 
English  slang  phrase,  "  to  come  up  to  the  scratch." 

The  "Worcester  Spy,"  Sept.  22,  1857,  in  commenting  upon  the 
commercial  failm-es,  says  :  — 

Although  such  reverses  would  seem  to  fall  with  crushing  weight  upon  some  of 
our  most  substantial  citizens,  a  strong  determination  to  fact  the  music  is  ever}'-- 
where  manifested. 

Governor  Chamberlain  says  he  stands  ready  at  all  times  to  face  the  music.  .  .  . 
He  says,  "I  am  amenable  to  the  laws  of  South  Carolina  for  my  acts,  and  when- 
ever the  officers  of  the  law  wish  to  call  me  to  account  I  shall  respond."  —  New 
York  paper. 

Factory  Cotton.    Unbleached  cotton  goods,  of  domestic  manufac- 
tm-e. 

Paculate.    To  arrange,  put  in  order,  prepare.    Local  in  New  Eng- 
land, and  evidently  formed  from  faculty,  as  if  facultate. 

Fair  and  Square.    Perfectly  correct,  honorable  ;  straightforward. 

As  to  my  principles,  I  glory 

In  hevin'  nothin'  o'  the  sort; 
I  ain't  a  Wig,  I  ain't  a  Tory, 

I'm  jest  a  candidate,  in  short; 
Thet 's  fair  an'  square  an'  parpendicler. 

Lowell,  The  Bitjlow  Papers. 

To  fair  oflF,  to  fair  up.    To  clear  off,  clear  up.  South-western. 

He  quitted  the  boat  at  Natchez,  moved  to  the  North,  and,  whenever  he  see  a  fog 
risin',  took  to  his  bed  and  kept  it  till  it  faired  off.  —  Western  Tales. 

There 's  going  to  be  a  nasty  fog  to-night,  and  you  had  best  run  the  boat  till 
nine,  and  then  tie  up,  —  have  the  steam  kept  up,  and  call  me  if  it  fairs  up. — 
Major  Bunkum,  N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

Fair  Shake.    A  fair  trade;  a  satisfactory  bargain  or  exchange.  A 

New  England  vulgarism. 
To  fall.    Often  improperly  used  for  fell  in  the  United  States,  and  in 

some  parts  of  England;  as  "to  fall  a  tree,"  instead  of  "  to  fell  a 

tree."  —  Worcester. 

Fall.    1.  The  fall  of  the  leaf;  autumn;  the  time  when  the  leaves 
drop  from  the  trees. 

This  beautifully  picturesque  expression,  which  corresponds  so  well 
to  its  opposite  sprinf/,  has  been  said  to  be  peculiar  to  the  United 
States.  Mr.  Pickering  notices  the  following  remark  in  llees's 
Cyclopaedia:  "In  North  America,  the  season  in  which  the  fall  of 


206 


FAL— FAN 


the  leaf  takes  place  derives  its  name  from  that  circumstance,  and 
instead  of  autumn  is  universally  called  the  fall.''''  —  Art.  Deciduous 
Leaves.  It  is  used,  however,  in  England  in  the  same  sense ;  although 
autumn  is  as  generally  employed  there  as  fall  is  in  the  United 
States. 

What  crowds  of  patients  the  town  doctor  kills, 
Or  how  last /«7^  he  raised  the  weekly  bills.  —  Di-yden's  Juvenal. 
Hash  worked  the  farm,  burnt  coal  in  the  fall,  made  sugar  in  the  spring,  drank, 
smoked,  &c.  —  Margaret,  p.  13. 

2.  The  apparatus  used  in  hoisting  and  lowering  goods  in  ware- 
houses, &c.  The  term  is  borrowed  from  a  contrivance  for  the  same 
purpose  used  on  shipboard. 

3.  The  upper  front  part  of  a  pair  of  pantaloons;  a  drop. 
Falling  Weather.    A  rainy  or  snowy  time. 

Fall- Way.  The  opening  or  w'ell  through  which  goods  are  raised  and 
lowered  by  a  fall.  It  is  often  merely  a  succession  of  openings 
through  the  several  floors  of  the  building,  which  are  generally  unen- 
closed, and  the  source  of  frequent  accidents. 

Family.  This  word  is  often  used  to  denote  a  man's  wife  and  children, 
especially  the  latter.  Hence  the  phrases,  "  a  man  of  family, "  Have 
you  any  family  "  "  How  is  your  father's  family  ?  " 

The  term  is  also  used  in  law  books  and  statutes,  exempting 
property  from  execution  for  debt. 

Family  Room.  This  term  is  applied,  in  the  West,  to  a  room  gener- 
ally occupied  by  the  mother  and  young  children  to  the  exclusion  of 
visitors  and  strangers. 

To  fan  out.  To  make  a  show  at  an  examination,  alluding  probably  to 
the  peacock  spreading  his  tail.  This  term  originated  at  the  United 
States  Military  Academy  at  West  Point,  where  for  years  it  was 
local;  but  it  is  now  gradually  finding  its  way  through  the  country. 

Fancies.    Fancy  stocks,  which  see  below. 

Yesterday  was  a  blue  day  in  Wall  Street:  the  fancies  looked  down,  and  the 
bears  looked  up.  —  Stock  Report  N.  Y.  Herald. 

Take  up  any  annual  registry  of  the  Stock  Exchange,  and  you  can  check  off  in 
a  moment  the  temporary  fancies  of  the  year  by  such  as  show  the  widest  varia- 
tions.—  Men  and  Mysteries  of  Wall  Street,  p.  213. 

Fancy  Stocks.  A  species  of  stocks  which  are  bought  and  sold  to  a 
great  extent  in  New  York.  Unlike  articles  of  merchandise,  which 
may  be  seen  and  examined  by  the  dealer,  and  which  always  have 
an  intrinsic  value  in  every  fluctuation  of  the  market,  these  stocks 
are  wholly  wrapped  in  mystery.  No  one  knows  any  thing  about 
them,  except  the  ofiicers  and  directors  of  the  companies,  who,  from 


FAN— FEA 


207 


their  position,  are  not  the  most  likely  men  to  tell  you  the  truth. 
They  serve  no  other  purpose,  therefore,  than  as  the  representative 
of  value  in  stock  gambling.  Nearly  all  the  fluctuations  in  their 
prices  are  artificial.  A  small  fluctuation  is  more  easily  produced 
than  a  large  one;  and,  as  the  calculations  are  made  on  the  par  value, 
a  fluctuation  of  one  per  cent  on  stock  worth  $20  a  share  is  just  five 
times  as  much  on  the  amount  of  money  invested  as  it  would  be  on  a 
par  stock  Consequently,  if  a  "  Flunkie  "  can  be  drawn  in,  he  may 
be  fleeced  five  times  as  quick  in  these  as  in  good  stocks.  —  AW eek  in 
Wall  Street. 

Fandango.  (Spanish.)  A  lively  dance.  In  Texas,  New  Mexico,  and 
California,  this  term  is  applied  to  a  ball  or  dance  of  any  sort. 

Farallon.  (Spanish,  pron.  faraydn.)  A  small,  pointed  island  in  the 
sea.  The  meaning  of  this  geographical  term,  applied  to  islands  on 
the  California  coast,  has  puzzled  many. 

Farina.    1.  Wheaten  grits. 

2.  Extra  superfine  flour  of  wheat. 

Farzino  or  Farziner.  A  vulgar  contraction  of  far-as-I-know,  exten- 
sively used  through  New  England  and  New  York,  including  Long 
Island. 

Gen.    And  Avhat  kind  of  characters  are  the  Count  and  Countess? 

Doolittle.  Why,  I  han't  been  here  such  a  despud  while  as  to  have  larnt  my- 
self much  about  the  matter.  But,  by  hearsay,  they  are  a  topping  sort  of  people, 
and  pretty  much  like  the  Boston  folks,  full  of  notions.  At  times  he  is  obstropu- 
lous.  He  may  be  a  straight-going  critter,  farzino,  manwards ;  but  in  his  dealings 
with  t'  other  sex,  he  is  a  little  twistical.  —  D.  Humphreys,  Yankee  in  England. 

Fast.    That  lives  at  a  rapid  rate;  dissipated.    A  flash  word. 

Mr.  Cephas  Bubble  is  undeniably  the  fastest  young  man  in  the  market ;  for 
he's  not  only  ashamed  of  his  parentage  and  birthplace,  but  he  is  actually 
ashamed  he  was  ever  a  boy.  —  Miss  Wellniont,  Substance  and  Shade,  p.  108. 

Fast  hooks,  like  fast  men,  soon  exhaust  their  constitutions.  — Norton's  Liter- 
ary Gazette. 

Fat-Pork  Tree.    A  name  of  the  Coco-Plum.  Barbadoes. 

Favored.  A  term  applied  to  the  face;  the  expression  of  countenance; 
as,  '*  She  is  long/rtj;orerf,"  which  means  that  she  has  a  long,  pointed 
face.  This  use  of  the  word  was  once  common  in  England,  but  is 
now  obsolete.    Thus  Shakspeare  :  — 

A  good  favour  you  have,  but  that  you  have  a  hanging  look. 
The  porter  owned  that  the  gentleman  favoured  his  master.  —  The  Spectator. 

Fearful.    Much,  great,  strongly.  Pennsylvania. 


208 


FEA— FED 


Feast.  A  corruption  of  the  Dutch  vies,  nice,  fastidious.  "  I 'm  feast  of 
it,"  is  a  literal  translation  of  the  Dutch  Ik  ben  er  vies  van,  i.  e.  I  am 
disgusted  with,  I  loathe  it.  A  New  York  phrase,  mostly  confined 
to  the  descendants  of  the  Dutch. 

To  feather.  A  friend  has  reminded  me  of  this  colloquial  word,  which 
is  used  in  some  parts  of  New  England  to  denote  the  appearance  of 
curdled  cream,  when  it  rises  upon  the  surface  of  a  cup  of  tea  or 
coffee,  in  the  form  of  little  flakes,  somewhat  resembling  feathers. 
We  say,  "  The  cream  feathers. — Pickering. 

Feaze.    The  same  as  feeze  and  pheeze. 

England  is,  we  are  told,  about  to  send  three  regiments  to  Canada.    Don't  get 
into  a  feaze  about  it.  — N.  Y.  Tinbune,  June  28,  1861,  Lett,  from  Pans. 

Federal.  1.  Founded  upon  or  formed  by  a  league,  treaty,  or  compact 
between  independent  States.  The  government  of  the  United  States 
is  a  federal  government,  as  being  formed  by  the  union  of  several 
independent  States,  each  surrendering  a  portion  of  its  power  to 
the  central  authority.  A  federal  is  strictly  distinguishable  from  a 
national  government  (though  in  the  United  States  the  terms  are 
often  used  indiscriminately),  the  latter  being  properly  an  aggrega- 
tion of  individual  citizens.  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
is  pronounced  by  Mr.  Madison  to  be  neither  a  national  nor  a  fed- 
eral constitution,  but  a  composition  of  both.  — Federalist,  No.  39. 

2.  Pertaining  to  the  United  States;  often  in  contradistinction 
from  any  or  all  of  the  States,  as  functionally  considered. 

Federal  City.    Washington,  as  the  seat  of  government. 

Federal  Currency.  The  legal  currency  of  the  United  States.  Its 
coins  are  the  gold  eagle  of  ten  dollars;  the  double  eagle,  twenty 
dollars;  half  and  quarter  eagles  of  proportionate  value.  The  silver 
dollar  of  one  hundred  cents,  its  half,  quarter,  tenth,  and  twentieth 
parts.  The  coin  of  ten  cents  value  is  called  a  dime ;  that  of  five 
cents,  a  half-dime.  The  lowest  coin  in  common  use  was  the  copper, 
now  supplanted  by  the  nickel  cent.  Half-cent  coins  have  been 
made,  but  few  or  none  of  late  years.  In  the  commercial  cities  and 
along  the  sea-board,  Spanish  coins  of  a  dollar  and  the  fractional 
parts  of  a  dollar  were  very  common,  and  passed  currently  for  their 
original  value,  until  the  act  of  February  21,  1857,  which,  by  reduc- 
ing the  value  of  the  quarter,  eighth,  and  sixteenth  of  a  dollar  by 
twenty  per  cent,  caused  the  foreign  coinage  to  be  suddenly  with- 
drawn from  the  currency. 

Previous  to  the  adoption  of  our  federal  currency,  pounds,  shillings, 
and  pence  were  used.    But  these  denominations  became  unstable  in 


FED 


209 


value,  in  consequence  of  the  great  depreciation  wliich  took  place  in 
the  paper-money  issued  by  the  colonies. 

In  the  year  1702,  exchange  on  England  was  33 1  per  cent  above 
par  ;  and  silver  and  gold  bore  the  same  relative  value  to  paper- 
money.  The  depreciation  in  the  latter  continued  to  increase  until, 
in  the  year  1749,  £1,100  currency  was  only  equal  to  £100  sterling, 
or  eleven  for  one.  In  1750,  a  stop  was  put  to  the  further  deprecia- 
tion of  the  money  of  the  province  of  Massachusetts  by  a  remittance 
from  England  of  £183,000  sterling,  in  Spanish  dollars,  to  reimburse 
the  expense  the  province  had  been  at  in  the  reduction  of  Cape  Breton 
in  the  old  French  war.  The  depreciated  money  was  then  called  in, 
and  paid  off  at  the  rate  of  a  Spanish  dollar  for  forty-five  shillings  of 
the  paper  currency.  At  the  same  time,  a  law  was  made  fixing  the 
par  of  exchange  between  England  and  Massachusetts  at  £133^  cur- 
rency for  £100  sterling,  and  six  shillings  to  the  Spanish  dollar. 

The  difference  of  exchange,  or  depreciation  of  the  paper-money, 
regulated  in  the  same  manner  the  currencies  of  the  other  colonies. 
Throughout  New  England,  as  has  been  before  stated,  it  was  six 
shillings  to  the  dollar  of  4.s.  Qd.  sterling.  In  New  York,  eight  shil- 
lings, or  about  seventy-five  per  cent  depreciation.  Pennsylvania, 
7s.  Qd-t  or  about  sixty-six  per  cent  depreciation.  In  some  of  the 
Southern  States,  it  was  4s.  Qd.  to  the  dollar,  and  accordingly  no 
depreciation.  In  Halifax  currency,  including  the  present  British 
provinces,  it  was  five  shillings  to  the  dollar,  or  about  eleven  per 
cent,  &c. 

In  consequence  of  the  above-named  diversity  in  the  colonial  cur- 
rencies, in  New  England  the  Spanish  real  of  one-eighth  of  a  dollar, 
or  12^  cents,  is  called  a  ninepence ;  in  New  York,  a  shilling ;  in 
Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  Virginia,  elevenpence  or  a  levy ;  and  in 
many  of  the  Southern  States,  a  hit.  The  half-real,  of  the  value  of 
one-sixteenth  of  a  dollar,  is  called  in  New  York  a  sixpence ;  in  New 
England, /owrpence  ha^penny,  or  simply  fourpence;  in  Pennsylvania, 
Maryland,  and  Virginia,  a  Jip  ;  and  in  Louisiana,  2^,  picayune.  The 
disappearance  of  the  coins  from  circulation  already  caused  these 
names  to  fall  likewise  into  disuse. 

Federalists.  An  appellation  in  America  given  to  the  friends  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  at  its  formation  and  adoption ; 
and  to  the  political  party  which  favored  the  administration  of  Presi- 
dent Washington.  —  Webster. 

To  federalize.  To  unite  in  compact,  as  different  States;  to  confed- 
erate for  political  purposes.  —  Webster. 

14 


210 


FEE— FEL 


Feed.    Used  as  a  noun,  for  grass;  as,  "  tall /eet?,"  i.  e.  high  grass. 
Feed-Trough.    A  trough  in  which  is  placed  the  food  for  animals,  as  in 

sheds,  and  as  fastened  to  posts,  at  which  horses,  &c.,  are  fed  in  towns. 
To  feel.    To  feel  to  do  a  thing  is  an  expression  commonly  used  by 

some  clergymen,  for  to  feel  inclined,  to  be  disposed  to  do  it. 
Feelay,  or  Gumbo  feelay.     Sassafras  leaves  dried  and  powdered. 

Louisiana. 

Feet.  There  are  people  who  consider  it  witty  to  use  this  plural 
instead  of  its  singular  foot. 

When  I  was  2i.feet  high,  I  was  my  mammy's  joy, 
The  ladies  all  caressed  me,  and  called  me  pretty  boy, 
They  said  I  was  a  beauty,  my  face  it  was  complete, 
Except  this  tarnal  ugly  nose,  but  it  stuck  out  a  feet. 

Western  Melodies. 

Feeze,  Feaze,  "  To  be  in  a  feeze  "  is  to  be  in  a  state  of  excitement. 
Provincial  in  England.    (Comp.  Fr.  f ache,  angry.) 

Larcenie  is  the  felonious  taking  away  of  another  man's  personal  goods  without 
his  knowledge  or  insight,  yet  without  making  any  assault  upon  his  person  or 
putting  him  into  a  fease.  —  Code  of  Laws  of  Rhode  Island,  1647. 

Some  years  ago,  we  remember,  New  York  was  in  its  annual  feeze  about  mad 
dogs,  and  the  public  mind  was  somewhat  exercised  touching  the  best  method 
of  doing  murder  upon  the  unhappy  canines. — N.  Y.  Commercial  Advertiser, 
Oct.  16,  1848. 

When  a  man 's  in  a  feeze,  there 's  no  more  sleep  that  hitch.  —  Sam  Slick  in 
Enyland,  ch.  2. 

Fellow  or  Feller.    Very  commonly  used  in  the  United  States,  in  the 

sense  of  lover,  siceetheart.    See  Beau. 

Fellow  or  Black  Fellow.    A  black  man.  Southern. 

Fellow-Countryman.  One  belonging  to  the  same  countiT,  a  com- 
patriot. This  has  been  censured  as  an  American  pleonasm,  like 
play-actor,  inasmuch  as  good  English  usage  has  conferred  this  mean- 
ing on  the  word  countryman  alone.  (See  Pickering,  sub  voce.) 
Still,  the  want  of  a  more  definite  expression  has  been  felt  in  Eng- 
land as  well  as  in  this  country;  and  the  term  felloio-countryman, 
as  distinguished  from  countryman,  rustic,  as  the  French  compairiote 
and  German  lamlsmami  are  distinguished  from  paymn  and  land- 
mann,  has  long  been  used  in  America,  and  in  England  has  been 
adopted  and  sanctioned  by  such  authorities  as  Southey  and  Lord 
Brougham. 

Fellowship.  Companionship;  consort;  society. — Johnson.  With 
us  it  is  often  used  in  religious  writings  and  discourses,  instead  of 
the  word  communion,  to  denote  "  mutual  intercourse  or  union  in 
religious  worship,  or  in  doctrine  and  discipline." 


FEL— FEM 


211 


To  fellowship.  A  verb  formed  from  the  preceding  noun.  To  fellow- 
ship with  is  to  hold  communion  with ;  to  unite  with  in  doctrine  and 
discipline.  This  barbarism  appears  with  disgusting  frequency  in 
the  reports  of  ecclesiastical  conventions,  &c.,  and  in  the  religious 
newspapers  generally.  Mr.  Pickering,  in  the  Supplement  to  his 
Vocabulary,  said  he  had  just  become  acquainted  with  the  Word. 
The  following  is  the  first  example  which  he  gives :  — 

"We  considered  Llm  heretical,  essentially  unsound  in  the  faith;  and  on  this 
ground  refused  to  ftllowshipy{'\\h.  him.  — Address  to  the  Christian  Public,  Greeii- 
Jield,  1813. 

If  the  Christian  Alliance  could  not  felloivship  with  the  Southern  slaveholders 
for  gain,  they  ought  to  say  so  outright.  —  Speech  at  the  Christian  Alliance  Con- 
ference, May  8,  1847. 

It  is  also  used  actively  without  the  preposition,  as  in  the  following 
examples :  — 

How  can  we  expect  the  fellowship  of  the  preachers  of  the  Reformation  ?  I  do 
not  expect  it,  because  our  fellowship  was  predicated  upon  a  vain  uniformity  of 
belief.  If  it  were,  I  could  never  have  ftllowshipped  them  V  —  Rev.  J.  B.  Fergu- 
son's Discourse. 

We  therefore  fellowship  him  in  taking  a  course  of  preparatory  studies  for  the 
Christian  ministry.  —  Board  of  Madison  University,  New  York,  Jan.  1,  18-iO. 

Female.  A  person  of  the  female  sex,  a  woman  or  girl.  There  has 
been  much  said  of  the  use  and  abuse  of  this  word,  and  whether  it 
is  proper  to  designate  women  by  it.    Doctor  Johnson  thus  defines 

female:  "  A  she;  one  of  the  sex  that  brings  forth  young."  Mrs. 
Sarah  J.  Hale,  in  speaking  of  the  word,  has  the  following  remarks 
(we  do  not  indorse  her  grammatical  criticism):  "Where  used  to 
discriminate  betM^een  the  sexes,  the  word  female  is  an  adjective. 
We  do  not  object  to  the  term  when  used  necessarily,  as  an  adjec- 
tive; but  many  writers  employ  the  word  as  a  noun,  which,  when 
applied  to  woman,  is  improper,  and  sounds  ujipleasantly,  as  refer- 
ring to  an  animal.  To  illustrate:  almost  every  newspaper  we  open, 
or  book  we  read,  will  have  sentences  like  these :  '  A  man  and  two 

females  were  seen,'  &c.,  'A  gentleman  was  walking  with  a  female 
companion,'  '  The  females  were  much  alarmed,'  '  A  female  child,' 
&c.  Now  why  is  such  a  style  of  writing  tolerated?  AVhy  is  the 
adjective,  which  applies  to  all  female  animals,  used  as  the  noun 
designating  woman  ?  It  is  inelegant  as  well  as  absurd.  Expressed 
correctly,  thus,  '  A  man  and  two  women,'  &c.,  '  A  gentleman  and 
a  lady,'  'The  women  were  alarmed,'  'A  little  girl.'  Who  does 
not  see  and  feel  that  these  last  sentences  are  in  better  taste,  more 
correct  in  language,  and  more  definite  in  meaning?    We  call  on 


212 


FEN 


our  sex,  on  women,  to  use  pen  and  voice  to  correct  the  error  of  lan- 
guage which  degrades  them  by  the  animal  epithet  only." 

In  the  House  of  Delegates  in  Maryland,  in  a  debate  "  on  the  passage  of  the  bill 
to  protect  the  reputation  of  unmarried  females,''''  the  title  was  amended  by  strik- 
ing out  the  word  females"  and  inserting  "women,"  as  the  word  ''''female''^ 
was  an  Americanism  in  that  application.  —  Baltimore  Patriot^  March,  1839. 

At  Birmingham,  England,  a  few  years  since  a  woman  advertised 
to  walk  a  rope,  blindfolded  and  in  a  sack,  fell  to  the  ground  and  was 
killed.  Queen  Victoria,  on  hearing  of  it,  sent  a  letter  to  the  Mayor 
of  Birmingham,  asking  him  to  use  his  influence  to  put  a  stop  to 
such  exhibitions.  Her  Majesty's  letter  does  credit  to  her  good 
heart;  but  her  amanuensis,  who  signs  his  name  C.  B.  Phipps,  thus 
wrote :  — 

"Her  Majesty  cannot  refrain  from  making  known  through  you  her  personal 
feelings  of  horror  that  one  of  her  subjects  —  a  female  —  should  have  been  sacri- 
ficed to  the  gratification  of  the  demoralizing  taste,  unfortunately  prevalent,  for 
exhibitions  attended  with  the  greatest  danger  to  the  performers." 

Again,  we  have  high  English  authorities  for  the  use  or  rather 
misuse  of  the  word.  The  "  New  York  Post,"  March  3,  1877,  in 
an  article  on  the  Tractarian  Controversy  in  England,  quotes  the 
following  remarks  by  Goldwin  Smith,  on  the  subject  of  the  edu- 
cation of  women :  — 

"Many  young  hearts  and  many  deep  heads,"  says  the  Professor,  "naturally 
inclined  to  this  reaction  [Tractarianism],  and  a  change  in  university  and  female 
education  would  extinguish  the  tendency  almost  in  its  source."  To  which  the 
"Post"  adds,  "  Mark  the  word  female^ 

In  the  summer  time,  our  inns  are  filled  to  bursting.  Coaches  run  frantically 
from  every  point  of  the  compass.  .  .  .  The  donkeys  in  our  streets  multiply  a  hun- 
dred-fold, tottering  under  the  weight  of  ^xiormow?,  females  visiting  our  waterfalls. 
—  Miss  Martineau,  Autobiography,  Vol.  I.  p.  529,  Boston  ed. 

Fen.  A  prohibitory  exclamation  used  by  boys  in  their  games;  as, 
"  Fen  play  !  "  i.  e.  I  forbid  you  to  play,  stop!  Compare  the  Latin 
defendo,  French  dtfendre. 
Fence.  1.  In  politics,  "  to  be  on  the  fence  "is  to  be  neutral,  or  to 
be  ready  to  join  the  strongest  party,  whenever  it  can  be  ascertained 
which  is  so. 

When  everj'  fool  knows  that  a  man  represents, 

Not  the  fellows  that  sent  him,  but  them  on  the  fence, 

Impartially  ready  to  jump  either  side. 

And  make  the  first  use  of  a  turn  of  the  tide.  —  Biglow  Papers. 

2.  A  house  where  stolen  goods  are  received. 

Fence-Man.    A  politician  who  is  "on  the  fence." 

All  the  fence-men,  all  the  doubters,  all  the  seekers  after  majorities,  will  now 
bustle  up,  come  out,  and  declare  that  Greneral  Taylor  is  the  most  popular  man  in 


FEN— F.  F.  V. 


213 


the  country,  and  that  he  was  always  their  first  choice.  —  N.  Y.  Herald,  Oct.  14, 
1848. 

Fence-Rail.    A  rail  used  in  fences. 

His  fence-rails  were  all  burned  for  firewood.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Fence-Riding.  The  practice  of  "  sitting  on  the  fence,"  or  remaining 
neutral  in  a  political  contest  until  it  can  be  seen  ' '  which  way  the 
cat  is  going  to  jump." 

The  South  will  not  vote  for  a  Northern  candidate  who  is  nominated  as  such, 
nor  the  North  for  a  Southern  man  who  is  nominated  on  exclusive  Southern 
principles.  In  this  matter  there  can  be  no  neutral  ground.  The  dividing  line  is 
narrow,  but  distinct;  it  admits  of  no  fence-riding ;  the  candidate  must  be  on  one 
side  or  the  other ;  and  when  the  time  shall  come,  that  either  the  North  or  the 
South  adopts  a  candidate  on  sectional  grounds,  it  will  not  be  difiicult  to  foretell 
the  issue.  —  N.  Y.  Mirror. 

Ferry-Flat.  A  flat  boat  used  for  crossing,  and  sometimes  for  descend- 
ing, the  Mississippi  River  and  its  tributaries.  Flint  says:  "The 
fernj-flat  is  a  scow-boat,  and,  when  used  as  a  boat  of  descent  for 
families,  has  a  roof  or  covering.  These  are  sometimes  in  the  ver- 
nacular phrase  called  sleds."  —  Hist,  and  Geog.  of  Miss.  Valley. 

To  fetch  up.  To  stop  suddenly.  This  sense  of  the  word  is  not 
noticed  in  the  English  dictionaries,  nor  by  Webster.  "  He  fetched 
up  all  standing;  "  that  is,  he  made  a  sudden  halt.  The  more  com- 
mon phrase  with  us  is,  "He  brought  up  all  standing."  It  is  a 
nautical  vulgarism,  the  figure  being  that  of  a  ship  which  is  suddenly 
brought  to,  while  at  full  speed  and  with  all  her  sails  set. 

Fetterlock.    Fetlock.    New  England.    See  Fetterlock-deep. 

Fetterlock-deep.  As  high  as,  rising  to,  sinking  in  as  far  as  to,  the 
fetlocks. 

I  determined  to  .  .  .  go  on  horseback  to  the  Inlet.  I  found,  however,  that  the 
distance  was  forty  miles  through  heavy  sand,  fttterlock-deep. — N.  Y.  Tribune^ 
Let.  from  Fortress  Monroe. 

Fetticua  or  Vettikost,  vulg.  Fdttikows.  (Valerlanella.)  Corn- 
salad  or  Lamb's-lettuce.    A  word  used  in  New  York. 

Fever-Bush.  Wild  allspice,  so  called  in  Massachusetts.  See  Spice- 
Bush. 

Pew.    Used  as  a  slang  term,  a  few  means  a  little. 

"I  say,  stranger,  tell  me  about  the  trick  of  the  wells'  blowing  up;  and  I'll 
tell  you  the  trick  of  the  gun,  which  rather  skeared  you  a  few,  as  I  think."  — 
Hoffman,  Forest  Scenes. 

F.  F.  V.    First  Families  of  Virginia. 

The  famous  initials  F.  F.  V.  have  had  their  significanc*  changed  by  some  of 
our  boys  in  the  late  campaign,  in  consequence  of  their  constant  alacrity  in  running, 
to  Fast  Footed  Virginians.  —  iV.  Y.  Tribune,  Aug.  2,  18G1. 


214 


FIC— FIE 


The  life  of  a  trooper  is  pleasure  and  ease, 
Just  suited  to  sprigs  of  the  old  F.  F.  F.'s. 

The  Cavalier'' 8  Song. 

Dare  you  dispraise  ruy  royal  parts, 
And  prate  of  Freedom,  Commeice,  Arts  V 
What  are  the}'  to  my  pedigree  ? 

Why,  Adam  was  an  F.  F.  V.  !  —  Ballad  of  King  Cotto'/i. 

rice,  Fyse.  A  term  applied  in  Kentucky  to  a  small  dog;  a  cur.  A 
friend  informs  me  he  has  heard  the  term  in  Washington.  It  is  an 
old  English  word,  now  obsolete  and  not  found  in  recent  English 
dictionaries  or  glossaries.  Nares  alone  notices  it  under  the  name 
of  fi/st,  from  which  comes  foist,  as  a  "  fois ting-Hound,  or  Cur, 
a  small  dog  of  the  lap-dog  kind."  ^vTares  quotes  Coles's  Diet. :  "A 
fysting  (foisting)  cur."  But  the  word  is  not  in  the  first  ed.  of 
Coles,  1708.    See  Fiste. 

As  for  shepherds'  dogs,  foisting  curs,  and  such  whom  some  fond  ladies  make 
their  daily,  nay,  nightly  companions  too,  I  shall  pass  over.  —  Gentleman's  Recrea- 
tions, p  23. 

Fid.  A  fid  of  tobacco,  is  a  "  plug  "  or  small  piece,  from  '■'■fid,^^  a  bunch 
of  oakum  put  into  the  touch-hole  of  a  gun  to  keep  the  powder  dry. 
Coles. 

Fiddler.  A  kind  of  small  crab,  with  one  large  claw  and  a  very  small 
one.    It  lives  on  the  salt  meadows,  where  it  makes  its  burrows. 

Fidlars  are  a  sort  of  small  crabs,  that  lie  in  holes  in  the  marshes.  The  raccoons 
eat  them  very  much.  I  never  knew  any  one  to  try  whether  they  were  good  meat 
or  no.  — Laioson's  Carolina,  1718. 

Down  from  the  pine  woods  we  turn  on  the  sandy  beach,  where  whole  annies 
oi  fiddlers  are  scurrying  to  their  holes  and  marvellously  disappear  while  we  are 
looking  at  them,  vanishing  as  huge  rain-drops  when  they  strike  the  earth. — 
Florida  Cor.  Forest  and  Stream. 

[The  Fish-Crows]  alight  on  large  mud  flats  bordering  the  salt-water  marshes 
for  the  purpose  of  catching  the  small  crabs  called  Fiddlers.  —  Audubon,  Ornith. 
Blog.,  Vol.  11.  p.  269. 

Field-Driver.  A  civil  officer,  whose  duty  it  is  to  take  up  and  impound 
swine,  cattle,  sheep,  horses,  &c.,  going  at  large  in  the  public  high- 
ways, or  on  common  and  unimproved  lands,  and  not  under  the 
charge  of  a  keeper.    New  England. 

Field  Martin.  A  name  sometimes  given  in  the  South  to  the  Kiug- 
Bird. 

Field-Hand.    A  person  who  works  in  a  field.    A  common  term  In 
the  Slave  States  for  an  agricultural  laborer.    "  A  prime  field-hand.^  ^ 
Fiendishment.    A  fiendish  act  or  spirit. 

The  Proclamation  will  be  but  little  more  than  the  indecent  expression  of  Lin- 
coln's rage  and  fiendishments.  — Richmond  Enquirer^  Dec,  1862. 


FIG— FIL 


To  fight  the  Tiger.    To  gamble. 

Strange,  isn't  it,  that  so  many  countrymen  who  come  to  New  York  to  "see 
the  elephant "  will  go  and  fight  the  tiger.  —  N.  Y.  Commercial  Adv. 

To  figure.  "  Figure  on  that  "  means  to  consider  it;  to  think  it  over. 
Western. 

File.    A  cloth  used  for  wiping  a  floor  after  scrubbing. 
File-Pail  or  Filing-Pail.    A  wash-pail. 

Filibuster.  (SjDanish,  Jilibustero .)  A  freebooter.  A  word  brought 
into  common  use  in  consequence  of  the  expeditions  against  Cuba 
under  Lopez  in  the  year  1851,  to  the  members  of  which  expedition 
it  was  applied.  It  is  from  the  Spanish  Jilibustero,  which,  like  the 
French  Jlibustier,  is  itself  a  corruption  of  the  English  freebooter, 
German  freibeuter,  a  term  imported  into  England  during  the  Low 
Country  wars  of  Qu.een  Elizabeth's  time,  and  pretty  generally 
applied  to  the  Buccaneers  who  ravaged  Spanish  America  about 
1680-90.  An  attempt  has  been  made  to  deduce  the  etymology  of 
the  word  from  the  Low  Dutch  vlie-boot,  i.  q.  Jly-boat,  a  sort  of  Dutch 
clipper. 

Our  modern  filibusters  are  the  scum  of  our  society,  not  men  whom  "quick 
bosoms  "  drive  upon  desperate  adventures ;  but  men  whom  rascality  has  outlawed, 
men  whom  society,  instead  of  sending  forth  with  blessings,  kicks  out  with  con- 
tempt. Broken-down  gamblers,  drunken  lawyers,  unsuccessful  publicans,  dissi- 
pated shoe-makers,  detested  swindlers,  men  under  whose  feet  every  plank  has 
broken,  are  those  who  now-a-days  assume  the  bearing,  and  attempt  to  walk  in  the 
footsteps,  of  Cortez  or  of  Clive.  — N.  Y.  Courier  and  Enquirer. 

To  filibuster.    1.  To  acquire  by  freebooting. 

What  was  Moses  but  a  filibuster,  whose  mission  was  to  dispossess  tribes  retro- 
grading (or  whose  civilization  was  corrupting  before  matured),  and  to  plant  in 
their  stead  another  people,  whose  subsequent  annals  show  them  to  have  been  at 
least  in  no  wise  superior  to  our  own  ?  What  were  the  Normans,  from  whom  the 
sovereigns  of  Great  Britain  affect  to  derive  their  descent,  and  a  portion  of  their 
title  to  the  crown,  but  filibusters?  What  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  but  filibusters? 
What  State,  what  territory  in  this  Union  has  not  h^QW  filibustered  ivom  the  Indians, 
or  purchased  from  those  who  had fidibustered  it?  Have  ever  five  years  elapsed 
down  to  the  present  time  since  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  that  some  of 
the  monarchies  of  Europe  have  not,  somewhere,  been  filibustering  something? 
Letter  of  General  Henningsen  to  Senator  Toombs,  1857. 

2.  To  be,  to  act  as,  a  filibuster. 
Filibustering,  Filibusterism.    Freebooting,  freebootery.   The  word 
is  now  (1877)  much  used  in  politics,  particularly  in  Congress,  and 
means  the  sharp  manojuvriiig  of  one  political  party  to  get  an  advan- 
tage over  an  opponent. 

The  history'  of  British  India  is  but  one  vast  scheme  oi  filibustering.  Alexander 
the  Great  wa}»  a  filibuster;  so  was  Caisar,  and  so  Napoleon.  Nicholas  in  his  day 


216 


FIL— FIN 


is  a  filibuster,  and  so  was  Ciiarles  the  XIL  Cortez  was  a  filibuster,  and  every 
foot  of  Spanish  dominion  in  America  was  acquired  h\  Jilibusterin<j  alone.  Everjr 
foot  of  Mexican  soil  is  now  under  the  dominion,  lanj^uage,  laws,  usages,  and  lit- 
urgy of fdibusterisrn.  —  C(diJ'oi-nia  Pioneer^  Jan.,  1854. 

Colonel  H.  P.  Watkins  was  convicted,  March  24,  1854,  in  the  United  State 
District  Court,  of  setting  on  foot  a  military  expedition  against  the  republic  oj 
Mexico,  —  in  other  words,  of  filibusteri&m. —  Annals  of  San  Franoisco,  p.  525. 

Fillipeen  or  Phillipina.  (German,  Vielliehchen.')  There  is  a  custom 

common  in  the  Northern  States,  at  dinner  or  evening  parties,  when 
almonds  or  other  nuts  are  eaten,  to  reserve  such  as  are  double  or 
contain  two  kernels,  which  are  called  Jillijjeens.  If  found  by  a  lady, 
she  gives  one  of  the  kernels  to  a  gentleman,  when  both  eat  their 
respective  kernels.  When  the  parties  again  meet,  each  strives  to 
be  the  first  to  exclaim  Fillipeen  !  for  by  so  doing  he  or  she  is  en- 
titled to  a  present  from  the  other.  Oftentimes  the  most  ingenious 
methods  are  resorted  to  by  both  ladies  and  gentlemen  to  surprise 
each  other  with  the  sudden  exclamation  of  this  mysterious  word, 
which  is  to  bring  forth  a  forfeit.  Another  way  of  obtaining  the 
forfeit  by  this  game  is  to  get  one  to  take  something  from  the  hand 
of  the  other. 

In  a  book  on  German  life  and  manners,  entitled  "  A  Bout  with 
the  Burschens,  or  Heidelberg  in  1844,"  is  an  account  of  the  exis- 
tence of  this  custom  in  Germany,  which  at  the  same  time  furnishes 
us  with  the  etymology  of  the  word  :  — 

Amongst  the  queer  customs  and  habits  of  Germany,  there  is  one  which  struck 
me  as  being  particularly  original,  and  which  I  should  recommend  to  the  consid- 
eration of  turf-men  in  England;  who  might,  perhaps,  find  it  nearly  as  good  a 
way  of  getting  rid  of  their  spare  cash  as  backing  horses  that  have  been  made 
safe  to  lose,  and  prize-fighters  who  have  never  intended  to  fight.  It  is  a  species 
of  betting,  and  is  accomplished  thus  :  Each  of  two  persons  eats  one  of  the  ker- 
nels of  a  nut  or  almond  which  is  double.  The  first  of  the  two  who,  after  so  doing, 
takes  any  thing  from  the  hand  of  the  other,  without  saying  Ich  denJce,  "  I  think,'' 
has  to  make  the  other  a  present  of  a  value  which  is  sometimes  previously  deter- 
mined, and  sometimes  left  to  the  generosity  of  the  loser.  The  presents  are  called 
Vielliebchens,  and  are  usually  trities  of  a  few  florins'  value  ;  a  pipe,  riding-whip, 
or  such  like. 

To  fill  the  Bin.    To  acknowledge ;  to  come  up  to  the  mark.    Of.  to 

acknowledge  the  corn? 

"Sir,"  said  he,  —  and  he  [W.  L.  Yancey]  is  a  beautiful  speaker  and  person- 
ally a  very  fine-looking  man,  —  "are  you  the  celebrated  Parson  Brownlow  V" 
"I 'm  the  only  man  on  earth,"  I  replied,  "that flls  the  bin.'^  — Speech  ofW.  G. 
Brownluw  of  Tenn.  in  N.  Y.  Herald,  May  16,  18G2. 

Fills.    A  common  mispronunciation  for  thills,  the  shafts  of  a  wagon 

or  chaise. 
Fineiied.    Made  fine  ;  dandified. 


FIP— FIR 


217 


If  this  new  judge  is  the  s\icked-UTp, fnejied  sort  of  a  character  they  pictur'  him, 

I  don't  want  to  see  him.  —Robb,  Squatter  Life,  p.  73. 
Fippenny  Bit,  or,  contracted,  Fip.    Fivepence.    In  Pennsylvania, 

and  several  of  the  Southern  States,  the  vulgar  name  for  the  Spanish 

half-real.    (See  Federal   Currency.)    Fippence,  for  fivepence,  is 

provincial  in  England. 
To  fire.    To  fling  with  the  hand,  as  a  stone  or  other  missile. 
To  fire  away.    To  begin ;  to  go  on.    An  expression  borrowed  from 

the  language  of  soldiers  and  sailors. 

The  chairman  rose  and  said :  "  We  are  not  ready  yet,  we  must  go  on  in  order." 
Calls  for  Mr.  H  .  Mr.  H  from  the  midst  of  the  audience  said,  "  Gentle- 
men, I  beg  to  be  excused.  I  came  here  to  listen,  not  to  speak."  Loud  cries  of 
"  Go  ahead !  "  "  Out  with  it !  "  "  Fire  away  "  Whereupon  he  commenced.  — 
JV.  Y.  Herald,  Sketch  of  a  Political  Meeting. 

jE*ire-Dogs.    A  support  for  wood  in  a  fire-place;  andirons.  —  Webster. 
Fire-Eaters.    A  name  given  by  their  political  opponents  to  the  advo- 
cates of  extreme  Southern  views.    Of  recent  introduction. 

ThQ  fire-eaters  in  the  territory  and  the  fire-eaters  outside  do  not  at  all  agree  in 
their  views  of  what  is  proper  to  be  done  in  reference  to  voting  on  the  constitu- 
tion.—  Lecompton  (Ka'iisas)  Democrat,  Nov.,  1857. 

The  fire-eaters  are  making  a  very  "  big  boo  for  a  little  goose."  There  is  no 
strength  whatever  out  of  the  Gulf  States ;  and,  although  they  keep  Walker  very 
close  in  his  room,  he  is  seen  and  known  enough  to  make  all  efforts  to  elevate 
him  even  to  the  rank  of  a  bold  pirate  ridiculous.  — iV.  Y.  Evening  Post,  1857. 

The  "  Savannah  Republican,"  in  noticing  the  call  for  a  convention 
of  the  Southern  States  previous  to  the  late  war,  said  :  — 

"  Our  noble  band  of  sisters,  all  embarked  in  one  common  bottom,  need  not  be 
taught  their  duty  by  a  set  of  gaissy,  fire-eating  politicians,  such  as  are  likely  to 
constitute  the  staple  of  a  Southern  Convention." 

Fire-Hook.  A  stout  hook  at  the  end  of  a  spar,  used  in  pulling  down 
buildings  when  on  fire. 

Fire-Hunt,  A  hunt  for  game  in  the  night  with  the  aid  of  a  long- 
handled  pan  containing  light  wood  or  pitch-pine  knots  ignited. 
This  is  carried  on  the  shoulder  of  the  hunter  until  he  sees  the  eyes 
of  the  animal  of  which  he  is  in  pursuit. 

The  fire-hunt  was  Sam's  hobby.  He  had  often  urged  me  to  accompany  him, 
just  to  see  how  slick  he  could  shine  a  buck's  eyes,  and  had  drawn  from  me  a 
promise  to  go  with  him  on  some  of  these  hunts.  —  Traits  of  American  Humor, 
Vol.  II.  p.  171. 

To  fire  into  the  Wrong  Flock  is  a  metaphorical  expression  us*d  at  the 
West,  denoting  that  one  has  mistaken  his  object,  as  when  a  sports- 
man fires  at  a  different  flock  from  what  he  intended.  It  is  synony- 
mous with  "  To  bark  up  tlie  wrong  tree." 


218 


FIR 


I  said,  when  General  J  cocked  his  gun  and  began  his  war  upoi  the  Sen- 
ate, he  would  find  he  had  fired  into  the  wrong  fiock. —  CrockeWs  Speech,  Tour, 
p.  81. 

I  will  make  that  gone}'  a  caution  to  sinners  I  know.  He  has  fired  into  the 
wrony fiock  timQ.  I'll  teach  him  not  to  do  it  again.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human 
Nature,  p.  107. 

Fire-Water.  The  name  given  by  some  of  the  Indian  tribes  to  ardent 
spirits. 

Magna's  Canada  fathers  came  into  the  woods,  and  taught  him  to  drink  fire- 
water, and  he  became  a  rascal. —  Cooper,The  Last  of  the  Mohicans,  p.  146. 

The  Taos  whiskey,  a  raw,  fiery  spirit,  has  a  ready  market  among  the  trappers 
and  Indian  traders,  who  find  the  fire-water  the  most  profitable  article  of  trade 
with  the  aborigines.  — Ruxton's  Adventures  in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  p.  200. 

Fire-Wood.    Wood  designed  for  fuel. 

Fire  Zouave.  A  term  popularly  applied  to  companies  of  Zouaves,  the 
members  of  which  had  been  firemen  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

A  Pet  Lamb  astonishes  the  Secessionists.  The  Richmond  papers  tell  of  a  Fire 
Zouave  who  was  caught  and  taken  to  Fairfax,  &c.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  July  18, 
1861. 

First.  One,  single.  An  absurd  use  of  the  word,  which  has  recently 
crept  into  the  newspapers  and  public  speeches  from  the  colloquial 
language  of  the  West.  "  I  won't  pay  you  the  Jirst  red  cent;  "  i.  e.,1 
will  not  pay  you  a  single  cent. 

And  here  was  I,  who  had  been  half  tempted  to  fret  because  a  stream  of  water 
leaking  through  the  top  of  the  coach  couldn't  alight  anywhere  else  but  on  my 
knees,  which  I  couldn't  move  the  first  inch,  absurdly  fancying  that  but  for  that 
I  might  have  slept-  —  Letter  in  JV.  Y.  Tribune,  May  23,  1849. 

Think  how  many  of  the  young  mechanics  of  New  York,  who  are  earning  their 
ten  or  twelve  dollars  per  week,  do  not  save  the  first  cent  from  one  year's  end  to 
the  other,  but  squander  all  they  ought  to  lay  up  in  dissipation.  — Ibid.,  Aug.  20, 
1849. 

I  am  not  aware  of  having  committed  the  first  act  which  should  bring  upon  me 
the  displeasure  of  the  house  or  an}'  of  its  members.  —  W.  A.  GilberVs  Speech  in 
House  of  Representatives,  Feb.  27,  1857. 

First-Class.  A  man  in  England  possesses  notable  capacity,  and  people 
style  him  capable,  or  able,  or  great.  In  Canada,  he  is  designated 
first-class.  To  speak  of  a  first-class  carriage,  or  a  first-class  prize,  or 
even  a  first-class  prize  ox,  may  be  right  enough;  but  why  apply 
phrases  with  such  poor  associations  to  men  of  splendid  intellect?  Is 
it  not  enough  that  a  man  be  great  ?  Will  he  seem  any  greater  when 
indissolubly  associated  with  a  railway  van?  — Rev.  A.  C.  Geikie,  in 
Canadian  Journal,  Sept. ,  1857. 

First-Rate.  Of  the  first  class  or  order ;  superior ;  superexcellent.  An 
expression  now  in  very  common  use,  applied,  as  most  superlatives 


FIR— FIS 


219 


are  in  the  United  States,  with  very  little  discrimination.  It  was 
formerly  said  of  large  and  important  things,  as  "  a  Jirst-rate  ship." 
Kow  we  hear  of  Jirst-rate  pigs,"  '■'■Jirst-rate  liquors,"  ^'■Jirst-rate 
lawy-ers." 

The  Jirst^ate  importance  of  the  subject,  and  the  real  merits  of  the  work,  are 
deserving  of  a  portion  of  our  space.  —  Westminster  Review^  July,  1847. 

A  young  woman  wants  a  situation  as  a  chambermaid.  She  is  a  Jirst-rate  washer 
and  ironer,  and  plain  sewer.  — Adrertisement  in  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

It  is  also  used  adverbially;  thus,  if  we  ask  a  person  how  he  is,  he 
replies,  "  I  am  first-i^ate,'^  i.  e.  in  excellent  health,  very  well. 

Mr.  Borthwick  found  the  California  Indians  had  acquired  this  use 
of  the  phrase ;  for,  says  he :  — 

When  you  salute  them  with  "  How  d'  ye  do,"  or  if  you  really  want  to  know 
the  state  of  their  health,  they  invariably  answer  fuss-rate.  So  having  ascertained 
that  they  were  all  fuss-rate,  I  made  inquiries  as  to  my  way.  —  Three  Years  in 
California,  p.  211. 

Well,  there 's  some  men  whose  natural  smartness  helps  them  along  first-rate. 
Major  Jones's  Courtship,  p.  31. 

Mary  liked  all  the  speakers ^rs^-m^e,  except  one  feller  who  gin  the  galls  all 
sorts  of  a  shakin'.  —  Ibid.,  p.  168. 

The  "London  Illustrated  News,"  Dec.  6,  1856,  in  speaking  of 
Assheton  Smith,  a  celebrated  huntsman,  says:  — 

In  his  Leicestershire  days,  he  was  ^rsi-ra<e  as  a  horseman  ;  ....  and  in  one  of 
the  worst  scenting  countries,  he  has  for  years  shown  the^?'S^-m^e  sport. 

First  Rate  and  a  Half.    Any  thing  somewhat  better  than  what  is 

considered  ^r.s7-rafe;  or  ^/zrsi-rafe  intensified. 
First  Swathe.    First  quality ;  first  chop.    New  York. 

Nothing  '11  serve  you  but  a  first-swathe  mug,  about  twenty-three  years  old.  — 
C.  Matheics,  Puffer  Hopkins. 

Fish-Bail.  Salt  codfish  chopped  fine  and  mixed  with  potatoes ;  it  is 
then  made  into  balls  and  fried,  or,  for  those  who  don't  like  grease, 
baked  upon  a  griddle.  An  amusing  song  called  the  "Lone  Fish- 
Bail  "  was  very  popular  a  few  years  ago.  At  one  of  the  cheap 
eating-houses,  a  customer  who  had  one  of  these  balls,  having  called 
for  a  piece  of  bread, 

The  waiter  roared  it  through  the  hall, 

"  We  don't  give  bread  with  one  fish-balV^ 

Fish-Crow.  (Corvus  ossijragus.  Wilson.)  A  bird  almost  entirely 
confined  to  the  maritime  districts  of  the  Southern  States.  During 
the  summer,  they  are  sometimes  found  as  far  north  as  Pennsylvania. 
They  are  generally  seen  hovering  over  bays  and  rivers  as  well  as  over 
salt  poixds  and  marshes,  searching  for  small  fry  or  for  small  crabs 
called  Fiddlers.  — Audubon. 


220 


FIS— FIX 


Fisherman-Farmer.  Said  of  such  persons  as  alternate  farming  and 
fishing  at  different  periods,  especially  such  as  customarily  farm  in 
one,  and  fish  in  another  part  of  each  year.  Sea-coast  of  Massachu- 
setts. 

Fish-Flake.    A  frame  covered  with  fagots,  for  the  purpose  of  drying 

fish.    New  England.    See  Flakes. 
Fishing-Frog.    See  Devil-Fish. 

Fish-Pot.    A  wicker  basket,  sunk,  with  a  cork  float  attached,  for 

catching  crabs,  lobsters,  &c. 
Fish-Pound.    A  net  attached  to  stakes,  and  used  for  entrapping  and 

catching  fish ;  a  wear.  Connecticut. 

Fish-Story.  A  story  that  taxes  credulity;  an  incredible  narration. 
Fishy.    Having  the  characteristics  of  a  fish-stoiy;  rather  incredible. 

We  did  not  lose  a  man.  This  sounds  rather  fohy ;  but  they  had  no  artillery. 
N.  Y.  Tribune,  Nov.  25,  1861. 

Fiste  (i  as  in  mice).    A  small  dog;  a  puppy.  Pennsylvania. 

Fits.    "  To  give  one  fits  "  means,  by  a  vulgar  hyperbole,  to  give  one 

such  a  punishing  as  to  throw  him  into  fits,  to  punish  him  very 

severely. 

Mose.  Now  look  a-here,  Liz,  —  I  go  in  for  Bill  Sykes,  'cause  he  runs  wid  our 
machine;  but  he  mustn't  come  foolin'  round  my  gal,  or  I  '11  give  him  Jits.  — A 
Glance  at  New  Yorh. 

Aid.  Voorhies.    Go  on,  Mr  Jones. 

Witness.  He  said  that  the  Atlas  was  coming  out,  to  give  Mayor  Wood  and 
myself  '■\fits.'''' 

Alfh  Ely.    Was  he  to  give  any  thing  else? 

Witness.  Yes,  he  said  he  was  going  to  "  give  us  jessie."  —  New  Yorh  City 
Council  Debates. 

Sometimes  additional  force  is  given  to  this  epithet  by  threatening 
to  "  giYQ  particular  fits,^^  as  in  the  following  example:  — 

Lady  Bulwer  has  just  published  a  new  novel,  called  "Very  Successful,"  in 
which  rumor  reports  that  Sir  Edward  is  to  get  particular  fits.  — N.  Y.  Times. 

I  rather  guess  as  how  the  old  man  will  give  particular  fits  to  our  folks  to-day. 
Eggleston,  The  Hoosier  Schoolmaster,  p.  101. 

Fix.    A  condition;  predicament;  dilemma. 

Some  feller  jest  come  and  tuck  my  bundle  and  the  jug  of  spirits,  and  left  me  in 
this  here^;?a;.  —  Chron.  of  Pineville,  p.  47. 

Are  you  drunk  too  ?  Well,  I  never  did  see  you  in  that  fix  in  all  my  liA'-e-long 
born  days.  —  Georgia  Scenes,  p.  163. 

The  gentleman  must  be  stronger  in  the  faith  than  ourselves,  if  he  does  not  find 
himself  in  an  awkward j?a;.  — N.  Y.  Commercial  Advertiser,  Oct.  18,  1845. 

To  fix.    In  popular  use,  to  put  in  order;  to  prepare;  to  adjust;  to  set 


FIX 


221 


or  place  in  the  manner  desired  or  most  suitable.  Mr.  Lyell,  in  his 
"  Travels  in  North  America,"  chap,  iii.,  has  the  following  remarks 
on  this  word :  — 

At  one  of  the  stations  where  the  train  stopped,  we  heard  some  young  woman 
from  Ohio  exclaim,  "  Well,  we  are  in  a  pretty  fix!'"  and  found  their  dilemma  to 
be  characteristic  of  the  financial  crisis  of  these  times,  for  none  of  their  dollar  notes 
of  the  Ohio  banks  would  pass  here.  The  substantive  '■'■fix'"  is  an  acknowledged 
vulgarism  ;  but  the  verb  is  used  in  New  England  by  well-educated  people,  in  the 
sense  of  the  French  "arranger,"  or  the  English  "do."  To  fix  the  hair,  the 
table,  the  fire,  means  to  di-ess  the  hair,  lay  the  table,  and  make  up  the  fire ;  and 
this  application  is,  I  presume,  of  Hibernian  origin,  as  an  Irish  gentleman.  King 
Corney,  in  Miss  Edgeworth's  tale  of  Ormond,  says,  "I'll  fix  him  and  his 
wounds." 

"Where  they  might  fix  their  pieces"  [muskets]. — BradfiorcVs 
Hist,  of  Plymouth^  1648.  In  citing  this  passage,  Palfrey  says,  "  Brad- 
ford put  the  word  to  that  use  when  he  spoke  only  his  native  Not- 
tinghamshire." —  Hist,  of  Neio  England,  Vol.  II.  p.  68,  note. 

The  word  is  equally  common  in  Ontario,  Canada.  Boys  threaten- 
ing vengeance  say,  "  I  '11  fx  you!  " 

One  of  their  most  remarkable  terms  is  to  fix.  Whatever  work  requires  to  be 
done  must  he.  fixed.  '■^  Fix  the  room"  is  to  set  it  in  order.  Fix  the  table," 
"  Fix  the  fire,"  says  the  mistress  to  her  servants;  and  the  things  prefixed  accord- 
ingly. —  Backwoods  of  Canada,  p.  82. 

To  fix  it.  A  vulgarism  of  recent  origin,  but  now  very  common.  It 
is  heard  in  such  phrases  as,  "I  will  not  do  so  and  so,  any  how  you 
can  fx  it,^^  or,  still  worse,  "  no  how  you  can  fx  it,^^  i.  e.  not  in  any 
way  that  you  can  arrange  it;  not  by  any  means. 

A  wet  day  is  considerable  tiresome,  any  way  you  can  fix  it.  —  Sam  SlicJc  in 
Enyland,  eh.  2. 

If  I  was  an  engineer,  I 'd  clap  on  steam,  —  I'd  fire  up,  I  tell  you ;  you  wouldn't 
get  me  to  stop  the  engine,  no  way  you  could  fix  it.  — Pichinys  from  the  Picayune. 

The  master  called  them  up,  and  axed  them  the  hardest  questions  he  could  find 
in  the  book;  but  he  couldn't  stump  'em,  no  how  he  could  fix  it  — Major  Jones's 
Courtship,  p.  36. 

Workin'  ain't  genteel  nor  independent,  no  how  you  can  fix  it.  — Pichinys  from 
the  Picayune,  p.  74. 

"  According  to  my  notions,  riches  and  grandeur  ain't  to  be  compared  to  religion, 
no  how  you  can  fix  it;  and  I  always  said  so,"  said  the  Widow  Bedott.  —  Bedott 
Papers,  p.  135. 

To  fix  one's  Flint  is  a  phrase  taken  from  backwoods  life,  and  means 
the  same  as  to  settle,  to  do  for,  to  dish. 

"Take  it  easy,  Sam,"  says  I,  "  your  flint  is  fixed ;  you  are  wet  through ;  "  and 
I  settled  down  to  a  careless  walk,  quite  desperate.  —  Sam  Slick  in  Enf/land;  ch.  2. 

The  Bluenose  hante  the  tools;  and,  if  he  had,  he  couldn't  use  them.  That's 
the  reason  any  one  a'most  can  "^x  his  flint  for  him."  —  Ibid. 


222 


FIX 


To  fix  out.    To  set  out  (adorn,  arrange),  supply,  fit  out,  display. 

Fix-out.    Adornment,  arrangement,  "  out-fit. " 

To  fix  up.    As  fix  out;  and  also  to  mend,  repair;  and  to  contrive. 

Fix-up.  From  the  verb  as  above.  It  is  used  to  denote  an  ornament, 
a  supply,  a  contrivance,  device,  arrangement. 

The  "Albany  Argus,"  still  hoping  for  some  sort  of  a  compromise  or  fix-up 
with  the  rebels,  says :  — 

Fixed  Fact.  A  positive  or  well-established  fact,  what  the  French  call 
un  fait  accompli.  The  origin  of  the  phrase  is  attributed  to  the  Hon. 
Caleb  Gushing. 

The  "Boston  Post,"  June,  1847,  in  speaking  of  the  trial  of 
Captain  Stetson  for  piratically  running  away  with  a  ship  and  cargo, 
says : — 

That  he  did  dispose  of  a  large  quantity  of  oil,  and  afterwards  desert  from  the 
vessel,  are  fixed  facts. 

In  many  localities,  spiritualism  ha"*  become  a,  fixed  fact.,  and  its  modus  operandi 
is  well  understood  by  those  who  have  investigated  it  as  a  mental  science  on  the 
platform  of  cause  and  effect.  —  ChHstian  Spiritualist. 

Fixings.  A  word  used  with  absurd  laxity,  especially  in  the  South  and 
West,  to  signify  arrangements,  embellishments,  trimmings,  gar- 
nishings  of  any  kind. 

The  theatre  was  better  filled,  and  the  fixings  looked  nicer,  than  in  Philadelphia. 
Crockett.,  Tour  down  East,  p.  38. 

All  the  fellows  fell  to  getting  grapes  for  the  ladies ;  but  the}-  all  had  their  Sunday 
fixins  on,  and  were  afraid  to  go  into  the  brush.  —  Major  Joneses  Courtship,  p.  42. 

A  mnn  who  goes  into  the  woods,  as  one  of  these  veteran  settlers  obser\'ed  to  me, 
has  a  heap  of  little  fixins  to  study  out,  and  a  great  deal  of  projecting  to  do.  — 
Judge  Hall,  Letters  from  the  West,  Letter  18. 

When  we  parted,  I  wanted  to  pay  him  something  handsome  for  all  his  trouble ; 
out  I  ^ouldii't  gii  him  to  take  nothing  but  an  X,  to  buy  some  wimmia  fixitis  for 
the  old  lady  as  a  compliment  from  me.  — N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

"Ah!  "  exclaimed  the  teamster  [to  a  gentleman  who  had  a  good  deal  of  lug- 
gage], "  what  anybody  on  earth  can  want  Avith  such  lots  of  fixins,  I'm  sure 's 
dark  to  me."  —  Mrs.  Clavers,  Forest  Life,  Vol.  I.  p.  97. 

One  half  of  the  country  is  overflowed  in  the  winter,  and  t'other  half,  which  is 
a  darned  sight  the  biggest,  is  covered  with  cane,  pimento,  and  other  fixins.  — 
Porter's  South-western  Tales,  p.  123. 

The  following  advice  was  given  to  the  editor  of  a  new  Western 
paper:  — 

Advertise  our  doins  in  gineral,  such  as  we  got  to  sell,  and  throw  yourself  wide 
on  the  literary  fixins  and  poetry  for  the  galls  ;  and.  Mister,  if  you  do  this  with  spirit, 
the  whole  town  will  take  your  paper.  — Robb,  Squatter  Life,  p.  31. 

For  a  use  of  the  term  as  applied  to  food,  see  Chicken  Fixings, 


FIZ 


223 


Fizz.    To  fizzle  the  elbow  is  to  knock  the  "  crazy  bone." 

Fizzle.  A  ridiculous  failure.  The  figure  is  that  of  wet  powder, 
which  burns  with  a  hissing  noise  and  then  goes  out  without  pro- 
ducing any  effect.  It  is  nearly  equivalent  to  the  analogous  expres- 
sion, "  a  flash  in  the  pan." 

There  is  an  English  proverb  which  says,  "  Eveiy  pea  has  its  vease^ 
and  a  bean  fifteen."  This  establishes  the  etymology  of  the  word; 
for  vease  is  simply  the  Italian  vescia  (crepitus  ventus)^  which  Baretti, 
in  his  Italian  Dictionary,  expressly  defines  by  the  word  fizzle. 

In  many  colleges  of  the  United  States,  this  elegant  term  is  used 
to  denote  a  blundering  recitation.  It  has  been  held  that  to  hit  just 
one  third  of  the  meaning  constitutes  "a  perfect  fizzle.^'' — HalVs 
College  Words.  The  "Brunonian,"  Feb.  24,  1877,  defines  the 
word  to  mean  "  where  the  student  thinks  he  knows,  but  can't 
quite  express  it,"  or  "he  tries  to  express  it,  and  the  professor 
thinks  he  doesn't  quite  know." 

With  mind  and  body  so  nearly  at  rest  that  naught  interrupted  my  inmost  repose 
save  cloudy  reminiscences  of  a  morning  fizzle  and  an  afternoon  flunk,  my  tran- 
quillity was  sufficiently  enviable.  —  Yale  Literary  Magazine,  Vol.  XV.  p.  114. 
Here  he  could  fizzles  mark,  without  a  sigh, 

And  see  orations  unregarded  die.  —  The  Tomahaivh,  Nov.,  1849. 

In  Princeton  College,  the  word  blue  is  used  with  fizzle,  to  render 
it  intensive;  as,  he  made    a  blue  fizzle,^'  "  He  fizzled  blue.''^ 

The  term  is  used  with  equally  happy  effect  in  political  as  in 
college  slang. 

The  trick  of  the  administration  to  palm  off  the  Washington  Union  upon  the 
Senate  as  the  National  Democrat  organ  was  a  fizzle  and  a  shocking  failure.  — 
N.  Y.  Herald. 

To  fizzle.  1.  To  fail  in  reciting;  to  recite  badly.  A  correspondent 
from  Williams  College  says:  "Flunk  is  the  common  word  when 
some  unfortunate  man  makes  an  utter  failure  in  recitation.  He 
fizzles  when  he  stumbles  through  at  last."  A  writer  in  the  "  Yale 
Literary  Messenger  "  thus  aptly  defines  the  word:  "  Fizzle.  To  rise 
with  modest  reluctance,  to  hesitate  often,  to  decline  finally;  gen- 
erally, to  misunderstand  the  question."  —  HalVs  College  Words. 

My  dignity  is  outraged  at  beholding  those  who  fizzle  and  flunk  in  my  presence 
tower  above  me.  —  The  Yale  Banyer,  Oct.  22,  1847. 

2.  To  cause  one  to  fail  in  reciting.    Said  of  an  instructor.  —  HalL 

Fizzle  him  tenderly, 

Bore  him  with  care  ; 
Fitted  so  slenderly, 

Tutor,  beware.  -  Yale  Lit.  Mag.,  Vol.  XIII.  p.  321. 


224 


FIZ— FLA 


To  fizzle  out.  To  be  quenched,  extinguished;  to  prove  a  failure. 
A  favorite  expression  in  Oiiio. 

The  factious  and  revolutionary  action  of  the  fifteen  has  interrupted  the  regular 
business  of  the  Senate,  disgraced  the  actors,  and  fizzled  out! —  Cincinnati  Gazette. 

Is  the  new  hotel  [one  called  the  Burnet  House]  to  be  given  up  or  to  go  on  ? 
To  go  on.  It  cannot  be  possible,  after  all  that  has  been  said  and  done  about  a 
"splendid  hotel,"  that  our  enterprising  business  men  will  let  it  fizzle  out.  —  Ibid. 

You  never  get  tired  of  a  good  horse.  He  don't  fizzle  out.  You  like  him  better 
and  better  every  day.  —  San  Slick,  Human  Nature,  p.  55. 

Flakes.  (Old  Eng.  fleyke  or  hyrdylle,  Du.  vlaeck.)  Fish-flakes. 
(Dutch,  vlaak,  a  hurdle  for  wool.)  Long  poles  laid  upon  crotch ed 
posts  driven  into  the  ground,  parallel  to  each  other,  about  two  feet 
apart  and  covered  with  brush,  upon  which  codfish  are  spread 
to  dry. 

Some  tear  downe  Flakes,  whereon  men  yeerely  dry  their  fish,  to  the  great  hurt 
and  hindrance  of  many  other  that  come  after  them.  —  Whitbourne,  Disc,  and  Dis- 
coverie  of  New-Found-land  (Lond.  1022),  p.  66. 

The  OAvners  of  vessels  [in  fishing  districts]  have  a  flake-yard  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  landing-places,  to  which  the  fish  are  carried  on  being  landed.  —  Peter  Gott, 
the  Fisherman. 

Yhh.-flakes  were  spread  upon  the  beach,  and  the  women  were  busy  in  turning 
the  cod  upon  them.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature. 

Flap-Doodle.  Nonsense,  vain  boasting;  as  of  a  cock  flapping  his 
wings  and  crowing. 

McMahon  goes  on  to  say,  in  a  dreadfully  low-spirited  style,  that  the  South  is 
a  Pelican ;  that  we  are  her  progeny ;  that  she  has  drained  her  breasts  to  feed 
us;  and  to  utter  other  flap-doodle  for  the  nourishment  of  the  Richmond  mind.  — 
N.  Y.  Tribune,  Jan.  20,  1862. 

Flapjack.  A  flat  pancake  fried  upon  a  griddle;  also  called  a  slapjack. 
It  is  an  old  English  word,  and  is  mentioned  by  Shakspeare. 

We  '11  have  flesh  for  holidays,  fish  for  fasting-days,  and,  moreover,  puddings 
Rud  flapjacks ;  and  thou  shalt  be  welcome.  — Pericles,  ii.  1, 

Sarah  Wilkerson,  good  cretur,  she  was,  one  of  the  likeliest  heifers  that  was 
ever  raised.  She  could  heft  a  barrel  of  flour  as  easy  as  I  can  flirt  a.  flapjack.  — 
Mark  Twain,  Roughing  It,  p.  384. 

To  flash  in  the  Pan.  To  fail  of  success.  A  metaphor  borrowed 
from  the  old-fashioned  flint-and-steel  gun,  which,  after  being  primed 
and  ready  to  be  discharged,  sometimes  flashed  in  the  pan. 

Mr.  Lowell,  in  his  poem  on  the  school-house,  speaks  of  the  dame 
who,  prim  and  calm, 

could  detect  at  once 
Who  flashed  in  the  pan,  and  who  was  downright  dunce. 

Flash-Board.  A  board  placed  upon  a  mill-dam  when  a  river  is  low, 
in  order  to  obtain  a  gi-eater  fall  of  water.  It  is  temporary,  being 
placed  and  removed  from  the  dam  as  cii*cumstances  require. 


FLA 


225 


Flat.  1.  In  America,  this  word  is  applied  to  low  alluvial  lands.  "  The 
Mohawk  flats"  is  a  term  universally  applied  to  the  valley  of  the 
Mohawk  River,  on  either  side  of  which  are  alluvial  lands.  See  BoU 
torn  Lands.  It  is  also  applied  to  river  shoals,  where  they  are  of 
much  extent. 

In  New  England,  all  the  spaces  between  high  and  low  water 
mark  on  the  seashore,  or  in  bays,  inlets,  &c.,  where  the  sea  flows 
and  ebbs. 

The  title  of  the  Commonwealth,  as  owner  thereof  in  fee,  to  all  the^rt^s  or  lands, 
.  .  .  below  the  ordinary  line  of  riparian  ownership,  from  which  the  natural  flow 
of  the  tides  in  Boston  harbor  has  been  cut  off  by  dams  or  otherwise,  and  also  the 
Jlats  below  said  line,  is  hereby  asserted  and  d-eclared,  &c.  —  Laws  of  Massa- 
chmetts. 

And  now  the  airy  Flats  we  pass,  their  church, 
Litigious  hall,  and  taverns,  and  approach 
The  gloomy  shade  of  dark  continuous  wood, 
That  runs  high  westward  to  the  Mohawk's  fount. 

McKinnoTi's  Poems,  p.  34. 

2.  A  broad-brimmed,  low-crowned,  straw  hat,  worn  by  women. 

3.  A  species  of  flat-bottomed  boat,  used  on  the  Mississippi  and 
other  rivers.    See  Fiat-Boat. 

4.  A  rejection,  dismissal.    See  To  flat. 

5.  A  term  used  where  money  or  stocks  are  lent  without  interest. 

6.  A  dull-headed  person. 

To  flat.  To  reject  a  lover;  as,  "Miss  Deborah  gave  Ike  the flat^^^ 
*'  He 's  got  the  flat,''  "  She  flatted  him."  Western. 

Fiat-Boat.  A  rude  sort  of  vessel  used  for  transporting  produce,  &c., 
down  the  Mississippi  River.  It  is  thus  described  by  Flint:  "They 
are  simply  an  oblong  ark,  with  a  roof  slightly  curved  from  the  cen- 
tre to  shed  rain.  They  are  generally  above  fifteen  feet  wide,  and 
from  fifty  to  eighty  and  sometimes  an  hundred  feet  in  length.  The 
timbers  of  the  bottom  are  massive  beams,  and  they  are  intended  to 
be  of  great  strength,  and  to  carry  a  burden  of  from  two  to  four  hun- 
dred barrels.  Great  numbers  of  cattle,  hogs,  and  horses  are  conveyed 
to  market  in  them.  We  have  seen  family  boats  of  this  description, 
fitted  up  for  the  descent  of  families  to  the  lower  country,  with  a 
stove,  comfortable  apartments,  beds,  and  arrangements  for  commo- 
dious habitancy. —  Hint,  and  Geogr.  of  Miss.  Valley.  These  boats 
are  also  called  Kentucky  Flats  and  Broad-horns.  See  Ark. 

Finally  one  of  'em  ses,  "Don't  make  fun  of  the  unfortunate;  he 's  hardly  got 
over  bein'  blowed  up  yet.  Let 's  make  up  a  puss  for  him."  Then  they  all  throwed 
in  and  made  up  five  dollars.  As  the  spokesman  handed  me  the  change,  he  axed 
me,  "  Whar  did  you  find  yourself  arter  the  'splosion  V  "  "  In  a  Jlat-boat,^'  ses  I. 
Widow  Bayly's  Husband. 

15 


226 


FLA— FLO 


To  flat-boat.    To  transport  in  a  flat-boat. 

The  first  enterprise  of  Josiah  Hedges  on  his  own  account  was  a  trading  excur- 
sion to  New  Orleans  with  fruit,  which  he  Jlat-boated  from  Wheeling  to  that 
point.  —  Nat.  Intelliffencer,  July  29,  1858. 

Flat-Boatman.    A  hand  employed  on  a  flat-boat. 

Flat-broke.  Utterly  bankrupt,  entirely  out  of  money.  The  Califor- 
nia correspondent  of  the  "  Boston  Post,"  in  speaking  of  the  emigra- 
tion, says:  "Many  emigrants,  arriving  in  that  state  of  collapsity 
termed  flat-broke,  staid  at  Los  Angeles  because  they  couldn't  go  on." 

To  flat  out.  To  collapse;  to  prove  a  failure.  A  Western  phrase 
applied  to  a  political  meeting;  as,  "  The  meeting  flatted  out." 
President  Dwight  v^as  criticising  a  passage  in  a  theme,  and,  being 
hard  up  for  a  simile,  said :  Why,  it 's  as  flat  —  it 's  as  flat  —  it 's  as 
flat  as  a  flat  piece  of  lead,  flatted  out  flat." 

The  word  is  also  used  as  a  noun.  "  It  was  a  complete  flat-out.'* 
"  He  made  a  flat  out." 

Flat-footed.  Downright,  resolute;  firmly,  resolutely.  A  term  be- 
longing to  the  Western  political  slang,  with  which  the  halls  of 
Congress,  as  well  as  the  newspapers,  are  now  deluged. 

Colonel  M  attempted  to  define  his  position,  but,  being  unable,  exclaimed : 

I 'm  an  independent,  fiat-footed  man,  and  am  neither  for  nor  against  the  mill- 
dam.  —  Tennessee  Newspaper. 

At  the  forks  of  the  road  there  lived  a  brawny,  stalwart  son  of  Vulcan.  He  was 
a  man  of  strong  will,  and  a  zealous  disciple  of  Tom  Paine.  His  Herculean  frame, 
and  bold,  flat-footed  way  of  saying  things,  had  impressed  his  neighbors,  and  he 
held  the  rod  in  terrorem  over  them.  —  Harper^s  Mag.,  Sept.,  1858. 

Mr.  Pickens,  of  South  Carolina,  has  come  out  flat-footed  for  the  administra- 
tion,—  a  real  red-hot  Democrat,  dyed  in  the  wool,  —  denounces  Mr.  Calhoun, — 
and  is  ready  now  to  take  any  high  office.  But  the  mission  to  England  is  beyond 
his  reach.  —  N.  Y.  Herald,  June  30,  1846. 

Flat  Top.    See  Iron  Weed. 

To  flax  round.    To  be  energetic  ;  to  move  quickly.    New  England. 

Flea-Bane.  {Erigeron  Canadense.)  One  of  the  most  hardy  and  com- 
mon weeds.  It  propagates  itself  rapidly,  and  since  the  discovery  of 
America  has  been  introduced  and  spread  through  most  countries  in 
Europe.  —  Bigelow's  Flora  Bost. 

This  plant  is  sold  by  the  Shakers  for  its  medical  properties,  which 
are  astringent  and  diuretic. 

Flicker.    See  Clape. 

Flitter.    A  corruption  of  the  word  fritter^  a  pancake. 

Floor.  Used  in  Congress,  in  this  expression,  to  get  the  floor;  to  have 
the  floor;  to  obtain  the  floor ^  —  that  is,  to  obtain  an  opportunity  of 


FLO— FLU 


22T 


taking  part  in  a  debate.  The  English  say,  to  he  in  possession  of  the 
House.  —  Pickering^ s  Vocabulary . 

To  flour.  To  grind  and  bolt;  to  convert  into  flour. —  Webster.  A 
word  used  in  those  parts  of  the  country  where  there  are  mills  for 
grinding  wheat.  Ex.  :  "  The  mill  can  Jiour  two  hundred  barrels  a 
day  ; "  i.  e.,  it  can  make  so  many  barrels  of  flour. 

Flouring-Mill.  A  grist-mill,  especially  one  in  which  flour  is  made 
from  wheat. 

Flummux.  In  colleges,  applied  to  a  poor  recitation;  a  failure. — 
HaWs  College  Words. 

To  flummux.  To  give  in,  give  up;  to  die.  The  word  is  used  in 
England,  but  not  in  the  same  manner.  According  to  Halliwell,  it 
means  "to  overcome,  frighten,  bewilder,  foil,  disappoint,  or  mys- 
tify, also  to  maul  or  mangle."  — Diet,  of  Arch,  and  Prov.  Wo7'ds. 

Prehaps  Parson  Hyme  didn't  put  into  Pokerville  for  two  mortal  hours ;  and 
prehaps  Pokerville  didn't  mizzle,  wince,  and  finally  fummix  right  beneath  him. 
Field,  Drama  in  Pokerville. 

Be  ye  men  of  mighty  stomachs, 
Men  that  can't  be  made  to  Jiummux. 

Oyster  War  of  Accomac,  N.  Y.  Tribune,  April,  1849. 

I  thought  I  should  a  flummuxed !  The  dogs  they  sidled  back  ;  an'  Ike  cussed; 
and  I  lay  down  an'  rolled,  till  I  was  so  full  I  thought  I  should  a  bust  my  biler. 
Mike  Hooter''s  Bear  Stoi^y. 

Plunk.    A  backing  out;  a  total  failure  in  a  college  recitation. 

The  Sabbath  dawns  upon  the  poor  student  burdened  with  the  thought  of  the 
lesson  or  flunk  of  the  morrow  morning.  —  Yale  Tomahawk,  Feb.,  1851. 

In  mood}'-  meditation  sunk, 

Eeflecting  on  my  future  flunk.  —  Songs  of  Yale,  1853. 

To  flunk.  To  fail  utterly  in  a  college  examination.  The  "  Bruno- 
nian,"  Feb.  24,  1877,  says  a  flunk  is  a  complete  fizzle,  and  a  dead 
flunk  is  where  one  refuses  to  get  out  of  his  seat. 

They  know  that  a  mai.  who  has  flunked,  because  too  much  of  a  genius  to  get 
his  lesson,  is  not  in  a  state  to  appreciate  joking. — Amherst  Indicator,  Vol.  I. 
p.  253. 

Way  down  in  Hoosic  Valley 

Minds  put  forth  their  shoots, 
And  many  weary  hours  are  passed 

In  grubbing  lingual  roots. 
There  I  fizzled  and  there  I  flunked, 

So  mournful  all  the  day; 
Till  the  welcome  pony  came  at  last, 

And  bore  my  toil  away. 

Carmina  Collegensia,  Songs  of  Williams,  p.  93. 


228 


FLU— FLY 


To  flunk  out.    To  retire  through  fear ;  to  give  up,  back  out. 

Why,  little  one,  you  must  be  cracked,  if  you  jlunJc  out  before  we  begin.  —  J.  C. 
Neal. 

We  must  have  at  least  as  many  subscribers  as  there  are  students  in  college,  or 
flunk  out.  — The  Crayon,  Yale  Coll.,  1823. 

Flunky.  1.  A  class  of  people,  who,  unacquainted  with  the  manner 
in  which  stocks  are  bought  and  sold,  and  deceived  by  appearances, 
come  into  Wall  Street  without  any  knowledge  of  the  market.  The 
consequence  is,  they  make  bad  investments,  or  lose  their  money. 
These  the  brokers  call  Jlunkies.  — A  Week  in  Wall  Street,  p.  81. 

A  broker,  Avho  had  met  with  heavy  losses,  exclaimed  :  "I 'm  in  a  bear-trap,  — 
this  won't  do.  The  dogs  will  come  over  me.  I  shall  be  mulct  in  a  loss.  But 
I've  got  time;  I'll  turn  the  scale;  I'll  help  the  bulls  operate  for  a  rise,  and 
draw  in  the  flunkies.''''  — Ibid  ,  p.  90. 

2.  In  college  parlance,  says  Mr.  Hall,  in  his  "College  Words," 
"one  who  makes  a  complete  failure;  one  who  flunks. 

1  bore  him  safe  through  Horace, 
Saved  him  from  the  flunkey'' s  doom. 

Yale  Lit.  Mag.,  Vol.  XX. 
Flutter-Wheel.    A  water-wheel  of  small  diameter,  which  from  the 
rapidity  of  its  motion  makes  a  fluttering  noise;  hence  its  name. 
Used  mostly  for  ordinary  saw-mills. 
Fly.  (Dutch,  vly.)  In  New  York,  a  swamp,  a  marsh.    "The  Fly 

market  "  of  New  York  is  well  known. 
To  fly  around.    To  stir  about;  to  be  active.    A  very  common  ex- 
pression.   Fly  round  and  tear  your  shirt  is  not  an  infrequent  inten- 
sification. 

Come,  gals,^?/  round,  and  let 's  get  Mrs.  Clavers  some  supper.  — A  New  Home, 
p.  13. 

Fetch  on  the  pies  and  puddings.  Fly  round  and  change  the  plates.  —  Widow 
Bedott  Papers,  p.  167. 

Flyer.  A  venture.  To  take  a  Jlyer  in  stocks  is  the  expression  used 
in  Wall  Street  when  persons  not  stock-brokers,  or  dealers  in  stocks, 
occasionally  make  a  venture.  Their  orders  are  given  to  the  regular 
brokers,  who  execute  them  for  a  commission,  without  becoming 
personally  responsible  to  the  parties  with  whom  they  make  the 
transaction. 

The  most  successful  bankers  and  merchants  often  employ  their  spare  funds  in 
iakmg  flyers.  —  New  York  Stock  Report. 

When  the  open  and  close  Boards  [of  brokers]  so  far  coalesced  as  to  meet  in 
one  Long  Room,  old  notions  had  become  so  thoroughly  rubbed  away  that  mem- 
bers spoke  frankly  of  their  neat  turns  and  flyers.  — Medbery,  Men  and  Mysteries 
of  Wall  Street,  p.  111. 
Flying-Fish.    See  Sea  Robin. 


FLY— FOO 


229 


To  fly  off  the  Handle.  To  break  out,  become  excited;  also,  to  break 
a  promise. 

When  I  used  to  tell  minister  this,  as  he  was  flying  off  the  handle,  he  'd  say, 
Sam,  you 're  as  correct  as  Euclid,  but  as  cold  and  dry.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human 
Nature,  p.  149. 

Now  and  then  one  of  the  girls  would  promise,  and  ihewfly  off  at  the  handle; 
but  most  all  contrived  some  reason  for  giving  me  the  bag  to  hold.  —  McClintock, 
BeedWs  Marriage. 

Fog-Horn.  A  huge  horn  blov^n  by  steam,  chiefly  used  at  sea  to  warn 
vessels  when  in  a  fog.  It  is  said  that  the  sound  can  be  worked  up  to 
a  power  of  being  heard  sixty  miles  away.    It  is  also  called  a  Syren. 

Folks.  This  old  word  is  much  used  in  New  England,  instead  of 
"people"  or  "persons."  1.  For  the  persons  in  one's  family,  as 
in  this  common  phrase,  "How  do  your  folks  do  ?  "  that  is,  your 
family.  2.  For  people  in  general;  as  in  expressions  of  this  kind, 
"  What  do  folks  think  of  it  ?  "  &c.  Dr.  Johnson  observes  that  "  it 
is  now  only  used  in  familiar  or  burlesque  language." — Pickering. 
When  English  writers  try  to  imitate  Yankee  talk,  they  make  us 
say  folk  ;  on  the  other  hand,  they  make  us  say  helps^  instead  of  help. 

Old  good  man  Dobson  of  the  green 

Remembers  he  the  tree  has  seen, 

And  goes  with  folks  to  shew  the  sight.  —  Swift. 

Foo-Foo.  In  New  York,  a  term  of  contempt,  nearly  equivalent  to 
"  small  potatoes,"  a  man  not  worth  notice. 

Don't  know  what  a  foo-foo\?,'i  Well,  as  you're  a  greenhorn,  I'll  enlighten 
you.  A  foo-foo,  or  an  outsider,  is  a  chap  that  can't  come  the  big  figure.  — A 
Glance  at  New  York. 

Fool-Fish.  (Geims  Monocanthus.  Cuvier.)  The  popular  name  of  the 
Long-finned  File-fish.  "Our  fishermen  apply  to  it  the  whimsical 
name  of  Fool-fish,"  says  Dr.  DeKay,  "in  allusion  to  what  they 
consider  its  absurd  mode  of  swimming  with  a  wriggling  motion,  its 
body  being  sunk,  and  its  mouth  just  on  a  level  with  the  water."  — 
Nat.  Hist,  of  New  York. 

Foot.  "To  foot  it"  is  familiar  English;  but  the  Western  phrase, 
"  To  take  his  foot  in  his  hand,"  is  assuredly  a  bold  stretch  of  lan- 
guage.   "  Put  down  one^s  foot.^^    To  be  determined. 

Foot-Gin.  A  cotton-gin  moved  by  the  foot;  it  is  more  used  than 
the  gin  operated  by  steam. 

Footstool.    The  earth   An  irreverent  familiarization  of  Isaiah  Ixvi.  1. 

Foot-Stove.  A  contrivance  for  keeping  the  feet  warm,  formerly 
carried  by  old  ladies  to  the  meeting-houses  on  Sundays,  and  used  by 
huckster- women  in  the  markets.  It  consists  of  a  small  square  tin 
box,  perforated  with  holes  and  enclosed  in  a  wooden  frame,  with  a 


230 


FOO— FOR 


wire  handle.    It  has  a  door  on  one  side,  through  which  is  thrust  a 

small  square  iron  dish  of  live  coals,  sprinkled  over  with  a  few  ashes. 
Footy,  Fouty.     A  mistake;  a  simpleton;   a  blunderer;   any  one 

slightly  valued.    Local  in  Massachusetts. 
For,  before  the  infinitive  particle  "to,"  so  frequent  in  early  writers, 

but  now  deemed  a  vulgarism,  is  still  retained  in  the  West. 
Forbidden  Fruit.    (Citrus  Paradisi.)    The  Paradise  Orange,  a  fruit 

almost  as  large  as  a  shaddock.    Jamaica,  W.  Ind.    The  shrub  is 

now  cultivated  by  our  horticulturists. 
Force.    In  the  South,  the  slaves  of  a  planter  able  to  work  in  the  field. 
To  force  Quotations  is  where  brokers  wish  to  keep  up  the  price  of 

stock,  and  to  prevent  its  falling  out  of  sight.    This  is  accomplished 

by  a  small  sale  or  by  "  washing."  — Medbei-y,  Men  and  Mysteries  of 

Wall  Street. 

Forefathers'  Day.    In  N"ew  England,  the  day  on  which  the  Pilgrims 

landed  at  Plymouth  (the  21st  December). 
Fore  God.    A  negro  asseveration.  j*>iw<  afk.ij  3  77* 

/itH/t,*^';  r  •  A  story  is  told  of  a  slave,  age  somewhere  between  90  and  100,  who,  at  what-  " 

ever  time  of  day  he  met  his  master,  always  said,  "■  ^Fore  God,  massa,  hain't  had 
^^^--T^  '^^  ^V^   a  mouthful  to  eat  to-day."  oL^^d,  B.^^-*^  -.  ^"^  ^  2.  4   f  /^/^  /.i  ■ 
fe^n     J     Fore-handed.    To  be  fore-handed  is  to  be  in  good  circumstances,  to 
be  comfortably  off.    Compare  Aforeliand.    The  expression  is  much 
used  in  the  interior  parts  of  the  country. 

Many  of  the  new  houses  which  have  been  built  have  been  built  by  mechanics, 
fore-handed  men,  as  we  say  in  New  England,  who  have  accumulated  small  sums. 
Providence  Jom-nal. 

Mrs.  Ainsworth  made  so  long  a  visit  among  her  Eastern  friends,  -who  are  now 
fore-handed  folks,  that  she  has  come  back  imbued  most  satisfactorily  with  a 
loving  appreciation  of  the  advantages  of  civilization.  —  3Irs.  Clavers,  Forest  Life, 
Vol.  I.  p.  50. 

Foreign-born.    Born  elsewhere  than  in  United  States. 

Our  native  mechanics  and  working  men,  in  the  average,  receive  more  wages, 
and  hold  more  eligible  positions,  than  they  would  if  no  foreign-horn  laborer  were 
now  m  the  country. — N.  Y.  Tribune,  Dec.  24,  1861. 

Fore  Pay.  "  There  are  two  bad  paymasters,  no  pay  and  fore  pay.'' ^ 
This  proverbial  expression  is  frequently  heard  in  the  West. 

Forest  City.  Cleveland,  in  the  State  of  Ohio;  and  Portland  in 
Maine. 

For  God's  Sake.  Thoroughly.  *'  They  used  to  build  for  God's  sake 
in  those  days."    "  That  was  nailed  for  God's  sake." 

To  fork  over.  To  hand  over;  to  pay  over,  as  money.  A  slang 
expression  of  fi-equent  use. 


FOR— FOX 


231 


He  groaned  in  spirit  at  the  thought  of  parting  with  so  much  money.  There 
was,  however,  no  help  for  it,  so  he  forhed  over  the  five  dollars.  —  Knickerbocker 
Magazine. 

A  would-be  prophet  down  South  lately  said,  in  one  of  his  sermons,  that  "  he 
was  sent  to  redeem  the  world  and  all  things  therein."  Whereupon,  a  native 
pulled  out  two  five-dollar  bills  of  a  broken  bank,  and  asked  him  io  foi-k  over  the 
specie  for  them.  —  Newspaper. 

What  more  right  has  a  man  to  say  to  you,  "  Stand  and  deliver  your  name," 
than  to  sav,  "  Stand  and  fork  over  your  purse  "  ?  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature, 
p.  17. 

To  fork  up.  To  pay  up;  as,  "Jonathan,  I've  trusted  you  long 
enough:  so  fork  up.^^ 

Forks.  In  the  plural,  the  point  where  a  road  parts  into  two;  and  the 
point  where  a  river  divides,  or  rather  where  two  rivers  meet  and 
unite  in  one  stream.    Each  branch  is  called  a  fork.  —  Webster. 

Finally,  the  Pawnees  abandoned  the  field  to  their  victorious  enemies,  leaving 
sixty  of  their  warriors  upon  the  ensanguined  battle-ground.  The  defeated  party 
were  pursued  only  a  short  distance,  and  then  permitted  to  return  without  further 
molestation  to  their  village,  at  the  Forks  of  the  Platte.  —  Scenes  in  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  p.  50. 

About  the  same  time,  the  village  on  Republican  Fork  of  Kansas  was  also  aban- 
doned, and  its  inhabitants  united  with  the  Loups.  —  Ibid. 

Forlornity.  Forlorn  condition.  This  word  appeared  in  a  Sunday 
School  book  by  Mrs.   . 

To  fort  in.    To  intrench  in  a  fort. 

A  few  inhabitants  forted  in  on  the  Potomac.  —  Marshall's  Washington. 

Fortiner,  Fortino.  (For-aught-I-know.)  This  remarkable  specimen 
of  clipping  and  condensing  a  phrase  approaches  the  Indian  method 
of  forming  words.  The  word  is  very  common  through  New  Eng- 
land, Long  Island,  and  the  rest  of  New  York.    See  Farziner. 

Forward.    Forehead;  so  Forrerd  for  forward. 

Forwarding  Merchant.  One  whose  business  it  is  to  receive  and  for- 
ward goods  for  others.  The  internal  navigation  and  trade  of  the 
United  States,  so  great  is  the  extent  of  our  country,  requires  for- 
warding  merchants  in  all  the  principal  towns. 

Fotoh,  for  fetched,  is  used  by  ignorant  persons,  especially  the  blacks  at 
the  South. 

Found.  Ignorant  and  careless  speakers  say,  "  The  prisoner  was  found 
ten  dollars,"  instead  of  he  was  fined.  They  want  to  form  the  past 
tense,  and  the  proper  word  sounds  too  much  like  the  present  find. 
Comp.  Held. 

To  fox.  1.  To  fox  boots  is  to  repair  them  by  renewing  the  lower 
portion. 

2.  To  play  truant.    So  employed  in  some  parts  of  Canada. 


232 


FOX— FRE 


Fox  Grape.  (Vitis  lahrusca.)  A  large  grape  common  on  the  borders 
of  streams.  The  surface  of  the  leaf  is  characterized  by  its  foxy 
pubescence.  The  Southern  fox  grape  is  Vitis  vulpina.  Its  fruit  is 
larger,  and  its  taste  more  agreeable,  than  the  former. 

To  fraggle.    To  rob.    A  word  used  in  Texas. 

Frame-House.  A  house  whose  frame  is  of  squared  timber.  Used 
much  as  "  timber-house  "  is  in  England,  for  distinction's  sake. 

Opposite  Farnholt's  house  is  a  quaint  old  windmill,  which,  with  the  surround- 
mg  frame-houses,  seems  to  date  from  the  first  settlement  of  the  country. — N.  Y. 
Tribune,  April  23,  1862. 

Fraud.    A  deceitful  person ;  a  cheat. 

Free-Fighter.    A  partisan  ranger;  a  guerilla  soldier. 

We  publish  the  recent  act  of  [the  Confederate]  Congress,  authorizing  the  rais- 
ing and  bringing  into  service  of  partisan  rangers.  Now  is  the  time  for  free- 
f(/klers,  men  of  dash  and  daring.  — Petersburg  (  Va.)  Eaqiress,  April  29,  1862. 

Free  Labor.  Labor  performed  by  freemen,  in  contradistinction  to  that 
of  slaves,  a  term  formerly  in  vogue  both  at  the  North  and  South. 

So,  wheresoe'er  our  destiny  sends  forth 
Its  widening  circles  to  the  South  or  North, 
Where'er  our  banner  flaunts  beneath  the  stars 
Its  mimic  splendors  and  its  cloud-like  bars. 
There  shall  Free  Labor''s  hardy  children  stand. 
The  equal  sovereigns  of  a  slaveless  land. 

J.  G.  Whittier,  The  Panorama. 

Free  Love.  Freedom  of  the  affections ;  the  right  to  consort  with  those 
with  whom  we  have  "  elective  affinities,"  regardless  of  the  shackles 
of  matrimony.  Within  the  last  few  years,  several  associations  have 
been  organized  in  the  North,  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  this  doc- 
trine into  practical  effect.    See  Affinity. 

"And  you  believe  in  Free  Love,  do  you  not?"  [said  Prof.  Gusher  to  Josiah 
Allen's  wife]. 

"  How  free  V  "  said  she,  coolly. 

"Free  to  marry  anybody  you  want  to,  and  as  long  as  you  want  to,  from  half 
a  day  up  to  five  years  or  so." 

"  No.  sir!  "  says  she,  "  I  believe  in  rights,  but  I  don't  believe  in  wrongs  ;  for, 
of  all  the  miserable  doctrines  that  was  ever  let  loose  upon  the  world,  the  doctrine 
of  Free  Lore  is  the  miserablest.  Free  Love  ."'  she  repeated  in  indignant  tones, 
"it  ought  to  be  called  free  deviltry."  — Betsy  Bobbet,  p.  195. 

"Josiah  Allen's  wife  "  called  on  Mrs.  Victoria  Woodhull  to  discuss  with  her 
the  subject  of  women's  rights  andy>ee  love. 

"You  are  right,  Victoria,  in  your  views  of  wimmen's  votin,"  .  .  .  said  the 
former,  "  but  you  are  wrong  in  X\\hfree  love  business ;  you  are  wrong  in  keepin' 
house  with  two  husbands  at  the  same  time."  — Ibid.,  p.  319. 

Free  Lover.    An  advocate  of  the  free-love  doctrine. 

A  "reform  convention"  assembled  at  Rutland,  Vermont,  on  Friday.    About  a 


FEE 


233 


thousand  persons  —  abolitionists,  spiritualists,  and  free  lovers  —  attended,  the 
spiritualists  predominating.  —  Bait.  Sun,  June  28,  1858. 

Berlin  Heights  is  a  village  in  Ohio,  in  which  bands  of  Free  Lovers  have  settled, 
so  as  to  be  a  comfort  and  protection  to  each  other;  also,  for  the  convenience  of 
hapless  pairs  by  a  large  matrimonial  exchange.  —  Dixon,  Spiritual  Wives,  p.  387 

Free  Lovism.    The  doctrine  of  free  love. 

Free-Nigger.  A  reproachful  term  in  the  Southern  States  of  America, 
to  denote  an  abolitionist,  or  a  Northerner. 

Thousands,  sir,  voted  the  Secession  ticket  just  to  prove  that  Ihey  were  not 
abolitionists, — not  Lincoln  men,  —  and  that  they  abhorred  free-nigger  barba- 
rianism.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune, '^oy.  8,  1861,  Letter  from  Tennessee. 
Free  Soil.    Freedom  of  the  soil  belonging  to  the  United  States,  and 
not  yet  formed  into  States,  from  Negro  slavery. 

The  people  are  roused!   They  've  slumbered  too  long, 
While  Freedom  grew  weak,  and  Tyranny  strong. 
But  now  they  are  coming  from  hill  and  glen. 
They  come  to  the  rescue,  —  the  Free-Soil  men. 

Mrs.  Child,  Free  Soil  Song. 

Free-S oiler.  An  advocate  of  the  exclusion  of  slavery  from  the  territo- 
ries belonging  to  the  United  States.  A  word  which  first  came  into 
use  in  the  year  1848. 

I  only  want  to  see  the  first  free-soiler  here.  I  '11  drop  the  first  one  that  opens 
his  mouth  for  abolition  cusses.  I  '11  be  dog-gauned  if  I  don't.  —  Gladstone,  Eng- 
lishman in  Kansas,  p.  48. 

Free-Soilism.  The  principles  or  doctrines  of  the  advocates  of  free- 
dom in  the  territories  in  opposition  to  those  of  slavery. 

I  tell  you,  mark  every  scoundrel  among  3'ou  that  is  the  least  tainted  withyVee- 
soilism  or  abolitionism,  and  exterminate  him.  Neither  give  nor  take  quarter 
from  them.  —  Speech  of  General  Stnngfellow  in  the  Kansas  Legislature. 

Free  to  say,  Free  to  confess.  Common  expressions  equivalent  to 
*'  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say."    To  acknowledge. 

We  are/ree  to  soy  that  an  intelligent  apprehension  of  all  the  facts  which  might 
here  be  exposed,  and  a  candid  allowance  for  them,  ought  to  afli'ect  the  tone  towards 
England  in  which  our  histories  are  written.  —  North  Am.  Rev.,  Oct.,  1858, 
p.  468. 

Free  States.    Those  States  in  which  Negro  slavery  does  not  exist. 

Equal  and  exact  justice  to  both  slave  and  free  States  is  the  only  ground  upon 
which  the  Southern  States  can  maintain  their  claim  to  equal  rights  in  the  Federal 
Union.  —  Richmond  Enquirer,  Aug.,  1858. 

Freeze.    A  Southern  term  for  frosty  weather. 

The  effects  of  the  late/reeze  have  been  severely  felt.  —  Charleston  paper. 

To  freeze.    1.  To  have  a  longing  desire  for  any  thing.  South-western. 

This  child  has  felt  like  going  West  for  many  a  month,  being  half  froze  for 
buffalo  meat  and  mountain  doins.  — Ruxton's  Far  West. 


234 


FRE— FRI 


2.  To  freeze  to.  To  cling  to  any  person;  to  "cotton  to;'*  to 
grasp. 

A  clergyman,  coming  from  an  inland  town  to  a  parish  in  Boston 
that  was  supposed  to  be  somewhat  effete  and  old-fogyish,  received 
this  advice:  "  If  you  can  find  a  young  man  in  that  church, /ree^e  to 
him;  "  and  he  literally  did,  but  hardly  in  the  sense  intended. 
Freezer.    A  refrigerator. 

To  freeze  out.  Nearly  equivalent  to  "leaving  out  in  the  cold,"  as 
the  South  threatened  to  serve  New  England  in  a  new  confederacy. 
The  expression  is  heard  frequently,  of  late,  in  various  applications. 
It  has  lately  been  employed,  "  the  freezing  out  policy,"  with  refer- 
ence to  the  management  of  some  life-insurance  companies,  to  com- 
pel policy-holders  to  surrender  their  policies  by  unfair  devices,  &c. 
I  find  a  game  of  "  Freeze-out  Poker"  mentioned  in  a  letter  from 
Badwood  (Black  Hills),  in  "Harper's  Monthly,"  October,  1877, 
p.  799:  "  They  doant  do  nuthin'  but  drink  whiskey  and  playe  frease 
aout  poker.'" 

Freight-Car.    A  railway  car  for  carrying  merchandise. 

Freight-Train.  A  train  of  cars  on  a  railway,  expressly  for  carrying 
merchandise,  lumber,  &c.    In  England,  called  a  "goods  train." 

Fresh,  n.    1.  An  abbreviation  for  Freshman. 

2.  Used  locally  in  Maryland  for  a  stream  distinct  from  the  tide- 
water; as,  "  Allen's  Fresh,"  "  Pile's  Fresh."  The  lands  in  Talbot 
County,  Md.,  are  divided  into  freshes  and  salts. 

Fresh,  adj.  Forward,  bold;  as,  "  Don't  make  yourself  too  f-esh  here." 

Freshet.  A  flood,  or  overflowing  of  a  river,  by  means  of  heavy  rains 
or  melted  snow;  an  inundation  — Webster. 

This  word  is  used  in  the  Northern  and  Eastern  States.  That  it 
is  an  old  English  word  is  evinced  by  the  following  extract  from  the 
"  Description  of  New  England,"  written  and  published  in  England, 
in  1658:  — 

"Between  Salem  and  Charlestown  is  situated  the  town  of  Lynn,  near  to  a  river, 
whose  strong  freshet  at  the  end  of  the  winter  filleth  all  her  banks,  and  with  a 
violent  torrent  vents  itself  into  the  sea."  —  p.  29. 

It  appears  to  be  now  confined  to  America ;  but  the  word  fresh  is 
still  used  in  the  north  of  England  and  in  Scotland  in  precisely  the 
same  sense.  It  is  also  used  in  Louisiana.  See  Pickering's  Vocab- 
ulary for  a  full  discussion  of  the  word  and  its  uses. 
Frijoles.  (Spanish,  pron.  fre-ho-les.)  Kidney  beans  {Phaseolus)  in 
all  their  varieties.  A  common  article  of  food  upon  the  plains  and 
on  the  Mexican  frontier. 


FRI— FRY 


235 


Frisco.    The  city  of  San  Francisco,  so  called  throughout  California. 
Froe.    An  iron  cleaver,  or  splitting-knife. 

The  shingle-maker  stands  with  froe,  in  one  hand  and  mallet  in  the  other,  en- 
deavoring to  rive  a  billet  of  hemlock  on  a  block.  —  Margaret,  p.  159. 

"  He  beat  his  head  all  to  smash  with  a  froe,''''  said  one.  "  No,  it  was  with  an 
axe,"  said  another.  — Ibid.,  p.  323. 

Frog.  The  iron  plate  where  two  lines  of  railroad  intersect ;  probably 
so  called  from  its  resemblance  to  the  "  frog  "  of  a  horse's  foot. 

Frolic.    A  favorite  term  in  the  West  for  a  party. 

Fromety,  Frumty.  Wheat  boiled  with  milk,  to  which  sugar  and 
spice  are  added.  —  Hallamshire  Glossary.  Used  in  Maryland, 
where  it  is  called  furmetty. 

Front  Name.  Christian  name.  "  The  familiar  manner  in  which 
the  telegraph  handles  my  front  name^^^  i.  e.  in  calling  him  Ben. 

Frost-Fish.  (Genus  Morrhua.)  A  small  fish  which  abounds  on  our 
coast  during  the  winter  months.    It  is  also  called  Tom-cod.  —  Storer. 

Frost-Grape.    See  Chicken-Grape. 

Frostwort.  (^Cistus  Canadensis.^  A  medicinal  plant  prepared  by  the 
Shakers,  and  used  for  its  astringent  and  tonic  properties. 

Froughy.  Frough  is  provincial  in  the  north  of  England,  and  means 
any  thing  loose,  spongy,  or  easily  broken ;  often  applied  to  wood,  as 
"  brittle  "  is  to  mineral  substances.  — Brocketfs  Glossary.  "  Froughy 
butter  "  is  rancid  butter. 

This  word  is  in  common  use  in  many  parts  of  New  England.  It 
is  doubtless  a  corruption  of  froughy  which  is  sometimes  used  here. 
Pickering. 

Frowchey.    (Dutch,  vrouwfje.)    A  furbelowed  old  woman.    Local  in 

New  York  and  its  vicinity. 
To  frump.    To  mock;  to  insult.    A  very  old  word,  occurring  in  the 
dictionaries  of  Cotgrave  and  Minshew. 
I  was  abas'd  and  frumped,  sir.  —  Beaumont  and  Fletcher. 
This  old  word,  though  long  out  of  use  in  England,  still  lingers 
among  the  descendants  of  the  first  settlers  in  New  England. 

The  sleighs  warped  from  side  to  side;  the  riders  screamed,  cross-bit, /rw/npec?, 
and  hooted  at  each  other.  —  Margaret,  p.  174. 

Pry.  Judging  from  what  travellers  say,  one  of  the  most  abominable 
dishes  among  the  farmers  of  Texas  is  what  is  there  called  a  "  fry." 
It  is  thus  described  by  a  correspondent  of  the  "  Chicago  Tribune  :  " 

If  you  are  asked  both  at  supper  and  breakfast  to  help  yourself  to  the  fry,  don't 
you  do  so  unless  you  have  acquired  a  relish  for  sole-leather.    This,  fry  is  the  most 


236 


FUF— FUN 


abominable  dish  in  the  thirty-eight  States  and  Territories.  It  consists  of  lean 
beef  salted  and  dried,  parboiled  and  fried  in  grease.  Saw-dust  is  juicier,  and 
sole-leather  is  tenderer. 

Fuffy.  Light;  soft;  puffy.  Used  in  Yorkshire,  England,  and  pre- 
served in  some  parts  of  New  England. 

She  mounted  the  high,  white, plain;  a  dead  and  unbounded  waste  lay  all 
about  her.  —  Maryaret^  p.  168. 

Full  Chisel.  At  full  speed.  A  metaphor  from  a  chisel,  which,  when 
not  properly  struck,  starts  off  violently  sidewise;  an  equivalent  for 
the  phrases  "  full  drive  "  and  "  full  split,"  both  of  which  are  used 
in  England  and  in  this  country.  A  modern  New  England  vul- 
garism. 

"  Oh,  yes,  sir,  I  '11  get  you  my  master's  seal  in  a  minute."  And  off  he  set  full 
chisel.  —  Sam  Slick  in  England,  ch.  2. 

The  moose  looked  round  at  us,  shook  his  head  a  few  times,  then  turned  round 
and  fetched  a  spring  right  at  us  full  chisel.  —  John  Smith's  Letter's. 

At  that  the  boys  took  arter  them  full  chisel,  and  the  galls  run  as  if  a  catamount 
had  been  arter  them.  —  Downing,  3f ay-day  in  New  York,  p.  46. 

And  so  the  Yankee  staves  along 
Full  chisel,  hitting  right  or  wrong; 
And  makes  the  burden  of  his  song. 

By  Golly !  —  Anonymous. 

Full  Swing.    "  He 's  going  full  swing,"  i.  e.  very  fast;  at  full  speed. 

Not  peculiar  to  the  United  States. 
Full  Team.    A  powerful  man;  a  man  of  consequence.    See  Whole 

Team. 

Fundum.  A  sea-bottom.  This  term,  used  first  by  Governor  Wise  of 
Virginia,  in  a  message  to  the  Legislature,  is  occasionally  heard 
derisively.  "The  great  Virginia  Fundum.  Re-opening  of  the 
Oyster  Trade."  — iV.  Y.  Tribune,  Dec.  20,  1861. 

Funeral.  "To  preach  a  funeral.''''  In  some  parts  of  the  West,  the 
funeral  sermon  is  preached,  not  at  the  time  of  the  burial,  but  long 
after,  sometimes  even  a  year  after  the  death  of  the  person.  The 
custom  arose,  probably,  from  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  a  competent 
"  preacher  "  in  a  thinly  settled  country.  After  so  long  an  interval, 
"  preaching  the  funeral,"  which  is  almost  always  accompanied  by  a 
feast,  becomes  rather  an  occasion  of  merrymaking  than  of  lamen- 
tation. 

This  custom  is  universal  among  the  Negroes  at  the  South,  wlio 
will  devote  a  year's  wages  to  secure  a  handsome  funeral  to  a  de- 
ceased relative;  and  the  importance  of  the  individual  seems  to  be 
rated  by  the  time  suffered  to  elapse  between  the  death  and  the 
funeral. 


FUN— GAL 


237 


To  funeralize.    To  perform  the  clerical  duties  preparatory  to  a  fun- 
eral. Southern. 

Funk.    1.  Fear,  or  sensibility  to  fear;  cowardice. 

So  my  friend's  fault  is  timidity.  ...  I  grant,  then,  that  the  fuiik  is  sublime, 
which  is  a  true  and  friendly  admission.  —  Letter  in  Literary  World,  Nov.  30, 
1850. 

2.  A  coward. 

To  funkify .    To  frighten ;  to  alarm.    New  England. 

Scared !  says  he,  serves  him  right  then ;  he  might  have  knowed  how  to  feel  for 
other  folks,  and  not  funkify  them  so  peskily.  —  Sam  Slick  in  England,  eh.  8. 

To  funk  out.    To  "  back  out  "  in  a  cowardly  manner. 

To  funk  right  out  o'  political  strife  ain't  thought  to  be  the  thing, 
Without  you  deacon  otf  the  tune  you  want  your  folks  should  sing. 

Biglow  Papers. 

Pur  fly  (To  make).    See  Make  the  Fur  flij. 

Furrow.    To  draw  a  straight  furrow  is  to  go  straight  ahead ;  to  mind 
one's  own  business. 

Governor  B.  is  a  sensible  man; 

He  stays  to  his  home,  and  looks  arter  his  folks; 
He  draws  his  furrow  as  straight  as  he  can. 
And  into  nobody's  tater-patch  pokes. 

Lowell,  The  Biglow  Papers. 

To  fush  out.    To  come  to  nothing.    Comp.  To  fizzle  out. 

Fuste.  (Span.,  pron.  foos-te.)    A  strong  saddle  tree,  made  of  wood 

and  covered  with  raw-hide,  used  for  lassooing.  California. 
Fyke.    (Dutch,  fuik,  a  weel,  bow-net.)    The  large  bow-nets  in  New 

York  Harbor,  used  for  catching  shad,  are  called  shad-fykes. 
Fyse.    (Fyst  ?)    A  cur.    Common  in  and  about  Washington  and 

elsewhere.    It  is  the  old  foisting  hound,  fysting  cur.    See  Fice. 

G. 

Gabblement.    Gabble,  prate.    A  Southern  word. 

"This  court's  got  as  good  ears  as  any  man,"  said  the  magistrate;  "but  they 
ain't  for  to  hear  no  old  woman's  gabblement,  though  it 's  under  oath."  —  Chron. 
of  Pinerille. 

Gad.    A  long  stick  or  switch,  especially  one  used  for  driving  oxen. 
So  used  also  in  the  north  of  England. 

I  looked  around  and  saw  where  the  three  had  set  down  on  a  log.  I  measured 
the  length  of  the  foot,  and  found  where  they  had  cut  a  big  gad.  —  N.  Y.  Spirit 
of  the  Times,  Oct.,  1848. 

Gal-Boy.    A  girlish  boy. 


238 


GAL 


Gale.    Among  the  ladies,  a  state  of  excitement;  as,  "Mrs.  A  

was  in  quite  a  gale  on  New  Year's  Day." 

The  ladies,  laughing  heartily,  were  fast  getting  into  what,  in  New  England,  is 
sometimes  called  a  (jah.  —  Brooke,  Eastford. 

Gall.  1.  A  kind  of  low  land  in  Florida.  It  consists  of  a  matted  soil 
of  vegetable  fibres,  spongy  and  treacherous  to  the  foot,  unpleasant 
as  well  as  dangerous  to  crop.  —  Vignoles,  Florida,  p.  91. 

Romans  speaks  of  two  kinds  of  these  lands,  "6a?/  and  cypress 
galls. ^'  The  bay  galls  are  properly  watercourses,  covered  with  a 
spongy  earth  mixed  with  matted  vegetable  fibres,  dangerous  to  cross, 
and  so  replete  with  vitriolic  principles  that  the  water  is  impreg- 
nated with  acid.  The  cypress  galls  are  a  firm,  shindy  soil,  have  no 
vitriolic  taste  in  the  water,  and  are  never  used  for  purposes  of 
planting.  The  cypress  they  produce  is  a  dwarf  kind,  not  fit  for 
i\^Q.  —  Nat.  Hist,  of  Florida  (1776),  p.  31. 

Mr.  S.,  living  near  the  Oclawaha,  while  crossing  a  bay  gall,  or  saw  grass,  in 
company  with  his  son,  last  Wednesday,  was  seriously  injured  by  the  attack  of 
an  alligator.    The  water  in  the  gall  was  about  knee-deep.  — East  Florida  paper. 

2.  (Ger.  qualle.)  A  name  applied  by  the  New  York  children  to 
the  jelly-fishes.  The  medusse,  or  sea-nettles  (Discophora),  they  call 
stinging-galls  (called  also  in  some  parts  of  England  stang-Jiskes). 
The  ovoidal,  phosphorescent  jelly-fishes  (Ctenophora)  they  call 
lightning- galls. 

Gallinipper.  An  insect  pest  at  the  South  resembling  a  mosquito,  but 
much  larger. 

To  gallivant.  To  gallant;  to  "do  the  agreeable."  Hotten  calls  it 
an  old  English  word. — Slang  Die. 

[Marjorie  was]  gallivanting  with  the  cook ;  —  just  Avait  until  papa  and  mamma 
come  home,  and  see.what  they  will  say  to  such  doings  in  the  house.  —  Miss  Gotdd, 
Marjorie's  Quest,  p.  135. 

Senator  Seward  is  gallivanting  gayly  about  Europe.  Now  at  Compiegne,  saying 
soft  things  to  the  Empress  and  studying  despotism,  now  treading  the  battle-field  of 
Waterluo,  then  bacK  at  Paris,  and  so  on.  —  Boston  i-'ost,  Uec.  lo,  1859. 

What  business  had  he  to  flirt  and  gallivant  all  summer  with  Sally  Kittridge  ? 
Mrs.  H.  B.  Sioice,  in  The  Independent,  Feb.  27,  1862. 

Galloping  Consumption.  A  quick  consumption,  or  where  the  disease 
terminates  after  brief  illness.  George  Doughty  having  died  after  a 
short  illness,  the  question  was  asked,  "  How  did  it  happen?  " 

"Why,"  replied  the  Squire,  '^the  doctor  saj's  it 's  a  galloping  consumption. 
...  He  says  it 's  the  quickest  case  he  ever  knew.  .  .  .  The  idea  of  a  fellow 
being  at  work  for  me,  and  dying  right  straight  along.  Why,  it 's  awful  !  "  — 
Habberton,  The  Barton  Expeiiment,  p.  75. 


GAL— GAN 


239 


Gallows.    Showy ;  dashing.    New  York  slang. 

Mose.    Lizzy,  you  're  a  yallus  gal,  anyhow ! 

Lizzy.    I  ain't  notiiin'  else.  —  A  Glance  at  New  Yorlc. 

On  another  occasion,  Mose  goes  off  in  raptures  at  the  personal 
appearance  and  many  accomplishments  of  his  sweetheart,  and  ex- 
claims :  — 

Look,  what  a  gallus  walk  she 's  got!  I 've  strong  suspicions  I  '11  have  lo  get 
slung  to  her  one  of  these  days. 

Gallowses.    Suspenders.    So  called  in  some  parts  of  England. 

His  skilts  [pantaloons]  were  supported  by  no  braces  or  gallowses,  and  restin;^ 
on  his  hips.  —  Margaret,  p.  9. 

Galoot.    A  worthless  fellow ;  a  rowdy. 

I  'II  hold  her  nozzle  agin  the  bank, 

Till  the  last  galoot 's  ashore.  — John  Ray,  in  Jim  Bludsoe. 
It  wasn't  so  when  I  was  young, 

We  used  plain  language  then; 
We  didn't  speak  of  them  galoots, 

When  meaning  boys  or  men.  —  Grandpa^s  Soliloquy. 

Galoshes.  (Fr.)  Overshoes  worn  before  the  age  of  india-rubbers,  to 
keep  the  feet  dry.    The  term  was  universal  in  Canada. 

It  is  an  old  English  word,  the  same  as  Galage,  originally  meaning 
a  wooden  sole  fastened  by  a  strap  to  the  foot.  —  Wedgwood,  Etym. 
Die.  "  Galache  or  Galoche  vndersolynge  of  mannys  fote."  —  Promp- 
torium  Parv.  (1440).  In  a  note  to  Way's  ed.  (1843),  he  says,  "  The 
galache  was  a  sort  of  patten  fastened  to  the  foot  by  cross-latchets, 
and  worn  by  men  as  early  as  the  time  of  Edward  III."  Allusion  is 
made  to  it  by  Chaucer :  — 

Ne  were  worthy  to  unbocle  his  galoche.  —  Squire'' s  Tale,  10.  869. 

Gam.    (Ang.-Sax.  gemana.)    A  social  visit.    A  sea-faring  term. 

When  two  whalers  meet  in  any  of  the  whaling-grounas,  it  is  usual  to  have  a 
gam,  or  mutual  visit,  for  the  purpose  of  interchanging  the  latest  news,  comparing 
reckoning,  discussing  the  prospect  of  whales,  and  enjoying  a  general  chit-chat.  — 
Browne's  Whaling  Cruise,  p.  76. 

Gambrel.  A  hipped  roof  to  a  house ;  so  called  from  its  resemblance 
to  the  hind  leg  of  a  horse,  which  by  farriers  is  termed  a  gambrel. 

Here  and  there  was  a  house  in  the  then  new  style,  three-cornered,  with  gam- 
brelled  ruof  and  dormer  windows.  —  Margaret,  p.  33. 

Gander-Party.    A  social  gathering  of  men  only. 

Gander-Pulling.  A  brutal  species  of  amusement  practised  in  England 
as  well  as  in  Xova  Scotia.  It  is  also  known  at  the  South.  We  quote 
Judge  Haliburton's  account  of  it  from  the  "  Sayings  and  Doings  of 
Sam  Slick:  "  — 


240 


GAN— GAR 


"But  describe  this  gander-pullin<j.^'' 

*'  Well,  I  '11  tell  you  how  it  is,"  sais  I.  "  First  and  foremost,  a  ring-road  is 
formed,  like  a  small  race-course;  then  two  great  long  posts  is  fixed  into  the 
ground,  one  on  each  side  of  the  road,  and  a  rope  made  fast  by  the  eends  to  each 
post,  leavin'  the  middle  of  tlie  rope  to  hang  loose  in  a  curve.  Well,  then  they 
take  a  gander  and  pick  his  breast  as  clean  as  a  baby's,  and  then  grease  it  most 
beautiful  all  the  way  from  the  breast  to  the  head,  till  it  becomes  as  slippery  as  a 
soaped  eel.  Then  they  tie  both  his  legs  together  with  a  strong  piece  of  cord,  of 
the  size  of  a  halyard,  and  hang  him  by  the  feet  to  the  middle  of  the  swingin' 
rope,  with  his  head  downward.  All  the  youngsters,  all  round  the  country,  come 
to  see  the  sport,  mounted  a-horseback. 

"  Well,  the  owner  of  the  goose  goes  round  with  his  hat,  and  gets  so  much  a-piec© 
in  it  from  every  one  that  enters  for  the  '  PulUn' ; '  and  when  all  have  entered, 
they  bring  their  horses  in  a  line,  one  arter  another,  and  at  the  words,  '  Go 
a-head  ! '  off  they  set,  as  hard  as  they  can  split ;  and  as  they  pass  under  the 
goose,  make  a  grab  at  him,  and  whoever  carries  off  the  head  wins. 

"  Well,  the  goose  dodges  his  head  and  flaps  his  wings,  and  swings  about  so,  it 
ain't  no  easy  matter  to  clutch  his  neck;  and,  when  you  do,  it 's  sogreassy,  it  slips 
right  through  the  fingers  like  nothin.'  Sometimes  it  takes  so  long,  that  the 
horses  are  fairly  beat  out,  and  can't  scarcely  raise  a  gallop;  and  then  a  man 
stands  by  the  post  with  a  heavy-loaded  whip,  to  lash  'em  on,  so  that  they  mayn't 
stand  under  the  goose,  which  ain't  fair.  The  whoopin',  and  hoUerin',  and 
screamin',  and  bettin',  and  excitement,  beats  all ;  there  ain't  hardly  no  sport  equal 
to  it.    It  is  great  fun  to  all  except  the  poor  goosey-yandery 

To  gange.  (Span.  gancJw,  a  hook,  a  crook.)  To  attach  a  hook  to  a 
line  or  snell. 

Gap.  1.  This  pure  English  word  is  used  properly  of  any  breach  of 
continuity,  as  of  the  line  of  a  saw's  edge,  or  of  the  line  of  a  moun- 
tain, as  projected  on  the  horizon.  Hence  it  is  applied  to  such  open- 
ings in  a  mountain  as  are  made  by  a  river,  or  even  a  high  road. 
Thus  the  Water-G^ap;  and,  in  Virginia,  Brown's  Gap,  Rockfish 
Gap,  &c. 

2.  An  opening  in  a  fence,    A  Slip  Gap  is  a  place  provided  in  a 

fence,  where  the  bars  may  be  slipped  aside  and  let  down. 
Gar  ;  also  Alligator  Gar.    (Belone  truncata.)    A  species  of  pike  found 

in  the  Southern  rivers.    It  grows  to  a  large  size,  and  has  been 

known  to  fight  with  the  alligator. 

At  least  three  species  of  this  fish  are  found  in  our  Western  rivers : 

the  Duck^s-bill  Gar,  and  the  Ohio,  or  common  Gar. 
Garden  City.    Chicago.    So  called  from  the  number  of  its  gardens. 
Garden  Spot.    A  term  applied  to  the  rich  Silurian  limestone  region 

in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 

So  characteristic  are  the  agricultural  peculiarities  stamped  upon  the  surface  of 
every  county,  that  it  has  given  rise  to  that  generally  recognized  division  of  the 
State  known  as  the  "  Blue  Grass  "  county  of  Kentucky,  justly  celebrated  for  its 
fertility  and  consequent  wealth.    The  unbroken  tracts  lying  towards  the  heads 


GAR— GAT 


241 


of  the  streams  are  indeed  the  "  Garden  Spots  of  the  State.  "We  even  hear  the 
inhabitants  of  this  part  of  Kentucky  frequently  styled  ''Blue-grass  men"  in 
contradistinction  to  the  "Mountain  men,"  residents  of  the  adjacent  hill  and 
mountain  country.  —  Owen's  Geology  of'  Kentucky. 

Garmenture.  Dress. 

The  "New  York  Tribune,"  Sept.  28,  1876,  in  criticising  the 
statue  of  W.  H.  Seward,  says  :  — 

No  man  can  involuntarily  throw  one  leg  over  the  other  without  a  shortening 
of  what  the  recent  Dress  Reform  Convention  calls  the  garmenture. 

Garnishee.  In  law,  one  in  whose  hands  the  property  of  another  has 
been  attached  in  a  suit  against  the  latter  by  a  third  person,  and 
who  is  garnished  or  warned  of  the  proceedings,  and  has  notice  of 
what  is  required  of  him  in  reference  to  it;  a  trustee.  —  BurriWs  Law 
Diet. 

I  hold  in  my  hands  for  collection  a  judgment  against  the  pastor  of  a  large  city 
church.  Shall  the  execution  be  published  for  sale  in  his  city  papers?  Shall  his 
church  trustees  be  gamisheed. 

Garrison.  At  the  West,  the  term  is  oftener  applied  to  the  post  itself 
than  to  those  who  hold  it.  Thus  old,  empty,  and  deserted  forts, 
those  that  have  been  actually  abandoned  and  are  devoted  to  decay, 
are  almost  universally  styled  the  "  garrisons, even  though  a  soldier 
had  not  put  a  foot  in  them  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  —  /.  Feni- 
more  Cooper. 

Gat  or  Gate.  (Dutch,  gat,  a  hole,  gap.)  A  narrow  passage;  a  strait.  A 
term  applied  to  several  places  in  the  vicinity  of  New  York,  as  Bar- 
negat  and  Hellgate  (formerly  Helle-gat).  As  respects  this  latter 
name,  Mr.  Ii-ving,  in  a  note  to  his  "  Knickerbocker  "  (chap,  iv.), 
remarks  :  — 

Certain  mealy-mouthed  men  of  squeamish  consciences,  who  are  loath  to  give 
the  devil  his  due,  have  softened  the  above  characteristic  name  to  Hurl-gate,  for- 
sooth! Let  those  take  care  how  they  venture  into  the  Gate,  or  they  may  be 
hurled  into  the  Pot  before  they  are  aware  of  it.  The  name  of  this  strait,  as  given 
by  our  author,  is  supported  by  the  map  in  Vander  Donck's  History  published  in 
1656,  —by  Ogilvy's  History  of  America,  1671,  — as  also  by  a  journal  still  extant, 
written  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  to  be  found  in  Hazard's  State  Papers. 
And  an  old  MS.  written  in  French,  speaking  of  various  alterations  in  names 
about  this  city,  observes,  "De  Helle-gnt,  Trou  d'Knfer,  ils  ont  fait  Hell-gate, 
Porte  d'Enfer." 

Gate  City.  Keokuk,  Iowa,  at  the  foot  of  the  lower  rapids  of  the 
Mississippi,  the  natural  head  of  navigation. 

To  gather.  (Pron.  gether.)  Universally  used  in  the  West  for  to  take 
up;  as,  "I  gathered  a  stick." 

16 


242 


GAU— GEN 


To  gaum.  To  smear.  "  Put  the  child's  apron  on,  and  don't  let  her 
gaum  herself  all  over  with  molasses."    Local  in  England. 

Gavel.  1.  A  small  mallet  used  by  a  chairman  or  presiding  officer  to 
attract  attention  and  preserve  order.  It  is  used  by  our  legislative 
bodies,  but  originated,  probably,  with  the  Free-Masons.  Mr.  Paton 
says,  "  The  name  of  gavel  is  derived  from  the  German  gipfel^  a  peak, 
from  which  also  comes  the  same  term  applied  to  the  end  of  a  house, 
the  gavel  or  gable^  running  up  to  a  point  at  the  summit,  the  form  in 
the  one  case  and  in  the  other  being  somewhat  similar." — Free- 
Masonry^  its  Symbolism,  &c.  (Lond.,  1873). 

In  describing  scenes  at  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange,  Mr. 
Medbery  says  :  — 

The  roar  from  the  cock-pit  rolls  up  denser  and  denser.  The  President  plies 
his  gavel,  the  Assistant  Secretaries  scratch  across  the  paper,  registering  bids  and 
offers.  — Men  and  Mysteiies  of  Wall  Street,  p.  30. 

2.  (¥r.  javelle.)  A  quantity  of  grain  sufficient  to  make  a  sheaf. 
This  old  word,  which  is  in  use  in  the  east  of  England,  is  now  very 
frequently  employed  in  describing  the  operation  of  American  reap- 
ing machines. 

Gawnicus,    A  dolt.    Analogous  to  the  English  gawk  and  gawcum,  a 

fool,  a  simpleton, 
Geminy.    See  Jiminy. 

General  Assembly.  A  representative  body  having  legislative  powers, 
and  authorized  to  enact  laws  in  behalf  of  some  community,  church, 
or  State.  —  Worcester. 

General  Court.  The  legal  name  of  the  two  legislative  bodies  of 
Massachusetts. 

General  Treat.  A  general  treat  is  a  treat  of  a  glass  of  liquor  given  by 
a  person  in  a  tavern  to  the  whole  company  present. 

I  nearly  got  myself  into  a  difficulty  with  my  new  acquaintances  by  handing 
the  landlord  a  share  of  the  reckoning,  for  having  presumed  to  pay  a  part  of  a 
general  treat  while  laboring  under  the  disqualification  of  being  a  stranger.  — 
Hoffman,  p.  211. 

Gent.    1.  For  genteel. 

Law  you,  sais  she,  it's  right  gent,  do  you  take  it,  —  'tis  dreadfull  pretty. — 
Mad,  Knight's  Journal  (1704),  p.  44. 

2.  An  abbreviation  for  gentleman. 
Gentiles.    The  name  given  by  the  Mormons  to  all  who  are  not  of 
their  faith. 

Gentleman.  Properly,  this  word  should  be  applied  to  men  of  educa- 
tion and  good-breeding  of  every  occupation;  but,  like  lady,  is  used 


GEN— GER 


243 


indiscrimmately.  It  is  applied  to  men  of  every  grade  and  every 
calling.  Postmasters,  in  advertising  letters,  say,  "  Gentlemen's 
List,"  "Ladies'  List." 

A  stranger  arriving  at  a  hotel  tells  a  waiter  he  wants  his  boots 
blacked.    The  waiter  calls  out  to  a  negro  boot-black. 

"  I  say,  Jim,  here 's  a  chap  as  wants  a  shine." 

The  boot-black  advances  to  do  the  job. 

(Waiter  to  the  stranger.)  "This  is  the  gentleman,  sir,  who'll 
give  you  a  shine." 

Gentleman  Turkey.    A  turkey  cock.    The  mock  modesty  of  the 
Western  States  requires  that  a  male  turkey  should  be  so  called. 

I  remember,  in  m}'  younger  days,  to  have  been  put  in  a  state  of  bodily  peril  by 
a  pugnacious  gentleman  turkey  who  took  umbr.ige  at  a  flaming  red  and  yellow 
silk  that  constituted  my  apparel.  —  Adventures  of  Captain  Priest,  p.  111. 

"This  is  a  tough  old  fellow,"  remarked  a  gentleman  on  board  a  Mississippi 
steamboat,  who  was  endeavoring  to  carve  a  large  turkey. 

"Wall,  I  kind  o'  think  you're  right,  stranger,"  said  a  Hoosier  opposite. 
"  But  I  reckon  it 's  a  gentleman  turkey.^''  —  Western  Sketches. 

Gerrymandering.  Arranging  the  politi- 
cal divisions  of  a  State  so  that,  in  an 
election,  one  party  may  obtain  an 
advantage  over  its  opponent,  even 
though  the  latter  may  possess  a  ma- 
jority of  the  votes  in  the  State.  This 
term  came  into  use  in  the  year  1811 
in  Massachusetts,  where,  for  several 
years  previous,  the  Federal  and  Demo- 
cratic parties  stood  nearly  equal.  In 
that  year,  the  Democratic  party, 
having  a  majority  in  the  Legislature, 
determined  so  to  district  the  State  anew,  that  those  sections  which 
gave  a  large  number  of  Federal  votes  might  be  brought  into  one 
district.  To  effect  this  j)lan,  the  Legislature  divided  counties  in 
opposition  to  the  protests  and  arguments  of  the  Federalists;  and 
those  of  Essex  and  Worcester  were  so  divided  as  to  form  a  Demo- 
cratic district  in  each  of  those  Federal  counties,  without  any 
apparent  regard  to  convenience  or  propriety.  The  work  was  sanc- 
tioned, and  became  law  by  the  signature  of  Governor  Gerry.  He 
probably  had  no  hand  in  the  matter,  yet  he  received  the  most 
severe  castigation  from  the  opposition.  The  result  was  that  the 
Democratic  party  carried  every  thing  before  them  at  the  following 
election,  and  filled  every  office  in  the  State,  although  it  appeared 


244 


GET 


by  the  votes  returned  that  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  voters  were 
Federalists.  In  Essex  County,  the  arrangement  of  the  district  in 
its  relation  to  the  towns  was  singular  and  absurd.  Russell,  the 
veteran  editor  of  the  "Boston  Centinel,"  who  had  fought  the 
scheme  valiantly,  took  a  map  of  that  county,  and  designated  by 
particular  coloring  the  towns  thus  selected,  and  hung  it  on  the  wall 
of  his  editorial  room.  One  day,  Gilbert  Stuart,  the  eminent  painter, 
looked  at  the  map  and  said  that  the  towns  which  Russell  had  thus 
distinguished  resembled  some  monstrous  animal.  He  took  a  pencil, 
and  with  a  few  touches  added  what  might  represent  a  head,  wings, 
claws,  and  tail.  "There.,"  Stuart  said,  "  that  will  do  for  a  sala- 
mander." Russell,  who  was  busy  with  his  pen,  looked  up  at  the 
hideous  figure,  and  exclaimed,  "  Salamander !  Call  it  Gerrymander 
The  word  was  immediately  adopted  into  the  political  vocabulary  as 
a  term  of  reproach  to  the  Democratic  Legislature. 

A  hand-bill  was  subsequently  issued,  bearing  Stuart's  figure  of 
the  QeiTymander,  followed  by  a  natural  and  political  history  of  the 
animal. — Buckingham's  Specimens  of  Newspaper  Literature.  Loss- 
ing's  Field-Book  of  the  War  o/1812,  p.  210. 

To  get.    To  get  the  better  of.    "  Got  you  there."    See  To  git. 

To  get  one's  Back  up.  To  get  excited,  become  enraged.  A  figura- 
tive expression  drawn  from  the  attitude  of  a  cat,  which,  when  angry, 
raises  up  its  back  as  w^ell  as  its  hair. 

Get  out!  A  New  England  expression,  equivalent  to  Ze^  we  aZo«e.  Also 
used  as  an  expression  of  incredulity. 

To  get  Religion.  To  become  pious;  to  experience  religion.  A  term 
in  common  use  among  certain  religious  sects. 

Stranger,  I  can't  bear  to  think  of  the  murder  of  Charley  Birkham  now;  but, 
when  I  heard  it  the  first  time,  it  was  jest  arter  I  yot  reliyion.  I  couldn't  help  it, 
I  swore  jest  nigh  on  to  half  an  hour  right  straight  on  eend.  — Frontier  Incident, 
N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

Captain  IJjiderhill  killed  his  neighbor's  wife,  and  yot  his  religion  on  a  pipe  of 
tobacco.  —  EllioVs  New  England  Hist.,  Vol.  I.  p.  460. 

To  get  round.    To  get  the  better  of,  take  advantage  of  one. 

One  from  the  land  of  cakes  sought  to  yet  round  a  right  smart  Yankee,  but 
couldn't  shine.  — Ruxton,  Life  in  the  Far  West,  p.  89. 

To  get  the  Mitten.    To  be  a  rejected  suitor.    See  Mitten. 

To  get  the  Wrong  Pig  by  the  Tail  is  to  make  a  mistake  in  selecting 
a  person  for  any  object.  This  is  also  called  getting  the  wrong  sow  hy 
the  ear. 


GHA— GIS 


245 


I  did  not  seek  the  office  I  have  now,  and  was  not  at  the  meeting  when  I  was 
elected  ;  but  the  Whigs  supposed  they  could  by  some  means  make  me  a  traitor 
to  my  party.    But,  sir,  as  the  old  saying  is,  they  got  the  wrong  jng  by  the  tail.  — 
Letter  of  Mr.  C.  C.  Bell. 
G'hal.    A  slang  term  for  girl,  corresponding  to  Blioy,  which  see. 

If  you  would  see  the  B'hoy  in  his  glory,  —  at  the  top  of  his  career,  —in  the  ne 
plus  ultra  of  his  mundane  state,  —  you  must  see  him  taking  a  drive  with  his  g'hal 
on  the  avenue.  — New  York  in  Slices. 

To  gibe.    To  go  well;  to  be  acceptable. 

Mr.  Douglas  says  some  people  think  Mr.  Lincoln's  Inaugural  does  not  gibe 
with  the  Chicago  platform.  Well,  what  of  it '?  I  don't  say  it  does  or  it  does 
not ;  but,  if  it  does  not,  it  shows  that  Mr.  Lincoln  has  the  nerve  to  say  what  is 
right,  platform  or  no  platform.  — N.  Y.  Times. 

To  giggit.  To  take,  as  in  a  gig;  to  convey:  to  move  rapidly;  to  gig 
it  or  jig  it.    New  England. 

He  nearly  like  to  have  got  her  eat  up  by  sharks,  by  giggiting  her  off  in  the 
boat  out  to  sea,  when  she  warn't  more  'n  three  years  old.  — Mrs.  H.  B.  Stowe  in 
The  Independent,  Feb.  27,  1862. 

Gilead  Fir.    See  Balsam  Fir. 

Gilly-Flower.    A  variety  of  apple.    New  England. 
Gimbal-jawed  or  Jimber-jawed.    One  whose  lower  jaw  is  loose  and 
projecting. 

Gimpy.    Sprightly,  active;  as,  "a  ^jmjo?/ horse."    Forby  notices  the 

adjective  gimp,  meaning  nice,  spruce,  as  provincial  in  England. 
Gin  and  Tidy.    Neatly  dressed;  spruce. 

What  women  happened  to  be  there  were  very  gin  and  tidy  in  the  work  of  their 
own  hands,  which  made  them  look  tempting  in  the  eyes  of  us  foresters.  —  West- 
over  Papers,  p.  119. 

Gin  MiU.    A  tippling  shop. 

To  girdle.  In  America,  to  make  a  circular  incision,  like  a  belt, 
through  the  bark  and  alburnum  of  a  tree  to  kill  it.  —  Webster. 
Settlers  in  new  countries  often  adopt  this  method  to  clear  their 
land;  for  when  the  trees  are  dead  they  set  them  on  fire,  and  thus 
save  themselves  the  trouble  of  chopping  them  down  with  the  axe. 
The  place  so  cleared  is  thence  called  a  girdling. 

The  bark  of  a  tree  being  cut  round  its  whole  circumference,  the  tree  dies.  This 
operation  is  called  girdling.  —  Ken/laWs  Travels  (1807),  Vol.  I.  p.  235. 

The  emigrants  purchase  a  lot  or  two  of  government  land,  build  a  log-house, 
fence  a  dozen  acres  or  so,  plough  half  of  them,  girdle  the  trees,  and  then  sell 
out  to  a  new  comer.  —  Mrs.  Clavers,  Forest  Life,  Vol.  I. 

Girdling.  A  place  where  the  trees  are  girdled.  See  the  preceding 
word. 

Gism.    Spirit.    "  I  knock'd  all  the  gism  out  of  him." 


246 


GIS— GIT 


Gist.  The  main  point  of  a  question  or  action ;  that  on  which  it  lies 
or  turns.  —  Jamieson.  A  word  introduced  from  the  language  of  law 
into  very  common  use. 

G-it.  A  favorite  Western  vulgarism  for  "  go  "  or  "  go  ahead,"  "move 
on,"  leave  quickly,  equivalent  to  "go  it,"  of  which  it  maybe  a 
contraction.  It  is  the  invariable  word  by  which  the  hero  of  the 
whip  and  lines  starts  his  team,  and  they  understand  it  well.  "  You 
git,"  says  Mr.  McClure,  "  is  the  most  emphatic  notice  that  can  be 
given  to  any  luckless  chap  to  leave  the  room,  or  to  escape  a  re- 
volver." 

The  driver  finally  mounted  his  box  with  a  coohiess  that  showed  him  to  be  per- 
fect master  of  his  situation;  and,  as  he  yelled  to  them  [his  horses]  to  yit,  his  keen 
silk  cracker  tiashed  about  their  flanks  till  all  started  on  a  run.  — Rocky  Moun- 
tains, p.  149. 

In  describing  the  musing  of  a  teamster,  in  his  California  jour- 
neys, Ross  Browne  thus  gives  the  outburst  of  the  feelings  of  the 
man :  — 

"No,  I  can't  forget  her;  "  and,  with  an  audible  sob,  he  started  as  if  in  a  trance, 
and,  swinging  his  whip,  yelled  out  at  the  mules  with  ungovernable  fury,  "You 
git,  dod  burn  you !  What  d  'ye  stand  flopping  yer  ears  for  ?  Git !  —  Adventures 
in  the  Apache  Country,  p.  50. 

Git  up  and  git  means  to  get  out  of  the  way  as  soon  as  possible. 

Oh,  white  folks,  your  attention  pray,  a  song  I  '11  sing  for  you; 

The  tune  I  know  is  very  old,  but  the  words  are  fresh  and  new ; 
To  please  my  friends  is  my  delight,  when  together  they  are  met ; 

I  '11  tell  them  in  my  song  to-night  how  "  to  get  up  and  get."" 

Comic  Song. 

An  infantry  captain  belonging  to  one  of  the  Tennessee  regiments, 
at  Cumberland  Gap,  .  .  .  had  his  men  in  two  ranks,  and  wished  to 
change  them  from  that  into  four  ranks.  Either  not  knowing  or 
forgetting  the  usual  command,  he  called  out,  much  to  the  amuse- 
ment of  the  bystanders :  — 

Company!  from  two  strings  to  four  strings, — git!  —  Haiper^s  Mag.,  June, 
1864,  p.  140. 

This  remarkable  expression  has  even  found  its  way  into  our 
legislative  halls,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  foUow'ing  report  of  the  Senate 
proceedings  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Rhode  Island  of  March  14, 
1877:  — 

Mr.  Lapham,  of  Providence,  called  up  his  resolution  to  adjourn  to  meet  accord- 
ing to  law,  March  23.  Mr.  V  hoped  no  action  would  be  taken.  The  Assem- 
bly, he  said,  can  fix  no  day.  We  must  do  what  there  is  to  do,  and  then  we  can 
get  up  and  get.  —  Providence  Journal. 

In  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  they  say,  "  Git  up  and  dust." 
To  git  to  go.    To  be  permitted.    Pennsylvania.    "  You  didn't  git  to 
go."    "No,  I  didn't  git." 


GIV— GOA 


247 


Given  Name.  The  Christian  name,  or  name  that  is  given  to  a  person, 
to  distinguish  it  from  the  surname^  which  is  not  given,  but  inher- 
ited. Cobbett  calls  it  a  Scotticism.  It  was  probably  introduced  by 
the  Puritans  instead  of  "Saint's  name"  or  "Christian  name." 
Its  origin  is  plainly  from  the  Catechism:  "  Q.  Who  gave  you  this 
name?    A.  My  sponsors  in  baptism. " 

To  give  out.    To  desist;  to  give  over;  to  become  faint;  to  fail. 

Tea,  coffee,  and  clothing  are  nearly  exhausted,  or  have,  as  the  American  phrase 
has  it,  '■^  (jiven  ouf^  because  there  is  none  to  give  out  at  all. — London  T'imes, 
quoted  in  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Oct.  10,  1861. 

Givy.  A  term  applied  to  tobacco  leaves,  in  a  certain  condition  of 
their  preparation  for  market.    Yielding,  pliable. 

Gizzard-Shad.  In  North  Carolina,  the  name  by  which  alewives  are 
known.  (Chatoessus  ellipticus.  Kirtland.)  A  fish  of  the  Ohio, 
common  in  the  Cincinnati  markets.  So  called  because  "it  pos- 
sesses a  muscular  stomach  which  resembles  the  gizzard  of  a  gallina- 
ceous fowl." 

Glade.    In  New  England,  smooth  ice;  glare  ice. 

Glades.  Everglades;  tracts  of  land  at  the  South  covered  with  water 
and  grass.  So  called  in  Maryland,  where  they  are  divided  into  wet 
and  dry  glades.    The  term  is  also  used  in  Virginia. 

G  'lang.  Go  along.  Universal  among  coachmen,  as  w^ell  as  among 
gentlemen  who  hold  the  "  ribbons." 

"  Git  up,  there !  G  Hang.'''  The  long  whip  swung  round  and  cracked  threat- 
eningly over  the  haunches  of  his  leaders,  making  them  start  as  the  coach  turned 
a  corner.  —  Egyleston,  Mystery  of  Ifetroj^olisviUe,  p.  14. 

Glare  Ice.    Smooth  and  transparent  ice.    Newly  frozen  ice  is  gener- 
ally glare;  i.  e.,  it  has  a  glassy  surface. 
To  glimpse.    To  get  a  glimpse  of;  as,  "I  barely  glimpsed  him." 

To  glorify.    To  boast;  to  brag;  to  be  elated. 

At  the  same  time,  I  must  know  how  much  I  've  hurt  him,  and  how  badly  I  'm 
hurt  myself,  before  I  can  determine  whether  I 'd  better  glorify  over  it  much  or 
not.  —  Cincinnati  Gazette,  April,  1861. 

Glut.    A  thick  wooden  wedge  used  in  splitting  blocks,  —  Halliwell. 

So  also  in  New  England. 
Go.    "  Make  a  go  of  it,"  i.  e.  make  it  succeed. 
To  go.    To  taste.    "  Don't  that  go  good?  " 

To  go  a  Cruise.  To  take  a  ride  or  walk.  An  expression  borrowed 
from  the  sea,  much  used  in  some  of  the  seaports  of  New  England, 
and  particularly  in  Nantucket. 

To  go  ahead.  To  go  forward,  proceed  A  seaman's  phrase,  which 
has  got  into  very  common  use. 


248 


GOA— GOB 


I  was  tired  out  and  wanted  a  day  to  rest;  but,  my  face  being  turned  towards 
Washington,  I  thought  I  had  better  go  ahead.  —  Crockett,  Tour  down  East,  p.  101. 

We  slip  on  a  pair  of  India  rubber  boots,  genuine  and  impenetrable,  and  go 
ahead  without  fear.  —  N.  Y.  Com.  Advertiser. 

The  specific  instructions  to  conquer  and  hold  California  were  issued  to  Commo- 
dore Sloit,  by  Mr.  Bancroft,  on  the  12th  of  July,  184G.  Previous  to  this,  how- 
ever, he  had  been  officially  notihed  that  war  existed,  and  briefly  instructed  to 
"^0  ahead.''''  —  Ibid.,  June  13. 

My  dear  hearers,  the  good  work  shall  go  on.  I  will  preach  in  spite  of  Old 
Nick;  the  steam  is  up,  and  I  will  go  ahead.  Backed  by  sound  doctrines,  I  will 
square  off  to  opposition,  —  shoot  folly,  —  take  a  hug  with  sin,  —  upset  infidelity,  — 
lick  Satan  out  of  the  land,  and  kidnap  his  imps.  —  Doto's  Seimons,  Vol.  III.  p.  17. 

Go-ahead.    Rapidly  advancing,  progressive. 

In  our  opinion,  which  we  express,  of  course,  with  our  wonted  and  character- 
istic diffidence,  America  is  a  dashing,  go-ahead,  and  highly  progressive  country, 
giving  by  her  institutions  and  enormous  growth  the  solution  of  the  greatest  politi- 
cal problem  in  the  world.  —  The  {Philad.)  Press,  July  24,  1858. 

Go-aheadativeness.    Spirit  of  progress,  progressiveness. 

The  "Merchant's  Magazine  "  justly  thinks  that,  in  the  present  complication  of 
European  difficulties,  a  favorable  opportunity  opens  for  the  natural  activity  and 
go-aheadativeness  of  our  American  business  men.  — A''.  Y.  Times,  May  17,  1855. 

Virginia  City,  Montana,  is  but  little  over  two  years  old,  but  it  boasts  of  its 
population  of  seven  thousand,  and  of  more  solid  men,  more  capital,  more  hand- 
some and  well-filled  stores,  more  fast  boys  and  frail  women,  more  substance  and 
pretence,  more  virtue  and  vice,  more  preachers  and  groggeries,  and  more  go- 
aheadativeness  generally,  than  any  other  city  in  the  mountain  mining  regions.  — 
McClure,  Rocky  Mountains,  p.  285. 

To  go  back  on  one  is  to  abandon  one,  or  one's  cause;  to  turn  against 
one;  to  expose,  to  retrace,  obliterate,  annul. 

The  newspaper  belief  that  Vanderbilt  never  goes  back  on  his  friends  is  not 
generally  assumed  as  truthflil  by  brokers.  —  Medbery,  Men  and  Mysteries  of 
Wall  Street,  p.  159. 

We  were  somewhat  reassured  when  it  was  announced  that  our  noble  Chief 
Magistrate  had  telegraphed  to  our  Minister  at  the  Court  of  St.  James  that  he  was 
not  '■''going  back  on  him,''''  but  our  apprehensions  for  his  safety  were  not  entirely 
quieted  until  we  learned  that  he  was  safe  on  the  '•  Abyssinia  "  on  his  return.  — 
N.  Y.  Tribune. 

The  proprietor  of  the  "  New  York  Herald  "  having  reduced  its 
price,  while  some  of  its  agents  failed  to  do  so :  — 

A  good  many  patrons  went  back  on  the  paper  this  morning,  as  their  silent  pro- 
test against  the  swindle.  —  New  York  Mail,  Oct.  21,  1876. 

If  a  man  was  in  trouble,  Fisk  helped  him  along. 

To  drive  the  grim  wolf  from  the  door : 
He  strove  to  do  right,  though  he  may  have  done  wrong, 
But  he  never  went  back  on  the  poor.  —  Weston,  Songs. 

You've  always  been  fair  and  square  with  me.  Muff  Potter,  and  I  won't  go  back 
on  you.   That's  as  fair  as  a  man  can  say.  — Mark  Twain,  Tom  Sawyer,  p.  92. 


GOB— GOF 


249 


Mr.  W.  H.  Martin,  a  lawyer  of  New  York,  having  sued  the 
Windsor  Hotel  Company  of  that  city  for  $60,000,  for  legal  services 
during  two  years,  Mr.  Daly,  counsel  of  the  latter,  said:  — 

I  have  received  a  message  from  the  plaintiff  that  there  was  no  use  of  contesting 
his  claim  in  this  action;  that  it  would  be  referred  by  the  court  to  a  lawyer;  and 
that  lawyers  would  never  go  hack  on  each  other.  — N.  Y.  Tribune^  Court  Report, 
Dec.  21,'l876. 

Peavey  asked  him,  "  What  he  [Murphy,  arrested  on  suspicion  of  killing  Sir. 
Dascomb]  would  do  if  Mrs.  Dascomb  should  go  back  on  him.''''  He  answered 
promptly,  "I  can  tell  as  much  as  she  can."  —  Report  of  Poisoning  Case  in  Neiv 
Hampshire.  ' 

It  seems  more  likely  to  us  that  within  ten  3'ears  Wyoming  will  go  back  on  her 
woman  suffrage  record  than  that  any  State  of  the  Union  will  follow  her  present 
example.  —  Scribner's  Mag.,  Vol.  IX. 

Gobbler.    A  male  turkey;  a  turkey  cock. 

It  was  a  nice  weddin' ;  sich  raisins  and  oranges  and  hams,  flour  doins  and 
chicken  fixins,  and  four  sich  oncommon  big  gobblers  roasted,  I  never  seed.  — 
N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

To  gobble  up.  To  remove  as  by  swallowing;  to  rout;  to  scatter;  to 
vanquish.  Much  used  in  the  late  civil  war,  and,  in  somewhat 
modified  applications,  is  still  sometimes  used. 

To  go  by.  To  call;  to  stop  at.  Used  in  the  Southern  States. — 
Sherwood^s  Georgia.  Mr.  Pickering  says  this  singular  expression  is 
often  used  at  the  South.  "Will  you  go  by  and  dine  with  me?" 
{.  e.,  in  passing  my  house  will  you  stop  and  dine?  "Its  origin," 
observes  Mr.  Pickering,  "is  very  natural.  When  a  gentleman  is 
about  riding  a  great  distance  through  that  country,  where  there  are 
few  great  roads  and  the  houses  or  plantations  are  often  two  or  three 
miles  from  them,  a  friend  living  near  his  route  asks  him  to  go  hy 
his  plantation  and  dine  or  lodge  with  him." 

Go-Cart.    A  hand-cart. 

To  go  for.  1.  To  be  in  favor  of.  Thus,  "  I  <7o  for  peace  with  Mex- 
ico," means  I  am  in  favor  of  peace  with  Mexico,  or,  as  an  English- 
man would  say,  I  am  for  peace  with  Mexico.  This  vulgar  idiom  is 
greatly  affected  by  political  and  other  public  speakers,  who  ought 
to  be  the  guardians  of  the  purity  of  the  language,  instead  of  its 
most  indefatigable  corrupters.  In  the  following  extract  from  a 
so-called  religious  paper,  the  reader  of  correct  taste  and  feeling 
will  hardly  know  which  to  admire  most,  the  sentiment  or  the  lan- 
guage:— 

Will  Mr.  Greeley  say  that  he  or  any  other  citizen  has  the  right  to  oppose  "  the 
country," — that  is,  its  laws, — whenever  he  or  they  shall  choose  to  pronounce 
them  "  wrong  "  ?    We  say,  go  for  your  country,  —  right,  as  she  may  be  in  some 


250 


GOI 


things,  —  wrong,  as  she  is,  perhaps,  in  others ;  but  whether  right  or  wrong,  or 
right  and  wrong  (which  is  always  nearer  the  truth  in  all  her  proceedings),  still, 
go  for  your  country.  —  Gospel  Banner, 

2.  To  decide  in  favor  of  is  another  acceptation  in  which  this 
phrase  is  often  used,  especially  in  stating  for  wliich  man  or  measure 
any  particular  section  of  the  country  has  decided;  as,  "  Ohio  has 
gone  for  Clay,"  "  Louisiana  has  gone  for  the  annexation  of  Mexico." 
Or,  still  worse,  "Ohio  has  gone  Whig,"  "Louisiana  has  gone 
Democratic." 

3.  Go  for  (it),  to  fail;  to  die. 

4.  To  attack.  Southern. 

To  go  in  for.    To  advocate,  be  in  favor  of. 

We  go  in  for  all  the  postage  reduction  President  Taylor  recommends.  —  N.  Y. 
Tribune,  Dec.  25,  1849. 

Going.  Travelling;  as,  "  The  going  is  bad,  owing  to  the  deep  snow 
in  the  roads." 

To  go  it.  To  undertake  a  thing;  to  go  at  it;  to  succeed  in  a  thing, 
go  through  it;  to  be  earnestly  engaged  in. 

An  anecdote  is  related  of  a  card  of  invitation  which  read,  "  Come 
at  seven  and  go  at  eleven,"  and  which  was  altered  by  a  wag  by  the 
insertion  of  the  word  "  it "  after  go. 

Hartford  is  getting  to  be  quite  a  sensation  city,  going  it  over  every  novelty, 
"as  crazy  as  a  bed-bug."  —  The  Winsted  Herald,  Oct.  25,  1861. 

To  go  it  alone.  In  euchre,  one  of  two  partners  can,  in  various 
cases,  play  single-handed  against  the  combined  hands  of  his  adver- 
saries, the  other  partner  simply  standing  neutral  and  not  playing. 
In  this,  a  complete  success  or  failure  scores  double.  This  operation 
is  called  "  going  it  alone,"  and  is  often  used  of  any  venture  where 
no  aid  is  asked  or  needed. 

To  go  it  blind.  To  accede  to  any  object  without  due  consideration. 
An  expression  derived  from  the  game  of  "Poker,"  where  the 
player  has  the  privilege,  before  seeing  his  hand,  of  blinding  a  stake, 
i.  e.  betting  on  the  chances,  so  that,  unless  the  others  see  his  Mind 
(by  doubling  the  bet),  he  wins  the  ante.  So,  go  it  blind  means  to 
run  all  risks,  with  the  chance  of  profiting  from  the  risk. 

I  know  that  in  "Washington  I  am  incomprehensible,  because  at  the  outset  of  the 
war  I  would  not  go  it  blind,  and  rush  headlong  into  a  war  unprepared  and  with 
an  utter  ignorance  of  its  extent  and  purpose.  —  General  Sherman'' s  Memoirs, 
Vol.  I.  p.  342. 

I  know  what  I  am  at,  and  don't  go  it  blind.  —  S.  Slick,  Human  Nature,  p.  18. 
To  go  it  strong.    To  act  vigorously ;  to  advocate  energetically ;  to  live 
freely. 


GOI— GON 


251 


President  Polk  in  his  message  goes  it  strong  for  the  Sub-Treasury.  —  iV.  F. 
Tribune. 

The  Senate  has  of  late  years  refused  to  take  any  part  of  the  book  plunder,  but 
they  have  gone  it  strong  on  the  mileage.  —  Letters  from  Washington,  N.  Y.  Com. 
Advertiser. 

I  would  have  you  understand,  my  dear  hearers,  that  I  have  no  objection  to 
some  of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  earth  going  it  while  they  are  young,  pro- 
vided they  don't  go  it  too  strong.  —  Dow's  Sermons,  Vol.  I.  p.  176. 

A  regular,  irregular  life, 

Ben  Balmy  lived  along, 
And  nightly  did  he  go  it  hard, 

And  weekly  went  it  strong. 

Ballad,  A  Legend  of  Broadway. 

To  go  it  while  you're  young.  To  enjoy  one's  self;  to  have  a  good 
time. 

In  speaking  of  the  "  Genteel,  Fine,  Old  Negro,"  the  song  says; 

He  had  a  good  old  banjo,  —  so  well  he  kept  it  strung ; 
He  used  to  play  that  good  old  tune  of  "  Go  it  ivhile  you  ''re  young ; " 
He  played  so  long,  an'  played  so  loud,  he  scared  the  pigs  and  goats, 
Because  he  took  a  pint  of  yeast  to  raise  the  highest  notes. 

Negro  Melodies. 

To  go  it  with  a  Looseness  is  to  act  in  an  unrestrained,  rash,  head- 
strong manner.    See  Looseness.    So  also  "  to  go  it  with  a  rush.^^ 

Golden-Rod.  (Genus  Solidago.)  A  tall  plant  bearing  yellow  flowers ; 
very  common. 

GoUation.  "  By  gollation!  "  "  O  gollation !  "  "  Gollation  large." 
"  Gollation  mean."    Derived  from  Gollg. 

Golly!  Used  euphemistically  for  "God!"  Chiefly  by  Negroes  in 
swearing. 

I  went  down  to  the  spring  branch  one  morning  to  wash.  I  looked  into  the 
water,  and  I  seen  the  shadow  of  my  face.  Great  Golly  !  how  I  run  back,  hollerin' 
for  mammy  every  jump.  — Widow  Bagly''s  Husband. 

Gombo  or  Gumbo.  1.  The  Southern  name  for  what  is  called,  at  the 
North,  Okra,  the  pod  of  the  Hibiscus  esculentus.  The  term  is  some- 
times heard  in  New  England. 

2.  In  the  Southern  States,  a  soup  in  which  this  plant  enters  largely 
as  an  ingredient. 

Gondola.  A  flat-bottomed  boat  or  scow  formerly  used  in  New  Eng- 
land. —  Pickering. 

In  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland,  this  word  is  spelled  as  well  as 
pronounced  gundalo  or  gundelow.  A  friend  informs  me  he  has  also 
heard  it  in  Massachu.setts.    Comp.  Cupalo. 


252 


GON 


Gone  Case.  "When  a  man  is  used  up,  it  is  said  to  be  a  gone  case  with 
him.  "  The  Bar-tender,"  in  his  poem,  describes  a  drunkard,  who 
entered  the  bar-room,  — 

And  sot  himself  down  to  the  table 

With  a  terrible  sorrowful  face, 
And  sot  there  a  groanin'  repeated, 

A  calling  himself  a  gone  case. 

Gone  Coon.  "He's  a  (jone  coon,^^  is  a  Western  phrase,  meaning 
that  a  man  is  past  recovery,  that  his  case  is  hopeless. 

Bill  was  never  one  minit  unwatched,  awake  or  asleep;  he  wasn't  allowed  to 
speak,  although  he  was  fed  and  not  abused,  and  he 'd  pretty  much  made  up  his 
mind  that  he  was  a  (/one  coon.  —  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

Gone  Goose.  "  It's  a  gone  goose  with  him,"  means  that  he  is  lost, 
is  past  recovery.  The  phrase  is  a  vulgarism  in  New  England.  In 
New  York,  it  is  said,  "  He 's  a  gone  gander i.  e.  a  lost  man ;  and  in 
the  West,  "  He 's  a  gone  coon.^^ 

If  a  bear  comes  after  you,  Sam,  3'ou  must  be  up  and  doin',  or  it 's  a  gone  goose 
with  you.  —  Sam  Slick  in  England,  ch.  18. 

It  may  be  the  doctor  can  do  something  for  her,  though  she  looks  to  me  as 
though  it  was  a  gone  goose  with  her.  — Major  Downing,  p.  87. 

I've  generally  noticed  if  a  man  begins  to  gape  in  church  at  seventhly  and 
eighthly  in  the  sermon,  it's  a  gone  goose  with  him  before  he  gets  through  the 
tenthly ;  from  that  up  he 's  as  dead  as  a  door  nail.  —  Seba  Smith,  Yankee  Life. 

The  poor  greenhorn  who  falls  into  the  clutches  of  the  sharpers  upon  arriving 
in  the  metropolis  may  regard  himself  as  a  gone  gosling.  —  New  York  paper. 

Goneness.    A  peculiar  sensation  of  weakness,  or  of  great  depression. 

Goner.  *'  He 's  a  goner, means  he  is  lost,  is  past  recovery,  is  utterly 
demolished,  "used  up;"  synonymous  with  gone  goose,  gone  coon, 
&c.  So,  in  the  West,  a  bad  debt  is  called  a  goner.  A  Western 
sportsman,  in  pursuit  of  a  deer,  exclaims:  — 

Aha!  my  fine  boy!  you  are  our  meat!  Put  in  your  biggest  licks  ;  for  you  are 
a  goner  now,  for  sartin !  — Neiv  York  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

"Yes,  but  she  ain't  dead;  and  what 's  more,  she 's  getting  better  too." 

"All  right,  you  wait  and  see.  She's  a  goner,  just  as  dead  sure  as  Muff 
Potter 's  a  goner.  That 's  what  the  niggers  say,  and  they  know  all  about  these 
kind  of  things.  — Mark  Twain,  Tom  Sawyer,  p.  99. 

I  've  done  my  best  on  Frank  [to  reform  him],  but  he 's  a  goner  if  God  don't 
put  in  a  special  hand.  —  Habberton,  The  Barton  Experiment,  p.  121. 

Gone  with.  1.  For  become  of.  "  What  is  gone  with  it  or  him  ?  "  for 
"  What  has  become  of  it  or  him  ?  "  —  Sherwoodh  Georgia. 

Mr.  Punch,  in  his  "  Bit  from  the  Mining  Districts,"  thus  uses  the 
expression :  — 


GON— GOO 


253 


"Martha,  what's  gaen  wV  V  milk  ?'* 
"Gien  it  to  the  shild." 

"  Dang  the  shild !    Thee  should' st  a  gien  it  to  t'  bull-pup." 

2.  Prospered;  succeeded;  been. 
Goney  or  Gony.    A  great  goose,  a  stupid  fellow.    New  England. 
Provincial  in  Gloucestershire,  England. 

"  How  the  goney  swallowed  it  all,  didn't  he  ?  "  said  Mr.  Slick,  with  great  glee. 
Slick  in  England,  ch.  21. 

Some  on  'em  were  fools  enough  to  believe  the  goney  ;  that 's  a  fact.  —  Jbid. 

Formerly,  they  poked  sap-headed  goneys  into  parliament,  to  play  dummy  ;  or 
into  the  army  and  navy,  the  church,  and  the  colonial  office.  But  clever  fellows 
they  kept  for  the  law,  the  "  Times,"  &c.  — Nature  and  Human  Nature,  p.  142. 

Gong-Punch.  An  instrument  used  by  conductors  and  those  who 
receive  the  fare  in  horse-railroad  cars  and  omnibuses,  by  means  of 
which  a  complete  record  is  kept  of  the  number  of  passengers  who 
pay  their  fare;  a  bell-punch.    See  Registering  Punch, 

The  royalty  paid  for  use  of  gong-punches  and  the  money  used  in  maintaining 
spotters  would  be  quite  adequate  to  supply  the  means  for  rewarding  the  fidelity 
of  the  servant.  —  Providence  Press. 

The  line  of  horse-cars  running  from  New  York  to  Harlaem  charges 
three  different  rates  of  fare,  according  to  the  distance  travelled.  In 
these  cars,  the  conductors  carry  slips  of  paper  of  various  colors,  each 
for  the  different  rates  charged.  In  order  to  make  the  system  per- 
fectly clear  to  passengers,  Mark  Twain  has  thus  rendered  it  in 
verse :  — 

Conductor,  when  you  take  a  fare. 
Punch  in  the  presence  of  the  passenjare  : 
A  blue  trip-slip  for  an  eight  cents  fare  ; 
A  buff  trip-slip  for  a  six  cents  fare; 
A  pink  trip-slip  for  a  three  cents  fare: 
Punch  in  the  presence  of  the  passenjare. 

Chorus. 

Punch,  brothers,  punch,  punch  with  care. 
Punch  in  the  presence  of  the  passenjare. 

Gonus.  A  stupid  fellow.  A  student's  modification  of  goney,  used  in 
some  of  our  colleges,  according  to  Mr.  Hall. 

One  day  I  heard  a  Senior  call  a  fellow  a  gonus.  "  Gonus,''''  echoed  I,  "what 
does  that  meanV"  "Oh,"  said  he,  "you're  a  Freshman,  and  don't  under- 
stand. A  stupid  fellow,  a  dolt,  a  boot-jack,  an  ignoramus,  is  here  called  a  gonus. 
All  Freshmen,"  he  continued  gravel}',  "  are  gonuses.'"  —  The  Dartmouth,  Vol.  IV. 
p.  116. 

Goober-Grabbers.    In  Georgia  and  Alabama,  backwoods  people. 

Goobers.    Peanuts;  ground-peas.    See  Peanuts. 

If  you  are  a  theatre-goer  when  in  Chicago  you  may  have  developed  a  fondness 
for  peanuts.    Beware  of  asking  for  them  [in  Texas]  under  that  name,  unless  you 


254 


GOO 


want  to  proclaim  yourself  a  Yankee.  Call  boldly  for  goobers,  or  ground-peas.  — 
Texas  Cor.  of  the  Chicago  Tribune. 

Good  as  Wheat.  A  phrase  sometimes  used  instead  of  the  more  gen- 
eral one,  "good  as  gold."  It  may  possibly  have  originated  in  the 
usage  of  claiming  rent,  or  payment  of  debts,  in  wheat. 

Check-mated.  —  It  is  stated  that  the  father  of  a  lady  in  this  vicinity  recently 
presented  her  with  a  check  —  *'  good  as  wheat  "  —  for  S''iO,000  in  view  of  her  mat- 
rimonial alliance.  Truly,  such  ac^ecA;-ered  life  as  that  wouldn't  be  hard  to  lead. 
We  wish  somebody  would  endeavor  to  "check"  our  career  in  that  way.  —  New 
Bedford  Standard,  Aug.,  1858. 

Goodies.  Sweetmeats,  cakes,  &c. ;  as,  a  box  of  goodies.  Provincial 
in  Suffolk,  England. 

Arter  a  while,  the  kissin'  an'  foolin'  was  all  over,  an'  we  pitched  into  the 
goodies;  an  ef  ever  I  saw  sweetnins  fly,  it  was  then.  —  How  Sal  and  Me  got 
Married. 

Goods.  This  word  is  used  by  Western  shopkeepers  as  a  singular 
noun  for  a  piece  of  goods;  as,  "that  goods,^^  speaking  of  cloth  or 
linen. 

Goody.  1.  A  well-disposed  but  small-minded  person ;  sometimes  said 
of  men. 

2.  Interjection  expressing  gratification;  as,  "  Oh,  goody!  " 

3.  A  middle-aged  woman  in  the  seiT-ice  of  a  college,  whose  busi- 
ness it  is  to  keep  tidy  the  students'  rooms.  Probably  contracted 
from  goodwife.  —  Webster. 

To  go  off.    To  expire. 

"  0  Mr.  Crane !  "  said  the  Widow  Bedott,  "  I  thought  I  should  go  off  last  night 
when  I  see  that  old  critter  squeeze  up  and  hook  on  to  you.  Terrible  mipudent, 
—  warn't  it  V  "  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  77. 

Gool  for  Goal  is  universal  with  New  England  boys,  the  same  as  Loom 
is  used  for  Loam. 

To  go  one's  Death  on  a  thing  is  equivalent  to  "  lay  one's  life  "  on  it. 

Goose.  "  To  be  sound  on  the  goose,^'  or  "  all  right  on  the  goose,'^  is  a 
South-western  phrase,  meaning  to  be  orthodox  on  the  slavery  ques- 
tion, i.  e.  pro-slavery.  A  correspondent  states  that  he  had  heard 
the  expression  first  in  the  Eastern  States,  w^hence  it  travelled  west- 
ward.   I  am  not  able  to  give  its  origin. 

The  border  ruffians  held  a  secret  meeting  in  Leavenworth,  and  appointed  them- 
selves a  vigilance  committee.  All  persons  who  could  not  ansAver,  All  right  on 
the  goose,^'  according  to  their  definition  of  right,  were  searched,  kept  under  guard, 
and  threatened  with  death.  — Mrs.  Robinson's  Kansas,  p.  252. 

A  poetical  writer  in  the  "  Providence  Journal,"  June  18,  1857,  in 
speaking  of  the  claims  of  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  mayor, 
says : — 

To  seek  for  political  flaws  is  no  use, 

His  opponents  will  find  he  is  "  sound  on  the  goose.^* 


GOO— GOT 


255 


To  goose  Boots.  To  repair  them  by  putting  on  a  new  front  half  way 
Tip,  and  a  new  bottom;  elsewhere  called  "  footing  boots."  Derived 
probably,  for  distinction's  sake,  from  "  to  fox^ 

Goose-Fish.    See  Devil- Fish. 

Gopher.  (Fr.  ^raw/reMr;  from  ^raw/re,  honeycomb,  wattle.)  Applied 
to  several  species  of  burrowing  animals.  See  Webster's  Diction- 
ary. Goafs ^  a  name  given  by  miners  to  cavities  from  which  ore 
or  coal  has  been  removed,  in  the  lateral  walls  of  gullies,  has  the 
same  origin.    See  "  Athenaeum,"  Sept.  19,  1868,  p.  380. 

1.  In  Georgia,  a  species  of  land  turtle,  burrowing  in  the  ground 
in  the  low  country.  It  is  able  to  walk  with  a  heavy  man  on  its  back. 
Sherwood^ s  Georgia. 

2.  A  little  animal  found  in  the  valleys  of  the  Mississippi  and 
Missouri  Rivers.  A  species  of  mole,  more  than  twice  the  size  of 
the  common  field  mole.  It  burrows  in  the  prairies,  and  there  are 
immense  tracts  covered  with  the  little  hillocks  made  by  the  earth 
which  these  animals  have  dug  from  their  burrows.  —  Flint's  Geogr. 
of  Miss.  Valley. 

The  gopher  often  burrows  in  the  artificial  tumuli,  to  find  a  dry  place  for  its 
nest;  and  roots  of  trees  penetrate  to  their  lowest  depths. — Lapham's  Antiq.  of 
Wisconsin. 

Mr.  Bryant,  in  alluding  to  the  same  fact,  says:  — 
The  gopher  mines  the  ground 
Where  stood  the  swarming  cities.    All  is  gone ; 
All  save  the  piles  of  earth  that  hold  their  bones. 

Gosh.    Used  in  the  euphemistic  form  of  oath.  By  Gosh  ! 

Gospelizing  Pedler.  An  itinerant  or  other  preacher  of  the  gospel. 
An  idler  at  a  tavern,  having  vainly  sought  to  lead  a  clergyman  to 
avow  his  being  such,  said  at  last:  "  But,  anyhow,  ain't  you  one  of 
these  gospelizing  pedlersV^  This  actually  occurred  in  1842  at 
Greenwich,  Mass. 

Gospel  Lot.  A  lot  set  apart  in  new  townships  for  a  church,  on  the 
same  principle  as  a  school  lot.    New  York. 

Gotham.  The  city  of  New  York,  an  appellation  first  given  to  it  in 
"  Salmagundi,"  a  humorous  work  by  J.  K.  Paulding  and  Washing- 
ton Irving,  evidently  from  the  singular  wisdom  attributed  to  its 
inhabitants. 

Ye  dandies  of  Gotham,  I 've  seen  fools  and  fops  in  forty  different  cities,  but 
none  to  compare  with  you.  —  Dow^s  Sermons. 

Gothamites.    The  people  of  the  city  of  New  York ;  the  New  Yorkers. 

I  intended  to  present  you  with  some  phases  of  outward  life  and  manners,  — 
such  things  as  would  strike  or  interest  a  stranger  in  our  beloved  Gotham,  and  in 


256 


GOT 


the  places  to  which  regular  Gothmnites — American  cockneys,  ro  to  speak  —  are 
wont  to  repair.  —  Sketches  of  Amencnn  Society^  Frazer'a  Mafjazine. 

To  go  the  Big  Figure.    To  do  things  on  a  large  scale. 

Why,  our  senators  ffo  the  biy  fyure  on  fried  oysters  and  whiskey  punch.  — 
Burton,  Waggeries. 

To  go  the  Whole  Figure.  To  go  to  the  fullest  extent  in  the  attain- 
ment of  any  object. 

Go  the  whole  figure  for  religious  liberty;  it  has  no  meanin'  here,  where  all  are 
free,  but  it 's  a  cant  word  and  sounds  well.  —  Sam  Slick. 

"If  you  go  the  whole  figure  on  temperance,"  said  Mrs.  Mudlaw,  in  giving  her 
receipt  for  pudding  sauce,  "then  some  other  flavorin'  must  be  used  instead  of 
brandy  or  wine."  —  Widow  Bedoft  Papers,  p.  .377. 

Suppose  we  keep  thanksgivin'  to  home  this  year,  and  invite  all  our  whole  grist 
of  cousins  and  aunts  and  things,  — go  the  whole  figure  and  do  the  genteel  thing. 
—  McClintock'' s  Tales. 

To  go  the  Whole  Hog.  A  Western  \Tilgarism,  meaning  to  do  a  thing 
out  and  out.  A  softened  form  of  the  phrase  is  To  go  the  entire 
animal. 

The  expression  is  supposed  to  have  been  suggested  by  Cowper's 
poem  "  Of  the  Love  of  the  World  reproved,"  in  which  is  discussed 
the  eating  of  pork  by  the  Turks.  The  question  arose  whether  a 
portion  might  not  be  eaten,  — 

But  for  one  piece  they  thought  it  hard 
From  the  whole  hog  to  be  debarred. 

Of  the  congressional  and  State  tickets  we  can  only  form  a  conjecture ;  but  the 
probability  is  that  the  Democrats  have  carried  the  whole,  for  they  generally  go 
the  whole  hog,  —  they  never  scratch  or  split  differences.  — Newspaper. 

The  phrase  has  been  caught  up  by  some  late  English  writers:  — 

The  Tiger  has  leapt  up  heart  and  soul, 

It 's  clear  that  he  means  to  go  the  whole 

Hog,  in  his  hungry  efforts  to  seize 

The  two  defianceful  Bengalese.  — New  Tale  of  a  Tub. 

To  go  through.  We  say,  Does  this  train  "  go  through  to  Portland  ?  '* 
An  Englishman  would  simply  say  "  to  Portland."  Our  expres- 
sion would  indicate  a  tunnel  to  him. 

To  go  through  the  Mill.  To  acquire  experience,  and  especially  to 
meet  with  difficulties,  losses,  &c.  The  metaphor  is  derived  from 
grain  which  has  undergone  the  process  of  grinding. 

The  now  common  phrase,  "  To  see  the  elephant,"  conveys  the 
same  meaning. 

Go  to  Grass!  Be  off!  Get  out!  "Stop  your  nonsense, — tell  that 
to  the  marines." 


GOT— GOU 


257 


Go-to-meeting.  "  Go-to-meeting  clothes,"  one's  best  clothes,  such 
as  are  worn  on  Sundays,  when  attending  church.  Common  in  New 
England. 

To  go  to  Smash.    To  be  utterly  ruined,  or  broken. 

If  some  financial  Solomon, 
Before  another  set  of  sun, 
Don't  tell  us  Avhat  is  to  be  done 

To  scare  up  cash, 
We  all  perforce  must  cut  and  run. 

Or  ffo  to  smash.  —  N.  Y.  Evening  Post. 

To  go  to  the  Bad.    To  go  to  ruin,  to  destruction. 

Now  if  Fred  could  be  put  at  the  head  of  [some  enterprising  business]  they 
■  might  save  him  from  going  to  the  had.  —  The  Barton  Experiment,  p.  30. 

Gouge.    A  cheat,  fraud,  robbery. 

R  and  H  will  probably  receive  from  Mr.  Polk's  administration  $100,000 

more  than  respectable  printers  would  have  done  the  work  for.  There  is  a  clean, 
plain  gouge  of  this  sum  out  of  the  people's  strongbox.  — N.  Y.  Tribune,  Dec.  10, 
1845. ' 

If  the  people  of  Mr.  I  's  district  see  fit  to  indorse  and  justify  his  enormous 

gouge,  and  his  more  profligate  defence  of  it,  they  virtually  make  it  their  own. 
Neio  York  Herald. 

To  gouge.    1.  To  chouse;  to  cheat. 

Very  well,  gentlemen !  gouge  Mr.  Crosby  out  of  the  seat,  if  you  think  it  whole- 
some to  do  it— iV.  Y.  Tribune,  Nov.  26,  1845. 

2.  "  Gouging  is  performed  by  twisting  the  forefinger  in  a  lock  of 
hair,  near  the  temple,  and  turning  the  eye  out  of  the  socket  with 
the  thumb-nail,  which  is  suffered  to  grow  long  for  that  purpose." 
Lambert's  Travels,  Vol.  II.  p.  300. 

This  practice  is  only  known  by  hearsay  at  the  North  and  East, 
and  appears  to  have  existed  at  no  time  except  among  the  lower 
class  of  people  in  the  interior  of  some  of  the  Southern  States.  An 
instance  has  not  been  heard  of  for  years.  Grose  has  the  word  in 
his  Dictionary  of  the  Vulgar  Tongue,  and  defines  it  as  "a  cruel 
custom,  practised  by  the  Bostonians  in  America  "  ! 

Major  Beatty,  Paymaster  in  the  Western  army,  in  his  Diary 
1786-1787,  thus  speaks  of  the  custom  as  witnessed  by  him  in 
Kentucky. 

Saw  the  barbarous  custom  of  gouging,  practised  between  two  of  the  lower  class 
of  people  here,  their  unvaried  way  of  fighting.  When  two  men  quarrel,  they 
never  have  an  idea  of  striking,  but  seize  each  other  and  twist  each  other's 
thumbs  or  fingers  into  the  eye,  and  push  it  out  of  the  socket  till  it  falls  on  the 
cheek.  —  Mag.  of  Am.  History,  N.  Y.,  Vol.  I.  p.  433. 

Mr.  ^^'eld  found  this  custom  prevailing  in  Virginia  in  1796.  In 
speaking  of  his  visit  to  Richmond,  he  says:  — 

17 


258 


GOU— GRA 


Whenever  these  people  come  to  blows,  they  fight  like  wild  beasts,  biting,  kick- 
ing, and  endeavoring  to  tear  out  each  other's  eyes  with  their  nails.    It  is  by  no 
means  uncommon  to  meet  with  those  who  have  lost  an  eye  in  combat,  and  tiiere 
are  men  who  pride  tiiemselvcs  upon  the  dexterity  witii  wiiicii  they  can  scoop  one 
out.    This  they  call  (jou(jin(j.  —  Travels  in  North  Ameiicn,  p.  143. 
"  Goufje  him,  B— t!  darn  ye,  ijourje  him; 
Goiicje  him  while  he 's  on  the  shore!  " 
And  his  thumbs  were  straightway  l)uried 
Where  no  thumbs  had  pierced  before. 

Bon  Gaultler,  Ballads. 

A  man  who  was  paying  his  addresses  to  a  Western  belle  found 
one  day  another  suitor,  of  whom  he  thus  speaks:  — 

I  got  a  side  squint  into  one  of  his  pockets,  and  saw  it  was  full  of  eyes  that  had 
been  goutjed  from  the  people  of  my  acquaintance.  I  knew  my  jig  was  up,  for 
such  a  feller  could  out-court  me,  and  I  thought  the  gall  brought  me  on  purpose 
to  have  a  fight. —  Traits  of  American  Humor,  Vol.  I. 

To  go  under.  To  perish.  Adler,  in  his  German  Dietionaiy,  defines 
untergehen  to  perish,  fall,  go  to  ruin.  Common  among  the  residents 
of  the  prairies. 

Thar  was  old  Sam  Owins,  — him  as  got  rubbed  out  bj'the  Spaniards  at  Sacra- 
mento or  Chihuahua,  this  boss  doesn't  know  which,  but  he  ivent  under  any  i  ow. 
Buxton,  Life  in  the  Far  West,  p.  14. 

Being  entirely  naked,  there  was  no  sign  left  by  dripping  garments  to  betray 
him;  besides,  the  blood  upon  the  water  had  proved  liis  friend.  On  seeing-  that 
the  hunters  were  under  the  full  belief  that  he  had  "  f/one  ?m(/er,"  and  therefore 
took  but  little  pains  to  search  further.  —  Captain  Mayne  Beid,  Osceola,  p.  192. 

To  go  up.  To  be  used  up,  worn  out;  applied  to  things  as  well  as  to 
men. 

To  go  up  the  Spout.    To  mount  the  gallows;  to  be  hung;  to  die. 

We  give  such  creatures  timely  and  due  notice  to  have  a  painted  box  [coffin] 
prepared,  if  they  ever  intend  to  apply  such  insulting  epithets  to  us,  for  if  they  do 
they  ''^  will  go  up  the  spout,'''  as  surely  as  there  is  virtue  in  powder. — Point 
Pleasant  Begister,  Fa.,  June,  1862. 

Governmental,  Relating  to  government.  A  modern  word,  some- 
times used,  and  yet  censured,  both  in  England  and  America,  and 
characterized  by  the  "Eclectic  Review"  as  an  "execrable  bar- 
barism. ' '  —  Worcester. 

Grab-Box.  A  box  used  at  ladies'  fairs,  filled  with  trifles.  For  tlie 
privilege  of  insei-ting  the  hand  and  making  a  grab,  a  charge  is  made. 
Whatever  is  taken  is  the  property  of  the  "  grabber." 

Young  woman  wanted  me  to  invest  in  the  '"'■grab-box ;  "  gave  half  a  dollar,  and 
fished  in :  got,  in  three  times  trying,  a  tin  whistle,  half  a  stick  of  candy,  and  a 
peanut  done  up  in  tissue-paper.  —  Doesticks,  p.  135. 

Grab  Game.  A  mode  of  swindling,  or  rather  stealing,  practised  by 
sharpers  in  our  large  cities.    Bets  are  made  in  which  considerable 


GRA 


25^ 


sums  of  money  are  involved,  when  a  dispute  is  purposely  planned, 
in  the  midst  of  which  one  of  the  confederates  seizes  or  ' '  grabs  ' ' 
the  money  at  stake  and  runs  off.  This  term  is  also  used  in  a  more 
general  sense  to  signify  stealing,  and  making  off  with  the  booty,  as 
in  the  following  example :  — 

"  The  fact  is,"  replied  Bob,  "  this  country  is  getting  rather  too  hot  for  me,  and 
I  '11  bear  you  company !    What  d'  ye  say  to  that  V  " 

"Just  as  you  like,"  responded  his  two  companions ;  "  that  is,  provided  you 
won't  attempt  the  grab  game  on  us."  — Scenes  in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  p.  282. 

Grace  of  God.  This  remarkable  expression  for  a  writ,  I  find  used  in 
a  letter  written  at  Philadelphia,  in  1772,  addressed  to  William 
Ellery,  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence:  — 

Ray  Sands  is  truly  long-winded;  and,  if  jogging  of  him  will  not  do  after  trying 
him  again,  thou  must  put  the  "  Grace  of  God  "  upon  his  back,  which  I  would 
chuse  to  avoid,  if  he  would  pay  without. 

Gracious.  "Gracious  sakes!"  "My  gracious!"  "Gracious  sakes 
alive!  "  are  common  expressions. 

Grade.  (French.)  1.  A  degree  or  rank  in  order  or  dignity,  civil, 
military,  or  ecclesiastical. 

2.  A  step  or  degree  in  any  ascending  series;  as,  "  crimes  of  every 
grade.^^  —  Webster. 

This  word  is  of  comparatively  modern  use.  It  is  not  in  the 
English  dictionaries  previous  to  Todd's  edition  of  Johnson  in  1818. 
Mr.  Todd  calls  it  "  a  word  brought  forward  in  some  modern  pam- 
phlets," and  says,  "  It  will  hardly  be  adopted."  Mr.  Richardson 
says  the  word  "  has  crept  into  frequent  use."  Mr.  Knowles,  in  the 
ninth  edition  of  his  dictionary,  introduces  the  word  as  once  belong- 
ing to  the  language,  without  comment.  The  "  British  Critic  "  and 
other  reviews  have  criticised  the  word  as  an  unauthorized  Ameri- 
canism; but,  as  w'e  have  seen,  it  has  been  adopted  at  last  by  the 
English  themselves. 

Over  grammar-schools,  the  clergy  possessed  an  authority  fully  equal  to  that 
which  they  had  in  the  universities.  They  also  appointed  and  removed,  at  their 
own  pleasure,  teachers  of  every  grade,  &c.  —  Buckle,  History  of  Civilization  in 
England,  Vol.  II.  ch.  vi. 

To  talents  of  the  highest  grade  he  [Hamilton]  united  a  patient  industry  not 
always  the  companion  of  genius.  —  Marshall's  Life  of  Washington,  Vol.  V. 
p.  213. 

3.  The  amount  of  inclination  on  a  road.    In  England  gradiant. 

To  grade.  To  reduce  to  a  certain  degree  of  ascent  or  descent,  as  a 
road  or  way.  —  Webster. 


260 


GRA 


To  graft.    1.  To  "  cjraft.  boots  "  is  to  repair  them  by  adding  new  soles, 
and  surrounding  the  feet  with  new  leather.    So  called  in  Connecti- 
cut. •  Elsewhere  called  "  foxinrj  boots." 
2.  To  pick  pockets.    A  slang  term. 

Scotch  Moll  is  making  out  good  grafting  in  the  8th  Avenue  cars.  —  Nntional 
Police  Gazette. 

Graham  Bread.  Bread  made  of  unbolted  wheat.  It  is  easier  to  digest 
than  common  wheaten  bread,  and  is,  in  consequence,  much  used  by 
invalids. 

Grahamites.  People  who  follow  the  system  of  Graham  in  their 
regimen. 

A  glance  at  his  round,  ruddy  face  would  shame  a  Grahamite  or  teetotaller  out 
of  his  abstinence  principles.  —  Pickings  from  the  Picayune.,  p.  130. 

Graham  System.  A  system  of  dietetics  recommended  by  Sylvester 
Graham,  a  lecturer  of  some  celebrity  on  temperance  and  dietetics, 
which  excludes  the  use  of  all  animal  food  and  stimulating  drinks, 
including  tea,  coffee,  &c. 

Grain.    1.  A  particle;  a  bit;  a  little.    Ex.:  "  I  don't  care  a  grain 
"  Push  the  candle  a  grain  further  from  you." 

2.  The  universal  name,  in  the  United  States,  for  what  is  called 
corn  in  England;  that  is,  wheat,  rye,  oats,  barley,  &c.  See  Bread- 
Stuff. 

Grama  Grass.  (Span,  grama.  Chondrosium.)  Several  species  of  this 
grass  are  found  on  our  Western  borders,  where  it  is  esteemed  excel- 
lent food  for  cattle. 

The  stock-raiser  who  has  fed  his  cattle  upon  grama  during  the  winter  finds 
them  in  quite  as  good  condition  in  the  spring  as  doe?  the  Eastern  farmer  his 
stall-fed  animals.  —  Cozzens's  Marvellous  Country,  p.  224. 

Grandacious.    Magnificent.    A  factitious  word. 
Grandiferous.    Magnificent,  extensive.    A  factitious  word. 
Granite  State.    The  State  of  New  Hampshire,  so  called  from  the 

abmidance  of  granite  found  in  it. 
Grannyfied.    Having  the  character  of  a  granny. 

That  querulous  and  grannified  manner  peculiar  to  old  people  who  have  out- 
lived their  usefulness.  —  The  Constitution,  Midd(etown,Co7in.,  May  7,  1862. 

To  grant,  for  to  vouchsafe,  is  used  in  prayer;  as,  "  Grant  to  hear  us." 
Southern. 

Grape-Fruit.    A  variety  of  Citrus  racemosus.  Barbadoes. 
Grape  Vine.    See  Blue-Grass. 

Grass.  A  vulgar  contraction  of  sparrow-grass,  i.  e.  asparagus.  Fur- 
ther than  this  the  force  of  corruption  can  hardly  go. 


GRA— GRE 


261 


Grasset.    See  Chewink. 

Grass-Widow.  A  wife  who  has  been  separated  from  her  husband; 
called  also  a  "widow  bewitched.^ ^  In  England,  the  term  grass- 
widow  signifies  an  unmarried  woman  who  has  had  a  child. 

"  California  widow  "  is  an  analogous  term,  which  came  into  use 
during  the  rush  to  California,  1850  to  1860,  when  the  new-found 
treasures  of  that  country  separated  so  many  husbands  from  their 
wives.    During  the  late  war  such  were  termed  war-widows. 

Grass-Widowhood.  "  Her  life  properly  be  devoted  to  grass-widow- 
hood.''^—  Congregationalist,  Jan.  6,  1870. 

Grave- Yard."  Mrs.  Trollope  italicizes  this  word  as  novel  to  her 
English  ears,  accustomed  to  '■^  church-yard.^^ 

Gravy.  Used  in  New  England  instead  of  Juice;  as,  the  gravy  of  an 
apple-pie.    Often  reversed,  as  Juice  for  dish  gravy. 

Gray  Deal,  the  common  pronunciation  for  great  deal. 

Grease-Wood.  (Obione  canescens.).  The  chamizo  of  the  Mexicans. 
(Sarcobatus  vermicularis.)  A  scraggy,  stunted  shrub,  very  abun- 
dant in  the  Upper  Missouri  and  Yellowstone  Valleys,  is  called  Grease- 
Wood  by  the  traders.  —  Hayden,  Missouri  Valley,  p.  292. 

The  soil  [near  the  Salt  Lake]  was  sterile,  acrid,  full  of  alkali,  and  refused  to 
produce  any  thing  but  the  dreary  sage  and  yrease-wood ;  but  Mormon  industry 
flooded  it  with  artificial  rains,  .  .  .  and  it  now  produces  fine  wheat.  — McClure, 
Rocky  Mountains,  p.  167. 

To  grease  the  Wheels  is  a  metaphorical  expression  used  in  the  West 
to  signify  paying  occasionally  a  little  money  to  your  creditor, 
grocer,  &c. 

Greaser.  1.  A  term  vulgarly  applied  to  the  Mexicans  and  other 
Spanish  Americans.  It  first  became  common  during  the  war  with 
Mexico. 

The  Americans  call  the  Mexicans  greasers,  which  is  scarcely  a  complimentary 
soubriquet;  although  the  term  greaser  camp''''  as  applied  to  a  Mexican  en- 
campment is  truthfully  suggestive  of  filth  and  squalor,  —  Marryat,  Mountains 
and  Molehills,  p.  236. 

Tell  the  old  coon  then  to  quit  that,  and  make  them  darned  greasers  clear  out 
of  the  lodge,  and  pock  some  corn  and  shucks  here  for  the  animals,  for  they  're 
nigh  give  out.  —  Ruxton,  Life  in  the  Far  West,  p.  176. 

The  "  Providence  Press,"  Feb.  15,  1876,  in  its  remarks  on  the 
proposed  admission  of  New  Mexico  as  a  State,  says  :  — 

The  Territory  contains  less  than  100,000  inhabitants,  and  many  of  these  are 
greasers  and  Spanish  herdsmen,  about  as  well  fitted  to  organize  and  conduct  a 
State  government  as  the  natives  of  Northern  Alaska. 


2(j'2 


GRE 


2.  An  assistant  to  the  fireman  of  a  steamboat ;  one  who  oils  the 
machinery. 

3.  A  produce  of  oil.  Pennsylvania  petroleum  region. —  Phil.  Press. 
Grease  Spot.    The  slightest  particle  of  a  human  being.    See  under 

Grit. 

Greasy.    We  call  this  word  greecy,  the  English  greezy. 

Great.  Distinguished,  excellent,  admirable.  Thus,  "a  great  Chris- 
tian "  means  a  pious  man  ;  "a  great  horse,"  a  horse  of  good  quali- 
ties and  bottom  ;  "  a  great  plantation,"  a  fertile  one.  So,  too,  "  He 
is  great  at  running;"  "She  is  great  on  the  piano."  "A  great 
M^oman."    2  Kings,  iv.  8. 

Great  Big.  Very  large;  as,  "I've  got  a  great  big  watermelon." 
Often  used  by  children. 

Great  Spirit.  The  term  applied  by  the  North  American  Indians  to 
tlie  Supreme  being. 

Big  Mouth  [the  Iroquois  chief]  told  Denonville,  the  Governor  of  Canada,  that 
he  and  his  people  were  subjects  neither  of  the  French  nor  of  the  English,  that  they 
held  their  country  of  the  Great  Sphit ;  and  that  they  had  never  been  engaged 
in  war.  —  Parkman,  Count  Front enac  and  New  France,  p.  172. 

At  a  conference  with  a  delegation  of  Indian  chiefs,  held  at  the 
Executive  Mansion,  in  Washington,  Sept.  28,  1877,  Spotted  Tail, 
a  Sioux,  made  a  long  speech,  in  which,  addressing  President  Hayes, 
he  said  :  — 

Your  people  make  raids  and  drive  away  the  game.  The  land  we  occupy  was 
given  us  by  the  Great  Spirit,  who  said  we  could  live  there,  but  the  white  people 
are  trying  to  drive  us  from  the  country  to  one  where  we  can  do  nothing.  You 
live  here.  The  Great  Spirit  gave  you  the  land.  You  stay  here  with  all  your 
people.    That's  the  way  all  nations  ought  to  live. —  Telegram  to  Newspapers. 

Roger  Williams,  the  founder  of  Rhode  Island,  thus  said  to  Mas- 
sasoit,  the  chief  of  the  Narragansetts,  when  buying  lands  from  his 
tribe  :  — 

Brother,  I  know  that  all  these  lands  are  thine,  — 
These  rolling  rivers  and  these  waving  trees,  — 
From  the  Great  Spirit  came  the  gift  divine; 
And  who  would  trespass  upon  grants  like  these? 

Durfee,  Whatcheer,  Canto  iii.  xxi. 
Greatle.    A  great  while.    Long  Island. 

Greek.  A  sobriquet  often  applied  to  Irishmen,  in  jocular  allusion 
to  their  soi-disant  Milesian  origin. 

In  some  of  our  Atlantic  cities,  the  men  of  foreign  birth,  especially  those  in  vul- 
gar style  called  Greeks,  constitute  so  nearly  a  majority  that  it  is  only  theii' 
ignorance  that  prevents  the  saying  of  Maro  from  being  fulfilled,  — 

.  .  .  Danai  dominaiitur  in  urbe. 
As  it  is,  demagogues  rule  through  them.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  July  2,  1858. 


GRE 


263 


Greenback.  Legal  tender  notes.  The  national  paper-money  cur- 
rency of  the  United  States,  first  issued  on  the  breaking  out  of  the 
late  civil  war.  The  backs  of  notes  so  issued  by  the  government, 
and  by  the  National  banks,  are  printed  in  green,  mainly  for  the 
purpose  of  preventing  alterations  and  counterfeits.  The  term  green- 
hacks  was  given  these  bills  by  the  Hon.  S.  P.  Chase,  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  who  devised  and  successfully  carried  out  the  great 
financial  plan  which  produced  such  favorable  results  to  the  coun- 
try. Mr.  Chase  told  the  writer  that  he  claimed  the  honor  of  adding 
the  term  to  our  vocabulary. 

Then  came  the  war  with  its  consequences.  Large  emissions  of  yreenbacic  cur- 
rency took  the  place  of  gold,  and  by  its  immense  volume  stimulated  production. 
—  Medbery,  Men  and  Mysteries  of  Wall  Street,  p.  8. 

The  greenbacks  are  popular ;  the  people  have  had  a  fresh  taste  of  a  paper  cur- 
rency that  Avill  pay  debts  and  buy  goods  alike  in  New  York  and  Nebraska.  — 
N.  Y.  Tribune,  June  14.  1862. 

The  efforts  made  in  Congress  to  extend  the  issue  of  legal  tenders, 
or  greenbacks,  rendered  it  necessary  to  convert  the  term  into  an  adjec- 
tive.   Thus  we  have  these  examples  of  such  use  :  — 

Gold  yesterday  touched  108  7-8,  a  point  below  any  scoring  of  the  gold  market 
for  several  years.  Let  it  go  down,  down,  down,  until  the  f/reenback  promise  of 
a  dollar  shall  purchase  one  hundred  cents  of  value  in  gold  coin.  —  N.  Y.  Tiibune, 
Oct.,  1876. 

A  direct  tax  and  a  lot  of  greenbacks, 

Not  backed  b}'  financial  solidity. 
Render  useless,  we  're  told,  copper,  silver,  and  gold, 

And  redeem  the  exchequer's  avidity. 

Song  from  Vanity  Fair. 

Greenbackers.  The  supporters  of  greenback  or  paper  money;  also 
called  inflationists,  as  they  are  opposed  to  the  resumption  of  specie 
payments. 

Some  steps  are  being  taken  to  secure  after  the  State  election  a  union  of  the 
greenbackers  and  the  Democrats  on  a  fusion  electoral  ticket.  —  N.  York  Tribune, 
Oct.,  1876. 

The  "  Albany  Times  "  is  striving  to  prevent  the  return  of  a.x\y  greenback  voters 
to  the  Democratic  fold.  It  says:  "The  Tildenites  forget  that  tliey  have  no 
claim  whatever  on  a  single  greenback  voter.  .  .  .  We  don't  see  how  any  so- 
called  greenback  advocate  can  vote  for  anybody  except  Mr.  Cooper  for  Presi- 
dent."—  New  York  paper. 

The  Democratic  press  of  Ohio  is  tr3Mng  to  seduce  the  Greenbackers  back  to  the 
Democratic  fold,  on  the  ground  that  there  is  every  thing  that  the  wanderer  after  a 
softer  currency  can  desire  in  the  Democratic  platform. — N.  Y.  Herald,  Aug., 
1877. 

Greening.    The  Rhode  Island  greening  is  a  favorite  apple. 
Green  Mountain  State.    Tlie  State  of  Vermont. 


264  GRI 

Griddles.    Cakes  baked  on  a  gi'iddle.  Pennsylvania. 

Griffin,  Grifife.  This  word,  like  the  French  griffone^  is  constantly  used 
in  Louisiana,  both  in  conversation  and  in  print,  for  a  mulatto,  par- 
ticularly the  woman;  probably  in  allusion  to  the  fabulous  griffin, 
half  eagle,  half  lion. 

To  grig.  To  vex,  irritate.  To  grig  means  to  pinch,  in  Somerset, 
England. 

That  word  "  superiors  "  griyyed  me.  Thinks  I,  "  My  boy,  I  '11  just  take  that 
expression,  roll  it  up  in  a  ball,  and  shy  it  back  at  you."  —  S.  Slick,  Human 
Nature,  p.  83. 

Grist.    A  large  number  or  quantity. 

There 's  an  unaccountable  yrist  of  bees,  I  can  tell  you;  and,  if  you  mean  to 
charge  upon  sich  enemies,  you  must  look  out  for  somebody  besides  Whiskey 
Centre  for  your  vanguard.  —  Coojjer,  The  Oak  Openinys. 

I  went  down  to  the  Squire's  to  have  a  talk  with  his  daughter.  There  was  a 
■whole  yrist  of  fellows  there.  —  N.  Y.  Sj/irit  of  the  Times. 

I  says,  sa^'S  I,  "Hannah,  s'posin'  we  keep  thanksgiving  to  home  this  year," 
says  I,  "and  invite  all  our  hull  yrist  o'  cousins  and  aunts  and  things, — go  the 
whole  figure,  and  do  the  thing  genteel."  —  McClintock's  Tales. 

Grit.  Hard  sandstone,  employed  for  millstones,  grindstones,  pave- 
ment, &c.  And  hence  the  word  is  often  vulgarly  used  to  mean 
courage,  spirit.    See  Clear  Grit. 

Mr.  Whipple's  subject  was  "  Gj-jY,"  ...  of  which  the  lecturer  said  there  was 
defiance  in  the  very  sound.  Grit  was  spirit  and  Avill  thrust  into  heart  and  back- 
bone, so  as  to  form  part  of  the  physical  substance  of  man.  —  iV.  Y.  Tribune, 
Oct.  17,  1866. 

The  command  of  a  battalion  was  given  to  Mr.  Jones,  a  pretty  decided  Whig 
in  politics,  and,  like  many  other  men  of  Zacchean  stature,  all  yrit  and  spirit.  — 
N.  Y.  Com.  Advertiser,  June  24. 

Honor  and  fame  from  no  condition  rise.  It 's  the  yrit  of  a  fellow  that  makes 
the  man.  —  Crockett,  Tour,  p.  44. 

If  he  hadn't  a  had  the  clear  ytit  in  him,  and  showed  his  teeth  and  claws,  they 'd 
a  nullified  him  so  you  wouldn't  see  a  grease  spot  of  him  no  more.  —  Sam  Slick  in 
Enyland,  ch.  17. 

The  Hunters  grew  into  a  class  in  New  England.  They  were  a  breed  by  them- 
selves, a  kind  of  cross  between  the  Puritan  and  Indian,  with  all  the  yrit  of  the 
one  and  lawless  love  of  liberty  of  the  other.  —  Elliott,  New  Enyland  Histm^y, 
Vol.  I.  p.  459. 

I  reckon  the  chaplain  was  the  real  yrit  for  a  parson,  —  always  d«  'in'  as  he 'd  be 
done  by,  and  practisin'  a  darn'd  sight  more  than  he  preached.  —  Traits  of  Amer- 
ican Humor,  Vol.  I. 

Gritting.  Grating  dry  corn  into  coarse  meal,  a  process  much  resorted 
to  by  ^Northern  soldiers  in  the  late  war.  For  this  purpose,  soldiers 
ordinarily  use  tin  plates.  One  of  these  is  placed  on  a  smooth  stump 
or  a  flat  rail,  and  with  his  bayonet  the  soldier  soon  punches  holes 


GRI— GRO 


265 


enough  into  it  to  make  a  coarse,  grater.  Rubbing  the  ear  of  corn 
over  this  furnishes  the  industrious  and  persevering  a  fine  parcel  of 
good,  sweet,  coarse  meal,  which  makes  a  good  pudding,  an  excel- 
lent hoe  cake,  and  a  most  inviting  corn  dodger. 

Some  use  a  piece  of  old  stove-pipe,  others  a  sheet  of  tin  made 
convex,  and  others  again  an  old  tin  pan.  The  result,  how^ever,  to 
the  diligent  is  the  same,  —  good,  fresh  corn-meal. 

It  was  exceedingl}^  amusing  to  stand  by  the  roadside  and  watch  the  division 
march  by.  Men  were  (jrittiiKj  on  the  caissons  ;  convalescents  in  the  ambulances 
were  ffrittim/ ;  the  tender-footed  and  exhausted  in  the  wagons,  and  the  black, 
yellow,  and  white  faces  in  the  ox-cart,  — all,  all  Avere  gritting.  And  the  moment 
"  Halt  and  rest"  was  heard,  down  sat  many  and  resumed  gritting.  Some  car- 
ried the  gritter  in  their  haversacks,  others  had  it  slung  to  their  belts,  and  others 
took  turns  in  bearing  forward  the  miniature  mill.  —  N.  Y.  Paper,  Extract  from 
a  Soldier's  Letter. 

Gritty.    Courageous;  spirited. 

My  decided  opinion  is  that  there  never  was  a  grittyer  crowd  congregated  on 
that  stream;  and  such  dancin'  and  drinkin',  and  eatin'  bar  steaks  and  corn 
dodgers,  and  huggin'  the  gals,  don't  happen  but  once  in  a  fellow's  lifetime.  — 
Eobb,  Squatter  Life,  p.  106. 

Groan.    To  give  a  groan  in  disapprobation  of. 

Yesterday  they  met,  as  agreed  upon,  and,  after  groaning  the  Ward  Committee, 
went  to  the  mayor's  office.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Dec.  19,  1861. 

Grocery.  A  grocer's  shop.  In  the  plural,  the  commodities  sold  by- 
grocers. 

In  the  South-west,  a  grocery  is  a  bar-room,  and  the  term  groceries 
means  liquors.  The  bar-keeper  is  often  told  to  "fetch  on  his 
groceries. ' ' 

The  grocery  "  —consisting  of  a  whiskey  barrel,  six  tin  cups,  two  green  glass 
tumblers,  a  lot  of  pipes  and  tobacco  —  was  in  close  proximity  to  the  inn  I  was 
in;  and  there  the  qualities  of  a  very  recent  extraction  of  the  corn,  and  of  the  fit- 
ness of  the  candidates  to  receive  the  votes  of  the  corned,  was  discussed  in  the 
manner  usual  in  such  times  and  places.  —  N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

Every  other  house  in  Santa  was  a  grocery,  as  they  call  a  gin  and  whiskey 
shop,  continually  disgorging  reeling,  drunken  men,  and  everywhere  filth  and  du't 
triumphant.  —  Ituxton,  Mexico  and  Rocky  Mountains,  p.  190. 

Groggery.  A  place  where  spirituous  liquors  are  sold  and  drank;  a 
grog-shop.  In  the  West,  often  called  a  Doggery  or  Dog-hole;  and 
in  New  York,  a  Rum-hole ;  elsewhere,  a  Rum-mill. 

Ground  Bridge.  The  well-known  corduroy  road  of  the  South,  laid  on 
the  bed  of  a  creek  or  other  body  of  water,  to  render  it  fordable ; 
while  the  hollow  bridge  is  one  that  is  thrown  over  the  water. 

Ground  Cherry.  {Physalis.)  A  wild  fruit  lately  introduced  into 
our  gardens  and  markets.    Sometimes  called  Winter  Cherry. 


266 


GRO 


Ground-Hog.    See  Woodchuck. 

Ground-Hog  Day.  Candlemas  (Feb.  2)  is  sometimes  so  designated 
in  the  Middle  and  Western  States,  from  a  popular  belief  tliat  the 
appearance  of  the  ground-hog  on  that  day  predicts  a  return  of  cold 
weather  and  a  late  spring.  In  European  folk-lore,  the  bear  is  the 
Candlemas  weather-prophet.  (See  Notes  and  Queries,  June  2,  1855, 
p.  421.) 

Yesterday  was  ^^ground-hoy's  day"'  in  many  parts  of  the  United  States,  and 
Candlemas  day  in  many  other  parts  of  the  world.  From  time  immenujrial,  it  has 
been  a  critical  day  in  the  affairs  of  the  weather.  The  character  of  the  second  of 
February  is  really  of  much  more  importance  than  whether  the  first  of  March 
comes  in  like  a  lion  or  a  lamb.    The  simplest  form  of  the  adage  is:  — 

If  Candlemas  day  be  bright  and  clear, 
There  '11  be  two  winters  in  that  year. 

In  America,  paying  due  deference  to  the  creature's  importance  in  our  national 
mythology,  it  is  left  to  the  ground-hog  to  decide  the  day,  and  so  the  fate  of  the 
season.  He  is  supposed  to  come  out  of  his  hole  on  that  day,  and  take  a  look  at 
the  world.  If  it  is  a  bright  day,  he  will  see  his  shadow  on  the  ground,  and,  taking 
fright  at  it,  will  run  back  into  his  home  and  stay  there.  A  fre^h  attack  of  winter 
will  set  in,  and  he  will  be  justified  in  the  steps  he  has  taken.  If  it  is  cloudy,  he 
will  cast  no  shadow,  take  no  fright,  and  gives  us  no  further  attack  of  winter. 
So  far  as  we  recollect  yesterday,  it  was  a  day  for  the  yround-hoy  to  maintain  his 
unterrified  poise  and  assure  us  of  an  early  spring.  —  Hartford  Courant,  Feb.  3, 
1877. 

Ground-Nut.  {Arachis  hypogmi.')  The  peanut.  It  buries  its  pods 
under  ground  after  flowering,  to  ripen  its  nuts.  It  is  cultivated  in 
the  West  Indies  and  Southern  States. 

Ground-Peas.    The  peanut.  Virginia. 

Ground-Plum.  {Astragalus  caryocarpus.)  A  plant  gi'owing  on  dry 
soil  on  the  Mississippi  River  at  the  junction  of  the  St.  Peter's,  and 
westward  and  southward.  The  fruit,  which  is  a  pod,  closely  resem- 
bles a  plum,  whence  its  name. 

Ground-Sluicing.  Among  gold-miners,  the  process  of  washing  down 
banks  of  earth  by  throwing  upon  them  a  stream  of  water  from  a 
pipe  or  leathern  hose.  It  is  thus  used  as  a  substitute  for  shovelling, 
to  remove  heavy  layers  of  earth  from  places  wrhere  gold  is  supposed 
to  be  deposited. 

During  our  stay  at  Gold  Hill,  one  of  our  party  bought  an  interest  in  a  company 
of  yround-sluicers,  and,  on  our  departure,  sold  out  his  share  at  an  advance.  — 
Harper's  May.,  Vol.  XX.  p.  612. 

Ground-Squirrel.  A  name  sometimes  erroneously  given  to  the  striped 
and  spotted  prairie  squirrel  {Spermophilus  tredecimlineatus') .  The 
Chipmunk. 


GEO— GUA 


267 


There  are  notes  of  joy  from  the  hang-bird  and  wren, 

And  the  gossip  of  swallows  through  all  the  sky; 
The  ground-squirrel  gaily  chirps  by  his  den, 
And  the  wilding-bee  hums  merrily  by. 

The  Gladness  of  Nature,  W.  C.  Bryant. 
Grounds.    "  Tobacco  grounds,''^  "  low  grounds,''''  "  corn  grounds,''''  are 
terms  applied  to  lands  in  Virginia.     They  never  use  the  term 
"  bottoms  "  or  "  bottom  lands,"  which  they  call  "  low  grounds.^'' 
Group-Meeting.    Held  for  a  few  days  continuously,  or  under  charge 
of  persons  voluntarily  associated,  and  serving  each  in  rotation. 

About  thirty  conversions  have  resulted  from  prayer  and  effort  within  the  church, 
aided  by  the  influence  of  ^^group-meetings.''''  —  RepH  of  Conference,  Religious 
Herald,  Hartford. 
Grouty.    Cross,  ill-natured.  Northern. 

Grubby.    See  Toad-Fish.    Gruhhy  and  Grumpy.  Massachusetts. 

Grunter.    1.  (Genus  Pogonia^.   Cuvier.)    One  of  the  popular  names 
of  the  fish  called  by  naturalists  the  Banded  Drum.    It  is  common 
to  the  Atlantic  coast  south  of  New  York.     Grunts  and  Young 
Sheepskin  are  other  names  of  the  same  fish.  —  Nat.  Hist,  of  N.  Y. 
2.  A  hog;  a  pig. 

Gruv.  Grieved.  "  Gruv  herself  nearly  to  death.  "  —  Emma  Bartlett, 
p.  186. 

Guano.  (Quichua,  Jiuanu,  the  dung  of  birds.)  A  compound  of  the 
excrements  of  sea-birds  and  the  remains  of  penguins  and  other 
water-fowls.  According  to  Garcillasso  de  la  Vega,  it  M-as  exten- 
sively used  by  the  ancient  Peruvians  to  manure  their  lands,  for 
which  purpose  it  is  now  imported  in  large  quantities  into  the  Uni- 
ted States  and  Europe. 

The  earliest  mention  of  guano  as  a  manure  is  found  in  Acosta's 
Historia  natural  y  moral  de  las  Indias,  first  printed  in  Seville  in 
1590.  In  an  English  translation  by  E.  G.  (supposed  to  have  been 
Edward  Grimestone),  published  in  1604,  is  the  following  at  p.  311: 

In  some  islands  or  phares,  which  are  joyning  to  the  coast  of  Peru,  wee  see  the 
toppes  of  the  mountaines  all  white,  and  to  sigiit  you  would  take  it  for  snow,  or 
for  some  white  land :  but  they  are  heaps  of  dung  of  sea  fowle,  which  go  continu- 
ally thither.  .  .  .  They  go  with  boates  to  these  ilands,  onely  for  the  dung;  for 
there  is  no  other  profit  in  them.  And  this  dung  is  so  commodious  and  profitable, 
as  it  makes  the  earth  yeelde  great  aboundance  of  fruite.  They  call  this  dung 
guano,  whereof  the  valley  hath  taken  the  name,  which  they  call  Limaguana,  in 
the  valleys  of  Peru,  where  they  use  this  dung,  and  it  is  the  most  fertile  of  all  tiiat 
countrie.  ...  So  as  these  birds  have  not  only  the  flesh  to  serve  for  meate,  their 
singing  for  recreation,  their  feathers  for  ornament  and  beautie,  but  alsoe  their 
dung  serves  to  fatten  the  ground. 

Guardeen,  strongly  accented  on  the  last  syllable,  is  often  heard  in 
New  EnQfland  for  guardian. 


268 


GUA— GUE 


Guava.  (W.  Ind.  guaynha,  guaiva.)  Applied  by  the  Spaniards,  in- 
differently, to  the  fruit  of  two  nearly  allied  species  of  Psidium, — 
the  P.  pomiferum  and  P.  pyriferum.  —  Greenwood'' s  Fruits  of  Cuba 
{Bost.  Jour.  Nat.  Hist.),  Vol.  II.  pp.  237,  238. 

There  is  another  fruit  [in  Cuba]  which  they  call  Gunyabas,  like  Filberds,  as 

bigge  as  figges.  —  Hakluyt,  Virginia  Richly  Valued  (1609),  ch.  v. 

John  Hardie,  in  speaking  of  the  fruits  of  Bermuda,  says:  — 
Pomgranates,  Gwavers,  Papawes,  Fig-trees  too, 
Whereof  a  Pleasant  kind  of  Drink  they  brew. 

Desc.  of  Last  Voyage  to  Bermudas  (1671),  p.  10. 

Gubernatorial.  Pertaining  to  government  or  to  a  governor.  — 
W ebster. 

To  guess.  1.  To  conjecture;  to  judge  without  any  certain  principles 
of  judgment. 

2.  To  conjecture  rightly,  or  upon  some  just  reason.  — Johnson. 

Yclothed  was  she,  fresh  for  to  devise ; 
Her  yellow  hair  was  braided  in  a  tress 
Behind  her  back,  a  yard  long  I  guess.  —  Chaucer's  Heroine. 

There  hath  be  no  default,  I  gesse.  —  Gower,  Conf.  Amantis  (ed.  Pauli),  II. 
11;  comp.  II.  59,  368;  III.  180,  noted  by  Prof.  Child. 

Incapable  and  shallow  innocents ! 

You  cannot  guess  who  caused  your  father's  death.  —  ShaJcspeare. 

One  may  guess  by  Plato's  writings  that  his  meaning  as  to  the  inferior  deities 
was,  that  they  who  would  have  them  might,  and  they  who  would  not  might  let 
them  alone ;  but  that  himself  had  a  right  opinion  concerning  the  true  God.  — 
Stillingjieet. 

We  thus  see  that  the  legitimate,  English  sense  of  this  word  is  to 
conjecture ;  but  with  us,  and  especially  in  New  England,  it  is  con- 
stantly used  in  common  conversation  instead  of  to  believe,  to  suppose, 
to  think,  to  imagine,  to  fancy.  It  is  even  used  to  make  an  emphatic 
assertion;  as,  "  Jem,  wouldn't  you  like  a  julep  to  cool  you  off  this 
sultry  morning?  "  "I  guess  I  would!  "  From  such  examples  as 
the  words  to  fix  and  to  guess,  it  will  be  seen  that,  while  on  the  one 
hand  we  have  a  passion  for  coining  new  and  unnecessary  words  and 
often  in  a  manner  opposed  to  the  analogies  of  the  language,  there  is 
on  the  other  hand  a  tendency  to  banish  from  common  use  a  number 
of  the  most  useful  and  classical  English  expressions,  by  forcing  one 
word  to  do  duty  for  a  host  of  others  of  somewhat  similar  meaning. 
This  latter  practice  is  by  far  the  more  dangerous  of  the  two ;  because, 
if  not  checked  and  guarded  against  in  time,  it  will  corrode  the  very 
texture  and  substance  of  the  language,  and  rob  posterity  of  the 
powder  of  appreciating  and  enjoying  those  masterpieces  of  literature 


GUI 


'  269 


bequeathed  to  us  by  our  forefathers,  which  form  the  richest  inheri- 
tance of  all  that  speak  the  English  tongue. 

But  the  most  common  vulgar  use  of  the  word  is  when  there  is  no 
guessing,  and  where  the  statement  made  is  known  and  beyond  a 
doubt.  Thus  a  person  in  taking  his  departure  from  a*  company 
will  take  his  hat  and  say,  "  Well,  I  guess  I  '11  go,"  when  he  knows 
he  is  going.  Again,  a  lady  in  shopping,  after  making  her  choice  of 
an  article,  will  say,  "I  guess  I'll  take  this."  These  expressions 
are  equivalent  to  "  think,"  in  which  sense  there  is  English  authority, 
both  old  and  recent. 

Mr.  Richard  Grant  White,  in  a  note  on  the  passage  from  King 
Richard  III.  (Act  III.  Sc.  4),  "Well!  as  you  guess,^'  has  the  fol- 
lowing remarks :  — 

*'  If  there  be  tvvo  words  for  the  use  of  which,  more  than  any  others,  our  Eng- 
lish cousins  twit  us,  they  are  '  weZ^,'  as  an  interrogative  exclamation,  and  ^  guess. ^ 
Milton  uses  both,  as  Shakespear  also  frequently  does,  and  exactly  in  the  way  in 
which  they  are  used  in  America;  and  here  we  have  them  both  in  half  a  line. 
Like  most  of  those  words  and  phrases  which  it  plt^ases  John  Bull  to  call  Ameri- 
canisms, they  are  English  of  the  purest  and  best,  which  have  lived  here  while 
they  have  died  out  in  the  mother  country."  —  ShaJcspeare's  Scholar,  p.  343. 

(See  remarks  on  the  use  of  the  word  Well.) 

In  fact,  this  word  has  been  used  in  England  in  every  sense,  in 
which  it  is  used  by  us,  which  can  be  established  from  Locke.  For 
example :  — 

1.  If  we  can  find  out  how  far  the  understanding  can  extend  its  view,  how 
far  it  has  faculties  to  attain  certainty,  in  what  cases  it  can  only  judge  and  guess, 
we  may  learn  how  to  content  ourselves  with  what  is  attainable  by  us  in  this 
state.  — Locke,  Essay  on  the  Human  Understanding,  Book  I.  Ch.  iv.  Bohn's  ed. 
Vol.  I.  p.  130. 

2.  This  readiness  of  extension  to  make  itself  be  taken  notice  of  so  constantly 
with  other  ideas  has  been  the  occasion,  I  guess,  that  some  have  made  the  whole 
essence  of  body  to  consist  in  that  extension.  — Ibid.,  Book  II.  Ch.  xiii.  p.  25. 

3.  This  appearance  of  theirs  in  train,  though  perhaps  it  may  be  sometimes 
faster  and  sometimes  slower,  yet,  I  guess,  varies  not  much  in  a  waking  man,  &c. 
Ibid.,  Book  II.  Ch.  xiv.  Vol.  L  p.  305. 

Guider.    A  guidon ;  a  small  flag. 

One  thousand  pikes  or  spears,  each  marked  with  a  miniature  rebel  flag,  a 
number  of  small  flags  for  guiders,  ammunition,  shot,  shell,  and  various  other 
articles.  —  iV.  Y.  Herald,  March  17,  1862,  Letter  from  Nashville. 

Guinea  Corn.  (Holcus  sorghum.)  Egyptian  millet,  Durrah  of  the 
Arabs,  a  plant  with  a  stalk  of  the  size  and  appearance  of  maize. 
The  grain  grows  in  a  single  pendant  bunch  at  the  top,  like  the 
broom-corn. 

Guinea  Grass.  A  species  of  grass  cultivated  in  the  West  Indies,  used 
as  fodder  for  horses.  —  CarmichaeVs  West  Indies. 


270 


GUI— GUM 


Gu  iiea  Keet  or  simply  Keet.    A  name  given  in  some  localities  to 

the  guinea  fowl,  and  probably  derived  from  its  ciy. 
Gulch.    A  deep  ravine,  caused  by  the  action  of  water.  California. 

The  word  (julch.  which  is  in  general  use  here,  may  not  be  familiar  to  your  ears; 
though  its  sound  somewhat  expresses  its  meaning,  without  furtiier  definition. 
It  denotes  a  mountain  ravine,  dittering  from  ravines  elsewhere,  as  the  mountains 
of  California  differ  from  all  others,  more  sleep,  abrupt,  and  inaccessible.  The 
sound  of  (/nlch  is  like  that  of  a  sudden  plunge  into  a  deep  hole,  which  is  just  the 
character  of  the  thing  itself.  It  bears  the  same  relation  to  a  ravine  that  a  caf on 
does  to  a  pass  or  gorge.  —Bayard  Taylor's  Letters  from  California^  Sept.,  1849. 

Gulch-Mining.  The  same  as  placei-mining;  the  simplest  method  of 
taking  gold  from  the  earth.  The  gold-croppings  of  rich  leads  in  the 
mountain-cliffs  are  w^ashed  into  the  ravines  or  gulches,  where 
its  existence  is  easily  ascertained  by  the  simplest  implements;  a 
spade,  a  pick,  and  a  pan  of  sheet-iron  being  all  that  are  required. 
The  pan  is  half-filled  with  earth,  and  is  then  shaken.  The  gold 
sinks  to  the  bottom,  while  the  loose  earth  escapes  with  the  water. 

The  gulch-miners  work  their  claims  very  imperfectly.  It  is  deemed  a  safe 
calculation  that  they  leave  quite  as  much  in  the  earth  as  they  extract ;  and  more 
systematic  men  with  heavy  capital  follow,  buy  up  the  abandoned  claims,  and 
sometimes  concentrate  a  whole  gulch  in  one  company.  —  McClure,  Rocky  Moun- 
tains^ p.  345. 

Gulf  States.    The  States  bordering  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico ;  namely, 

Florida,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Texas. 
To  gully.    To  wear  a  hollow  channel  in  the  earth.  —  Webster.  This 
conversion  of  the  noun  into  a  verb  is  an  Americanism.    "  The  roads 
are  much  gidlied,^^  is  a  common  expression. 
Gully  Plum.    The  fruit  of  the  Spondia  lutea.    So  called  in  Barbadoes. 
Gum.    1.  The  name  of  many  Southern  trees.    The  Sour  Gum  and 
Black  Gum  are  species  of  Nyssa.    The  Sweet  Gum,  often  called 
simply  Gum  or  Gum-tree,  is  Liquidamhar  styraciflna.    The  trees  of 
this  last  species  resemble  the  Hornbeam  of  the  North.    They  grow 
to  a  large  size,  and,  in  many  instances,  decay  at  the  heart,  leaving  a 
shell  of  some  few  inches  in  thickness.    Hence,  they  are  frequently 
cut  into  convenient  lengths,  and,  after  due  preparation,  converted 
into  casks,  beehives,  &c.     From  this  practice,  beehives,  though 
made  of  boards,  have  come  to  be  called  bee-gums,  and  any  thing  like 
casks  or  firkins  for  domestic  use  is  called  a  gum.  Southern. 
What  dat  V    What  dat  dis  nigger's  eyes 
Displore,  wid  mighty  big  surprise, 

Upon  de  gum-tree  swingin'  ? 
It  am  de  possum  at  his  ease. 
Rocked  in  de  cradle  ob  de  breeze, 

And  list'uin'  to  de  singin'.  — Negro  Melody. 


GUM— GUN 


271 


2.  India-rubber.     Hence  the  plural  Gums  is  often  applied  to 
India-rubber  shoes     See  Rubbers. 

3.  Large  vessels  or  bins  made  from  a  hollow  gum-tree. 
Gumbo.    See  Gombo. 

Gum  Game.  A  trick;  a  dodge.  Opossums  and  raccoons,  when  pur- 
sued, will  fly  for  refuge  to  the  Sweet  Gum  tree,  in  preference  to  any 
other.  This  tree  is  very  tall,  slim,  smooth,  and  void  of  branches 
except  a  tuft  at  the  top,  which  is  a  place  of  security  for  any  animal 
expert  enough  to  reach  it.  As  they  are  hunted  in  the  night,  they 
are,  of  course,  beyond  the  reach  of  the  hunter's  penetrating  eye  at 
the  great  height  of  the  gum-tree.  This  is  called  "  coming  the  gum 
game  "  over  the  hunter. 

Gum-Log.    Log  of  a  gum-tree.  Southern. 

To  gum  a  Saw.  To  punch  out  the  teeth  of  a  saw,  by  means  oi  a 
machine  called  a  gummer.  The  phrase  alludes  to  the  growth  of  the 
teeth  from  the  gums. 

Gummer.    A  machine  for  gumming  saws.    See  To  gum. 

Gummo  Limbo.  (Bursea  gummifera.)  The  largest  of  the  Florida 
trees,  abounding  in  gum. 

Gummy!    An  exclamation,  used  in  New  England. 

"  Gummy  I''  retorted  the  woman.    "He  has  been  a  talkin'  about  me,  and  a 
runnin'  me  down."  — Margaret,  p.  137. 

Gum-Sucking.  A  disgusting  word,  applied  to  the  tendency  of  lovers, 
young  ones  especially,  to  carry  their  innocent  endearments  to  an 
excess  that  displeases  a  third  party.  A  friend  informs  me  that  he 
first  heard  it  at  Princeton  College,  in  1854,  and  thinks  it  may  be  a 
Jersey  word. 

Gumptious.  One  who  has  a  good  opinion  of  himself;  a  "knowing 
one."  "He 's  a  gumptious  fellow,"  i.  e.  he's  smart,  clever.  See 
Bumptious. 

Gunning.  The  term  used  in  the  Northern  States  for  the  act  of  going 
out  with  a  gun,  to  shoot  game.  At  the  South,  the  word  hunting  is 
used. 

The  Americans  were,  however,  mostly  marksmen,  having  been  accustomed  to 
yunning  from  their  youth.  —  Hannah  Adams,  Hist,  of  New  England. 

Gunning  a  Stock  is  to  use  every  art  to  produce  a  "break,"  when  it 
is  known  that  a  certain  house  is  heavily  supplied,  and  would  be 
unable  to  resist  an  attack. — Medberg,  Men  and  Mgsteries  of  Wall 
Street. 

Gun-Stick.    A  ramrod.  Western. 


272 


GUR— HAD 


Gurry.    Among  fishermen,  and  in  commerce,  the  crude  oil  made  from 

the  livers  of  cod  and  other  fish, — or,  rather,  the  livers  themselves, 
in  a  state  of  decomposition,  with  the  oil  that  has  been  tried  out  from 
them  by  the  sun's  heat.  It  is  used  by  tanners,  and  for  various 
purposes. 

The  fisherman  dips  a  bucket  of  fresh  water  from  the  spring,  and,  washing  the 
gurry  from  his  hands  and  face,  starts  for  home.  — Peter  GoU,  the  Fisherman. 

Gush.    A  great  abundance.    A  Texan  would  say,  "  We  have  got  a 

gush  of  peaches  in  our  neck  of  the  woods." 
Gutter-Snipes.    A  Wall  Street  term  for  brokers  who  do  business 

chiefly  on  the  sidewalk  or  in  the  street,  and  who  are  not  members 

of  the  Stock  Exchange.   They  are  also  known  as  Curbstone  Brokers, 

which  see. 

A  recent  ordinance  by  the  Board  of  Aldermen  makes  gutter-sniping  a  misde- 
meanor, and  charges  are  to  be  made  against  the  captains  of  precincts  where  the 
offence  was  committed  for  neglect  of  duty.  —  N.  Y.  Herald. 

H. 

Habitan.  (French.)  A  term  applied  to  what,  in  English,  is  called  a 
yeoman;  ^.  e.,  a  small  country  proprietor.    Canada  and  Louisiana. 

My  coachman  was  a  habitan^  and  I  had  a  fine  opportunity  of  studying  the  con- 
flicting traits  of  character  which  distinguish  the  race. — Lanman's  Tour  to  the 
Saguenay. 

At  Lake  Megantic,  General  Arnold  met  an  emissary'  whom  he  had  sent  in  advance 
to  ascertain  the  feelings  of  the  hahitans,  or  French  yeomanrs'.  —  Irving' s  Life  of 
Washington,  Vol.  II.  p.  96. 

Hackberry.  (Celtis  occidentalis.)  A  small  or  middle-sized  tree,  with 
sweet  and  edible  fruits  as  large  as  bird-cherries,  and  which  makes 
good  firewood.    It  is  also  called  Sugar  Berry. 

Hackee.  A  name  given,  in  some  of  the  Eastern  States,  to  the  Chip- 
munk. 

Hackmatack.  The  American  larch,  or  Tamarack  {Larix  Americana), 
This  tree  abounds  in  the  North-eastern  States  and  British  America. 
It  is  a  hard,  strong,  and  durable  wood,  is  frequently  used  in  ship- 
building, while  the  houses  of  the  settlers  are  almost  entirely  con- 
structed of  it.    The  name  is  probably  of  Indian  origin. 

Had  have.    This  astonishing  combination  of  auxiliaries  is  often  used 
by  speakers  and  writers  who  should  know  better. 
Had  we  have  knoAvn  this.  —  Nott,  on  Hamilton's  Duel. 

Hadn't  oughter,  i.  e.  had  not  ought  to,  for  "ought  not  to."  A  com- 
mon vulgarism  iu  New  England.    See  Ought. 


HAI— HAM 


273 


Indulging  so  in  thoughts  of  death  and  slaughter, 
Of  course,  my  friend,  you  know  you  hadn't  orter. 

Leland,  Meister  Karl's  Sketch-Book,  p.  266. 
If  anybody  thinks  they  are  happier  and  freer  from  care  without  bein'  married, 
nobody  compels  'em  to  be  married;  but  if  they  are,  they  hadn't  ouyht  to  want  to 
be  married  and  single  at  the  same  time,  it 's  onreasonabie.  —  Betsy  Bobhet,  p.  198. 

To  hail  from.  A  phrase  probably  originating  with  seamen  or  boat- 
men, and  meaning  to  come  from,  to  belong  to;  as,  "  He  hails  from 
Kentucky;  "  i.  e.,  he  is  a  native  of  Kentucky,  or  lives  in  Kentucky. 

Hake.  In  New  England  and  along  the  Atlantic  coast,  the  name 
applied  to  the  Phycis  AmericanuSy  or  "Codling"  (Mitchell).  In 
Massachusetts,  the  fishermen  call  this  species  "  Old  English  Hake," 
or,  as  it  is  generally  pronounced,  "  Hawk."  The  European  Hake 
(Merlucius  vulgaris,  Flem.)  is  known  to  fishermen  in  New  England 
as  the  Whiting. 

Half-baked.    A  term  applied  to  a  silly  or  unsophisticated  person. 

Half-Cock.  "To  go  off  at  half-cock  is  a  metaphorical  expression 
borrowed  from  the  language  of  sportsmen,  and  is  applied  to  a  per- 
son who  attempts  a  thing  in  a  hurry  without  due  preparation,  and 
consequently  fails. 

Mr.  Clayton  of  Georgia  is  a  fine  speaker ;  he  is  always  ready,  and  never  goes 
off  half-cock.  —  Crockett.,  Tour  down  East. 

Half-faced  Camp.  A  shelter  of  the  frontiersmen  of  the  South  of  the 
last  generation,  and  perhaps  of  the  present.  They  are  sometimes 
open  on  the  south  side,  whence  the  name. 

You  may  talk  about  your  reunions,  your  soirees,  and  all  that  the  world  calls 
social  refinement;  but  for  true-hearted  benevolence,  void  of  parade,  commend  me 
to  a  hunting-party  in  a  half-faced  camp.  —  The  Americans  at  Home,  Vol.  I.  p.  95. 

Half-saved.  Half-witted.  Provincial  in  Herefordshire,  England, 
and  in  New  England. 

Half-Widow.  A  woman  who  has  a  shiftless  husband.  New  Eng- 
land and  New  York. 

Hammock.  (Carib.  amaca,  Sp.  jamaca,  pron.  hammdca.)  1.  A 
swinging-bed.  This  word,  now  in  such  general  use,  especially 
among  seamen,  and  the  etymology  of  which  has  been  so  much  dis- 
puted, is  undoubtedly  of  West  Indian  origin. 

Cotton  for  the  making  of  hamacas,  which  are  Indian  beds.  —  Ealeic/h,  Disc,  of 
Guiana,  1596. 

The  Brazilians  call  their  beds  hamacas;  they  are  a  sheet  laced  at  both  ends, 
and  so  they  sit  rocking  themselves  in  them. — Sir  R.  Ilaiokins,  Voy.  to  South 
Sea. 

2.  "A  piece  of  ground  thickly  wooded,  whether  a  prairie  or  a 
hill,  and  distinguished  from  the  open  oak  and  hickory  land,  or  the 

18 


274 


HAN 


immense  forests  of  thinly  scattered  pines,  which  with  few  excep- 
tions cover  the  whole  face  of  the  country.  The  word  has  been  con- 
founded with  hummocks^  used  by  marines  to  designate  the  knolls,  or 
small  elev^1tions,  along  the  coast." — North  American  Rev.,  April, 
1828,  p.  48G.    See  Hummock. 

Although  the  largest  portion  of  the  country  is  covered  with  pine  barrens,  and 
much  of  it  extremely  poor,  yet  there  is  also  much  upland,  interval,  and  hammock 
land,  of  the  most  excellent  quality.  .  .  .  The  borders  of  the  watercourses,  as 
well  as  the  hammocks,  are  covered  with  thick  woods  of  hard  timber,  tangled  with 
innumerable  vines. —  Williams's  View  of  E.  Florida  (1827),  p.  6. 

The  hammock  land,  so  called  from  its  appearing  in  tufts  among  lofty  pines, .  .  . 
has  a  very  romantic  appearance  — Romans's  FloHda,  p.  17. 

Hand.  An  adept  or  proficient  in  any  thing;  one  who  is  fond  of  any 
thing. 

It  is  a  wonder  to  me  how  some  folks  can  content  themselves  doin'  nothin' ;  I 
never  could.  I  must  be  doin'  something,  or  I  should  gape  myself  to  death.  I 'm 
a  great  hand  to  gape :  why,  afore  now  I 've  gaped  so  much  on  Sunday's  that  my 
mouth  wouldn't  stay  shut  for  a  week  after.  —  Yankee  IliWs  Stories. 

"Take  a  pickle,  Mr.  Crane,"  said  the  Widow  Bedott.  "I'm  glad  you  like 
pickles,  —  they  're  a  delightful  beverage.  Melissa  never  eats  'em,  —  she  ain't  no 
pickle  hand.'"  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  71. 

Hand-Dog.    A  fire  dog;  an  andiron.    New  England. 

Hand-Glasses.  Eye-glasses;  spectacles.  Fancy  hand-glasses  are  ad- 
vertised for  sale  in  New  York. 

Hand  Running.  Consecutively;  as,  "  He  can  hit  the  bull's  eye  at 
fifty  paces  ten  times  hand  running.''^  So  too  in  the  north  of  Eng- 
land. 

To  handle.  1.  To  manage;  to  overcome  an  opponent,  particularly 
in  wrestling.    Ex. :  "  You  can't  handle  him." 

2.  To  trouble;  to  distress;  as,  "  How  the  disease  handled  him." 
Connecticut. 

Hand-Shake.  The  shaking  of  hands.  "  The  warm  hand-shake,  the 
cordial  word." —  7'he  Congregationalist. 

Handsome.  To  do  the  handsome  thing  is  to  be  generous,  particularly 
in  returning  a  favor;  to  be  very  polite. 

When  a  feller  has  just  given  me  a  snug  travellin'  job  onasked,  and  done  the 
handsome  thing,  it  ain't  any  great  return  to  make  to  let  him  put  in  his  oar  some- 
times. —  Sam  Slick,  Wise  Saws,  p.  30. 

Handwrite,  for  handwriting,  a  common  barbarism  at  the  South;  as, 

"  I  can't  read  his  handwrite.^^ 
Hang.    "  To  get  the  hang  of  a  thing  "  is  to  get  the  knack,  or  habitual 

facility,  of  doing  it  well;  also,  to  get  acquainted  with.    To  hang  a 


HAN— HAP 


275 


scythe  is  to  fasten  the  blade  to  the  handle ;  and  so  to  hang  an  axe, 
a  hoe,  or  other  implement.  Every  workman  hangs  his  scythe  to 
suit  himself;  and  cannot,  at  once,  easily  use  that  of  another  mower, 
which  is  differently  hung.  In  the  exchange  of  tools  or  implements, 
some  time  is  required  for  "  getting  the  hang  "  of  each,  in  the  hands 
of  a  new  possessor. 

If  ever  you  must  have  an  indifferent  teacher  for  your  children,  let  it  be  after 
they  have  got  a  fair  start  and  have  acquired  the  hang  of  the  tools  for  themselves. 
Prime,  Hist,  of  Lo,og  Island,  p.  82. 

He  had  been  in  pursuit  of  the  science  of  money-making  all  his  life,  but  could 
never  get  the  hang  of  it.  — Pickings  from  the  Picayune. 

Suggs  lost  his  money  and  his  horse,  but  then  he  hadn't  got  the  hang  of  the 
game.  —  Simon  Suggs,  p.  44. 

"Well,  now,  I  can  tell  you  that  the  sheriffs  are  the  easiest  men  for  you  to  get 
the  hang  of,  among  all  the  public  officers.  —  Greene  on  Gambling. 

To  hang.  To  stick  fast,  come  to  a  stand-still;  as,  the  jury  hung,  and 
"  the  man  got  a  new  trial."  Probably  borrov^^ed  from  the  sports- 
man's term  "  to  hang  fire,"  said  of  a  gun  which  does  not  go  off  at 
once. 

To  hang  around.  To  loiter  about.  The  English  expression  is  to 
hang  about. 

Every  time  I  come  up  from  Louisiana,  I  found  Jess  hnngin''  round  that  gal, 
lookin'  awful  sweet,  and  a  fellow  couldn't  go  near  her  Avithout  raisin'  his  dander. 
Robb,  Squatter  Life. 

To  hang  out.    To  reside.    "  He  hangs  out  at  Chicago."  Western. 

I 'm  going  to  look  out  for  that  crowd  myself;  they  need  somebody  to  preach 
to  them  wherever  he  can  catch  them,  and  I  know  where  they  hang  out.  —  The 
Barton  Expeiiment,  p.  29. 

To  hang  up  one's  Fiddle.    To  desist;  to  give  up. 

When  a  man  loses  his  temper  and  ain't  cool,  he  might  as  well  hang  up  his  fiddle. 
Sam  Slick. 

If  a  man  at  forty-two  is  not  in  a  fair  way  to  get  his  share  of  the  world's  spoils, 
he  might  as  well  hong  up  his  fiddle,  and  be  content  to  dig  his  way  through  life 
as  best  he  may.  — Daw's  Sermons,  p.  78. 

Hannahill  and  Black  Harry.  Popular  names  for  the  Black  Sea  Bass 
(Centropristes  nigricans) .  One  of  the  most  savory  and  delicate  of 
fishes  which  appear  in  our  markets  from  May  to  July.  —  DeKaij, 
Fishes  of  New  York,  p.  25. 

To  happen  in.    To  happen  to  call  in ;  to  go  or  come  in  accidentally. 

Happening  into  the  Suffolk  jail  on  a  business  errand,  we  were  somewhat  star- 
tled by  hearing  our  name  familiarly  called  from  a  prisoner's  cell,  &c.  —  Boston 
Bee,  Feb.,  18.55. 

To  happify.  To  make  happy.  This  mongrel  barbarism,  according  to 
Mr.  Pickering,  is  sometimes  heard  in  our  pulpits. 


276 


IIAP— HAR 


Happy  as  a  Clam  is  a  common  simile  in  New  England,  sometimes 

enlarged  to  "  happy  as  a  clam  at  high-water." 

Inglorious  friend!  most  confident  I  am 

Tiiy  life  is  one  of  very  little  ease; 

Albeit  men  mock  thee  with  their  similes, 
And  prate  of  being  happy  as  a  clam.  — Saxe,  Sonnet  to  a  Clam. 

The  poor  peasant  who  satisfies  his  hunger  with  submission  and  salt  pork,  peni- 
tence, and  potatoes,  is  as  sound  as  a  live  oak  corporeally,  and  as  hnpipy  as  a  clam 
at  high-water.  —  Dow's  Sermons. 

Happifying.    Making  happy. 

I  feel  myself  Providence  has  reposed  in  me  a  high  and  responsible  trust,  iu 
guidin',  governin',  advancing  and  hapjnfyin''  this  great  nation.  —  Sam  Slick, 
Wise  Saws,  p.  33. 

Harbor-Police.  Policemen  whose  special  duty  is  to  prevent  roguery 
in  or  near  the  shipping,    New  York. 

Hard  Case.    A  worthless,  dissipated  fellow;  a  drunkard. 

Hard  Coal.  Anthracite  coal,  so  called  to  distinguish  it  from  bitumi- 
nous coal,  which  is  called  soft  coal. 

Since  the  introduction  of  hai-d  coal,  the  infernal  regions  have  become  greatly 
enlarged,  so  that  they  can  now  uncomfortably  accommodate  the  whole  human 
race,  whither  they  all  appear  to  be  bound,  for  a  certainty.  —  Dow^s  Sermons, 
Vol.  III.  p.  112. 

Hardback.  (Splrcea  tomentom.)  The  popular  name  of  a  well-known 
and  common  plant  in  pastures  and  low  grounds.  It  is  celebrated 
for  its  astringent  properties. 

She  made  a  nosegay  of  mountain-laurel  leaves,  red  cedar  with  blueberries,  and 
a  bunch  of  the  white  hardhack,  a  cream-like  flower.  — Margaret,  p  206. 

Hard  Head.    A  fish  of  the  herring  species,  the  menhaden;  so  called 

in  the  State  of  Maine.    See  Menhaden. 
Hard  Pan.    In  geology,  the  hard  stratum  of  earth  that  lies  below  the 

soil,  through  which  water  cannot  penetrate;  and,  figm-atively,  a  firm 

and  solid  foundation ;  the  bottom. 

[Granite  soils]  when  underlaid  by  a  hard  pan  of  clay,  bog  iron,  or  hard  gravel, 
cemented  together  water-tight,  they  are  capable  of  retaining  soluble  manures, 
and  may  be  rendered  fertile.  — Jackson,  Geology  of  Rhode  Island,  p.  126. 

The  immense  friction  [caused  by  getting  money]  rubs  away  a  vast  deal  of 
fribbling  honest}',  small  prejudices,  super-niceties  of  conscience.  Hard  pan  is 
soon  reached,  and  both  Old  World  and  New  are  full  of  hard-pan  capitalists.  — 
Medbery,  Men  and  Mysteries  of  Wall  Street,  p.  212. 

The  Chamber  of  Commerce  denounces  the  Naval  Office  as  a  costly  annoyance, 
which  demonstrates  a  fiendish  persistence  of  endeavor  on  the  part  of  the  mer- 
chants of  the  port  to  reduce  Custom-house  methods  to  a  hard-pan  business  basis. 
N.  Y.  Tribune,  June,  18T7. 


HAR 


277 


The  people  hegin  to  ask  what  they  are  to  gain  by  voting  for  the  partisan  can- 
didates. Politics  are,  like  other  things,  coming  down  to  hard  pan. — iV.  Y.  Her- 
ald, July  17,  1877. 

Hard-pushed.  Hard  pressed,  in  a  difficulty;  and  especially  as  a  mer- 
cantile phrase,  hard  pressed  for  money,  short  of  cash. 

As  I  said,  at  the  end  of  six  months  we  began  to  be  hard-pushed.  Our  credit, 
however,  was  still  fair.  —  Perils  of  Pearl  Street,  p.  123, 

A  Hard  Row  to  hoe.  A  metaphor  derived  from  hoeing  corn,  mean- 
ing a  difficult  matter  or  Job  to  accomplish. 

Gentlemen,  I  never  opposed  Andrew  Jackson  for  the  sake  of  popularity.  I 
knew  it  was  a  hard  row  to  hoe ;  but  I  stood  up  to  the  rack,  considering  it  a  duty 
I  owed  to  the  country  that  governed  me. —  Crockett's  Speech,  Tour  down  East, 
p.  69. 

Hard  Run.  To  be  hard  pressed;  and  especially  to  be  in  want  ot 
money.    The  same  as  hard-pmJied. 

We  knew  the  Tammany  party  were  hard  run  ;  but  we  did  not  know  it  was 
reduced  to  the  necessity  of  stealing  the  principles  of  Nativism.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 
Nov.  1,  1845. 

Hardshell  Baptists.  The  name  of  a  sect  of  Baptists  in  the  Southern 
States,  known  as  those  of  the  straight-laced  order;  while  those  of 
liberal  views  are  called  "  Softshell  Baptists." 

We  had  a  variety  of  passengers  in  the  stage  to  Milledgeville.  There  was  an 
old  gentleman  in  black,  a  dandy  gambler,  an  old  Hardshell  preacher,  as  they  call 
them  in  Georgia,  with  the  biggest  mouth  I  ever  seed,  a  circus  clown,  a  cross  old 
maid,  a  beautiful  young  lady,  &c.  — N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

In  a  debate  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  in  18.57,  Mr.  Elliott, 
of  Kentucky,  in  nominating  the  Rev.  John  Morris  for  chaplain, 
said:  — 

Mr.  Morris  is  a  regular  member  of  the  Hardshell  Baptist  Church,  a  ver}'  pious 
man,  not  of  very  eminent  ability,  but  just  the  man  to  pray  for  such  a  crowd  as 
this. 

A  writer  in  the  "  Providence  Journal,"  May  5,  1877,  thus  de- 
scribes the  Rev.  Joseph  Cook :  — 

He  is  a  large  man  with  florid  countenance,  brown  hair,  ...  a  large  mouth,  a 
full,  husky,  explosive  voice,  used  imperfectly,  often  in  a  sing-song  tone,  like  a 
hardshell  Baptist"  preacher,  yet  powerful. 

Hardshell  Democrats;  also  called  *'  Hardshells,"  and  again  abbre- 
viated Into  "Hards."  The  name  of  a  political  party,  of  which 
the  following  history  is  given  by  the  "New  York  Tribune"  of 
April  2,  18.53  :  — 

These  terms  date  from  the  efforts  made  to  reunite  the  Cass  and 
Van  Buren  democracy  of  1848,  who  were  known  as  Hunkers  and 
Barnburners.    Some  difficulty  attended  this  reunion,  which  gave 


278 


HAR— HAS 


rise  to  the  use  of  the  new  political  epithets.  The  difference  between 
a  Tlardshell  and  a  Sof/shell  is  this  :  one  favors  the  execution  of  the 
Fu_fjitive  Slave  Law  and  goes  for  a  distribution  of  the  offices  among 
the  Nationals,  while  the  other  is  a  loud  stickler  for  Union  and  Har- 
mony. The  Hards  embrace  the  Cass  Hunkers  of  1848,  of  the 
National  school  of  politics;  while  the  Softs  are  composed  of  the 
remnants  of  the  Van  Buren  and  Adams  party  of  1848,  and  such 
Hunkers  as  Secretary  Marcy  and  Governor  Seymour. 

Hard  Tack.  Dry  biscuit,  in  seamen's  or  soldiers'  rations.  The  term 
is  to  be  found  in  almost  every  letter  from  the  army  during  the  late 
war. 

Hard  up.  In  straits  for  want  of  money;  short  of  funds;  pressed;  per- 
plexed. Not  peculiar  to  the  United  States.  A  correspondent  of  the 
"New  York  Post"  desires  to  know  the  author  of  the  following 
pathetic  poem :  — 

IIn7'd  was  he  tip ; 

And  in  the  hardness  of  his  upness 

Stole  a  ham. 

Down  on  him  swooped, 

And,  swooping,  up  him  scooped. 

The  minions  of  the  Uiw. 

Hard  Wood,  A  term  applied  to  woods  of  solid  texture  that  soon 
decay,  including  generally  beech,  birch,  maple,  ash,  &c.  Used  by 
shipwrights  and  farmers  in  Maine,  in  opposition  to  oak  and  pine. 
In  the  South  and  West,  it  is  opposed  to  "  light  wood." 

Harm,  adj.  "  He  never  said  a  harm  word  against  you."  Georgia. 

Harness-Cask.  A  conical  cask  bound  with  iron  hoops,  from  which 
salt  meat  is  served  out  at  sea.  The  cask  is  usually  painted  green 
and  the  hoops  black:  the  resemblance  of  the  latter  to  the  black 
leathern  straps  of  harness,  or  the  way  by  which  the  cask  is  fastened 
to  the  deck,  has  probably  given  rise  to  the  name. 

Harsel  Stuff.  The  children's  dictionaries  of  the  last  centuiy  gave 
this  as  a  pronunciation  of  Household  Stiijf,  to  be  avoided.  The  late 
Edward  Everett  said  his  mother  always  used  the  term. 

Harvest  Lice.  A  species  of  Bidens  whose  seeds  (fruit)  adhere  to  the 
clothes.    See  Beggar-Ticks. 

Hasty  Pudding.  Indian  meal  stirred  into  boiling  water  until  it 
becomes  a  thick  batter  or  pudding,  and  eaten  with  milk,  butter,  and 
sugar  or  molasses.  In  Pennsylvania  and  some  other  States  it  is 
called  mush  ;  in  New  York,  suppai.cn.  Joel  Barlow  wrote  a  poem  on 
the  subject,  in  which  he  thus  accounts  for  its  name:  — 


HAT 


270 


Thy  name  is  Hasty  Pudding  !  thus  our  sires 
Were  wont  to  greet  thee  fuming  from  their  fires ; 
And  while  they  argued  in  thy  just  defence, 
With  logic  clear  they  thus  explained  the  sense : 
"  In  haste  the  boiling  caldron  o'er  the  blaze 
Receives  and  cooks  the  ready-powdered  maize; 
In  haste  I'th  serv'd;  and  then  in  equal  haste, 
With  cooling  milk,  we  make  the  sweet  repast." 
Such  is  thy  name,  significant  and  clear, 
A  name,  a  sound  to  every  Yankee  dear.  —  Canto  1. 

Father  and  I  went  down  to  camp. 
Along  wi'  Captain  Goodin, 

And  there  we  see  the  men  and  boys, 
As  thick  as  hasty  puddin.''  — Sony,  Yankee  Doodle. 

Hasty  pudding,  or  "  hasty  puddish,"  has  long  been  eaten  in  Eng- 
land, where  it  is  made  of  milk  and  oatmeal.  Mr.  Greave,  in  his 
Spiritual  Quixote,  printed  in  London,  in  1773,  says:  "  There  is  a 
certain  farinaceous  composition,  which,  from  its  being  frequently 
used  by  our  ancestors  as  an  extempore  supplement  to  a  scanty  din- 
ner, has  obtained  the  appellation  of  a  hasty  pudding.  It  is  com- 
posed of  milk  and  flour  boiled  together."  We  find  it  again 
mentioned  in  the  "European  Magazine"  for  March,  1796,  in  an 
"Epitaph,"  sent  as  a  hint  to  a  water-drinker  :  — 

Here  lies  Ned  Rand,  who  on  a  sudden 

Left  off  roast  beef  for  hasty  pudding  ; 

Forsook  old  Stingo  mild  and  stale. 

And  every  drink,  for  Adam's  ale. 

Hat.  Our  Northern  women  have  almost  discarded  the  word  bonnet, 
except  in  "  sun-bonnet,''^  and  use  the  term  Tiat  instead.  A  like  fate 
has  befallen  the  word  gown,  for  which  both  they  and  their  Southern 
sisters  commonly  use  froch  or  dress. 

Hatchet.  1.  A  consideration  or  bribe  received  by  the  customs  offi- 
cers in  New  York  for  permitting  imported  dutiable  goods  to  remain 
on  the  wharf,  when  they  ought  to  go  to  the  general  storehouse.  See 
Bone. 

2.  '■'•To  bury  the  hatchet  "is  to  make  peace.  A  phrase  alluding 
to  the  Indian  ceremony  of  burying  the  war-hatchet,  or  tomahawk, 
when  making  a  peace.    See  Tomahawk. 

They  smoked  the  pipe  of  peace  together,  and  the  colonel  claimed  the  credit  of 
having,  by  his  diplomacy,  persuaded  the  sachem  to  bary  the  hatchet.  —  Irving' s 
Washington,  Vol.  I.  p.  361. 

At  a  council  of  the  Iroquois  (1684),  in  reply  to  the  speech  of  La 
Barre,  the  French  commander-in-chief  said :  — 

I  thank  you  for  bringing  back  the  calumet  of  peace,  .  .  .  and  I  give  you  joy 
that  you  have  not  dug  up  the  hatchet  which  has  been  so  often  buried  with  the 


280 


HAT— IIAZ 


blood  of  your  countrvmen. — Parkman^  Count  Frontenac  and  New  France^ 
p.  108. 

Buried  was  the  bloody  hatchet, 
Buried  was  the  dreadful  war-club ; 
Buried  were  all  warlike  weapons, 
And  the  war-cry  was  forgotten ; 
There  was  peace  among  all  nations. 

Lonf/fellow,  Hiawatha,  XIII. 

So  "to  take  up  the  hatchet  is  to  declare  war;  to  commence 
hostilities. 

Shingis,  sachem  of  the  Delawares,  was  one  of  the  greatest  warriors  of  his  tribe, 
and  took  up  the  hatchet'^  at  various  times  against  the  English.  —  Irving,  Life 
of  Washington,  Vol.  I.  p.  78. 

Hate.    A  bit;  as,  "I  don't  care  a  hate.''^       I  didn't  eat  a  hate.''^  "  I 

didn't  get  a  hate.^^    It  is  the  Scotch  haet,  as  in  the  phrase,  "fient 

a  haet^^^  i.  e.  the  devil  a  bit. 
To  have.    To  coop  up;  to  find  or  put  into  a  position  that  gives  a 

strong  hope  of  receiving,  conquering,  &c. 

Don  Piatt,  in  a  letter  from  the  seat  of  war  to  the  "  New  York 

Tribune,"  of  Dec.  30,  1861,  says  : — 

We  had  Floyd.  We  had  his  six  thousand  men  from  Georgia,  Tennessee,  &c., 
the  flower  of  the  rebel  army.  We  had  his  artiller}',  his  horses,  his  contrabands, 
bis  every  thing.  .  .  .  At  the  trying  moment.  General  Benham  foiled  us,  .  .  .and 
our  fond  dreams  melted  into  thin  air. 

Haw-haw.    To  laugh  heartily. 

I  sat  down  in  front  of  the  General,  and  we  haw-haw''d,  I  tell  you,  for  more 
than  half  an  hour.  —  Major  Downing's  Letters,  p.  189. 

He  burst  out  a  larfin',  and  staggered  over  to  the  sophy,  and  laid  down  and 
haiv-hawed  like  thunder.  —  Sam  Slick,  3d  Ser.,  eh.  7. 

Hawk-Eye  State.  The  State  of  Iowa.  It  is  said  to  be  so  named  after 
an  Indian  chief  who  was  once  a  terror  to  voyageurs  to  its  borders. 

Hawkins's  Whetstone.  Rum;  in  derision  of  one  Hawkins,  a  well- 
known  temperance-lecturer. 

Hay  Barrack.  (Dutch,  hooi-herg,  a  hay-rick.)  A  straw-thatched 
roof,  supported  by  four  posts,  capable  of  being  raised  or  lowered  at 
pleasure,  under  which  hay  is  kept.  A  term  peculiar  to  the  State  of 
New  York. 

To  haze.    1.  To  riot,  frolic. 

W.  had  been  drinking,  and  was  hazing  about  the  street  at  night,  acting  some- 
what suspiciously  or  strangely  [when  the  officer  arrested  him]. — N.  Y.  Com. 
Adv.,  Dec  2,  1848. 

I  wish  to  all-fired  smash  I  was  to  home,  doin'  chores  about  house,  or  hazin' 
round  with  Charity  Bunker  and  the  rest  o'  the  gals  at  a  squantum. —  Wise, 
Tales  for  the  Marines. 


HE— HEA 


281 


2.  To  urge  or  drive,  especially  with  work;  to  harass.  A  seaman's 
term. 

Mack  was  ver}--  dull  at  learning  any  thing  connected  with  sea-life,  and  made  a 
clumsy  sailor.  The  captain  disliked  him,  and  continually  liazed  him  for  his  awk- 
wardness. —  Broicnt''s  Whaling  Cruise,  p.  187. 

The  surest  way  to  make  a  man  worthless  and  indifferent  to  the  success  of  the 
voyage  is  to  haze  him,  and  find  fault  with  him  when  he  does  his  duty  to  the  best 
of  his  ability.  —  Ibid.,  p.  90. 

This  term  is  used  to  express  the  treatment  which  Freshmen 
sometimes  receive  from  the  higher  classes,  and  especially  from  the 
Sophomores. 

Freshmen  have  got  quietly  settled  down  to  work,  —  Sophs  have  given  up  their 
hazing.  —  Williams  Quarterly,  Vol.  II.  p.  285. 

We  are  glad  to  be  able  to  read  that  the  absurd  and  barbarous  custom  of  hazing, 
which  has  long  prevailed  in  the  college,  is,  to  a  great  degree,  discontinued.  — 
Harvard  Magazine,  Vol.  I.  p.  413. 

He.  Used  almost  exclusively  by  some  wives  in  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut  when  speaking  of  their  husbands,  instead  of  employing 
his  name,  or  his  relation  to  themselves. 

Head-Cheese.  Scraps  of  the  head  and  feet  of  swine  cut  up  fine,  and, 
after  being  boiled,  pressed  into  the  form  of  a  cheese.  Also  called 
souce.    In  Maryland,  it  is  always  called  "  hogshead  cheese." 

Header.  (In  carpentry.)  A  joist,  New  York.  In  England,  a  trim- 
mer or  trimmer-beam. 

Head-Rights.  Grants  of  land  made  by  Texas  to  the  heads  of  families, 
under  the  colonization  laws,  in  order  to  promote  emigration. 

So  much  of  the  vacant  lands  of  the  republic  shall  be  surveyed  and  sectionized, 
in  tracts  of  six  hundred  and  forty,  and  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  each,  as 
will  be  sufficient  to  satisf}'^  all  claims  for  scrip  sold,  soldiers'  claims,  and  head- 
rights.  —  Laws  of  Texas,  Nov.,  1828. 

Headstall.  A  knitted  worsted  cap,  covering  all  the  head  but  the 
face,  worn  by  boys  in  winter. 

Heap.  A  great  many;  a  crowd;  a  great  deal;  much.  So  used  at  the 
South  and  West.  A  correspondent  of  the  "  Commercial  Advertiser  " 
thus  notices  the  various  uses  of  this  word  at  the  South:  "  Heap  is  a 
most  prolific  word  in  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia  among  the  common 
people,  and,  with  children  at  least,  in  the  best-regulated  families. 
'  How  did  you  like  Mr.  Smith  ?  '  I  ask.  '  Oh !  I  liked  him  a  heap,' 
will  be  the  answer,  if  affirmative,  in  five  cases  out  of  six.  It  is  synony- 
mous with  a  majority,  or  a  great  many;  as,  '  We  should  have  plenty 
of  peaches,  but  a  heap  of  them  were  killed  by  the  frost. '  It  is  synony- 
mous even  with  very:  as,  '  I  heard  him  preach  a  heap  often; '  '  Ohl 


282 


IIEA— IIEF 


I 'm  lazy  a  heap.''  "  A  friend  in  Boston  informs  me  he  has  heard 
the  word  intensified  into  heupdyht !  It  is  also  an  English  vulgarism, 
except  in  the  adverbial  sense. 

To  go  to  church  in  New  York  in  any  kind  of  tolerable  style  costs  a  heap  a-year. 
I  know  very  well  the  reason  why  a  majority  of  you  go  to  Beelzebub  is  because 
you  can't  afford  to  co  to  U»!avef:  at  the  present  exorbitant  prices.  —  i>ow'» 
Ser7none. 

I  was  not  idle,  for  I  had  a  heap  of  talk  with  the  folks  in  the  house.  —  Crockett, 
Tour,  p.  87. 

Baltimore  used  to  be  called  Mob-toAvn;  but  they  are  a  heap  better  now,  and 
are  more  orderly  than  some  of  their  neighbors.  —  Jbid.,  p.  13. 

Hearn,  for  heard. 

I  beg  leave  to  suggest  to  you  that  the  Tinnecum  people  don't  care  much  about 
the  elements  of  music,  of  which  they 've  hearn  tell  these  two  hundred  years. — 
Knickerbocker  May.,  Vol.  XVII.  p.  37. 

Hear  to.  To  permit;  to  receive  favorably;  to  give  consent.  Familiar 
in  some  parts  of  Connecticut,  &c. 

Mrs.  Ladd  told  her  there  was  not  a  word  of  truth  in  the  story  that  Woodward 
had  been  endeavoring  to  court  Hannah,  but  they  [Mr.  and  Mrs.  L.]  would  not 
hear  to  it.  —  Powers' s  Hist,  of  the  Coos  Country,  p.  69. 

Hearty  as  a  Buck.    A  hunter's  phrase,  now  in  very  common  use. 

Well,  how  d'  3-e  do,  any  how  ? 

So,  so,  middlin'.  I 'm  hearty  as  a  buck,  but  can't  jump  jest  so  high.  —  Crockett, 
Tour,  p.  8. 

Heater  Piece.  A  gore  or  triangular  piece  of  land,  so  called,  probably, 
from  a  flat-iron,  the  form  of  which  it  resembles.    New  England. 

To  heave.    To  throw.    "  I  heaved  a  stone  at  him." 

Heavy.  Large,  &c.  "  Altering  a  bond  from  a  small  to  a  heacy 
amount. ' ' 

A  heavy  ice  in  the  straits  of  the  Western  lakes  yet.  — Boston  Journal. 
There  was  a  heavy  failure  in  Wall  Street  yesterday.  — N.  Y.  papers. 

Heeler.  A  hanger-on,  w^aiting,  as  Micawber  would  say,  for  some- 
thing to  turn  up;  as  a  political  appointment,  or  a  government 
contract. 

In  speaking  of  the  appointment  by  President  Grant  of  Wirt  Sykes 
as  consul  to  Florence,  the  "  N.  Y.  Herald  "  says:  — 

Wirt  Sykes  as  a  journalist  wou'.d  make  as  good  a  consul  as  Wirt  Sykes  the  poli- 
tician, who  has  been  a  heeler  about  the  capital,  or  Wirt  Sykes  the  arm}'  bummer. 

Heft.  1.  Weight;  ponderousness.  A  colloquial  term  common  to  some 
parts  of  England  and  the  Northern  States. 

"Wal,  now,  just  think  on 't,"  said  the  [slave]  trader;  "just  look  at  them 
limbs,  —  broad-chested,  strong  as  a  horse.  Look  at  his  head;  them  high  forrads 
al'ays  shows  calcu.atin'  niggers,  that  '11  do  any  thing.   Now,  a  nigger  of  that  ar 


HEF— HEL 


283 


heft  and  build  is  considerable,  even  supposin'  he 's  stupid."  — Mrs.  Stowe,  Uncle 
Tvm''s  Cabin,  p.  128. 

2.  Mr.  Pickering  says:  "This  noun  is  also  used  colloquially  in 
America  to  signify  the  greater  part  or  bulk  of  any  thing,  in  expres- 
sions of  this  kind:  '  A  part  of  the  crop  was  good,  but  the  heft  of  it 
was  bad.'  " 

We  suppose  the  plan  of  Mr.  Benton  is  to  connect  the  Continental  Railroad 
with  the  line  of  communication  by  the  great  lakes,  thus  throwing  the  heft  of  the 
Pacific  trade  across  the  continent  into  the  port  of  New  York.  —  N.  Y.  Herald, 
Feb.  5,  1849. 

My  grief  !  'twas  perfectly  astonishin'  to  me  that  one  mortal  body  could  hold 
as  much  as  the  doctor  put  in.  No  wonder  he 's  so  fat:  they  say  he  gets  the  heft 
of  his  livin'  by  contrivin'  to  get  to  one  patient's  house  jest  as  dinner 's  ready,  to 
another  at  tea  time,  and  so  on.  —  F.  M.  Whicher,  Account  of  a  Donativii  Party, 
p  262. 

Mr.  MagAvire  carries  on  the  shoeniaking  business  quite  extensive,  and  he 's  to 
his  shop  the  heft  of  his  time.  —  Widow  Bedott  Pajpers,  p.  100. 

To  heft.    To  try  the  weight  of  any  thing  by  lifting  it     Local  in  Eng- 
land, and  colloquial  in  the  United  States.  — Worcester. 

I  remember  the  great  hog  up  in  Danwich,  that  hefted  nigh  twenty  score.  — 
Margaret,  p.  111. 

Hefty.  Heavy. 

Held.    Billiard  players  say,  "  I  held  the  ball,"  instead  of  I  holed  it. 
See  Found. 

Hell-Bender.   (Menopoma  Alleghaniensis.)  1.  An  animal  allied  to  the 
salamander. — Nat.  Hist.  New  York. 

2.  Often  used  as  a  qualitative  noun.    "  Jack  has  been  on  a  per- 
fect hell-bender  of  a  spree." 
Hell-Diver.    See  Dipper. 
Hell- Hound.    An  iron-clad  gunboat. 

"One  of  our  hell-hounds^^  (as  the  rebel  prisoners  call  our  gunboats).  —  N.  Y. 
Herald,  Feb.  25,  18G2. 

Hell's  Mint.    An  immense  quantity.  Tennessee. 
Hellyum  or  Hellion.    "  He 's  a  perfect  hellyum  at  billiards." 
Help.    The  common  name,  in  New  England,  for  servants,  and  for 
the  operatives  in  a  cotton  or  woollen  factory;  a  term  long  in  use,  and 
evidently  brought  from  England. 

It  is  ordered  that  James  Penn  shall  liave  twenty  shillings,  to  be  divided  among 
such  of  his  servants  and  helps  as  have  been  employed  about  y"  attendance  of 
y*  court,  &c.  —  Massachusetts  Colonial  Records,  1645,  Vol.  II.  p.  139. 

"  I  hain't  kept  no  gal  since  Melissy  was  big  enough  to  aid  me,"  said  the  Widow 
Bedott.    "  I  think  helpsmor^  plague  than  profit."  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  76. 

I  always  want  the  kitchen  help  to  do  things  as  I  want  to  have  them  done.  — 
New  Enyland  Tales. 


284 


HEN— HIC 


Hen-Hawk.  (Falco  lineatus. )  The  popular  name  of  the  Red-shouldered 
Hawk  of  naturalists. 

Herb.  In  America,  universally  pronounced  erh  ;  whereas  in  England 
the  h  is  often  aspirated.  Thus  in  the  "  Quarterly  Review  "  for  July, 
1857,  occurs  the  following  passage:  "  The  peasant  gathered  a  herb 
which  was  considered  a  specific  in  the  district  where  he  was  born." 
An  American  would  have  written  "an  herb." 

Herring-Salmon.  Congonus  Arlede  of  Le  Sueur.  So  called,  when 
taken,  in  Lake  Erie,  and  at  Lewiston. — Kirtland^s  Fishes  of  the 
Ohio,  &c. 

Hessian.  A  hireling;  a  mercenary  politician ;  a  fighter  for  pay.  De- 
rived from  the  traditional  dislike  toward  the  Hessian  soldiers  em- 
ployed by  England  against  her  American  colonies  in  the  war  of  the 
Revolution.  During  the  late  civil  war,  it  was  used  at  the  South  as  a 
term  of  reproach  towards  the  loyal  United  States  citizens  and  sol- 
diers. "  The  Hessians  of  the  North,"  frequently  said  the  "  Rich- 
mond Despatch." 

Hessian  Fly.  {Cecidomyia  destructor.')  An  insect  famous  for  its 
ravages  on  wheat.  The  popular  name  of  it  is  owing  to  the  belief 
that  it  was  introduced  into  America  by  the  Hessian  troops  in  their 
straw  from  Germany,  during  the  year  1776,  at  which  time  the 
British  army,  then  in  occupation  of  Staten  Island,  received  large 
reinforcements  of  Hessians  under  General  de  Heister.  This  idea 
has  been  ridiculed  by  many  European  entomologists,  who  have 
asserted  that  the  insect  is  strictly  American.  It  appears,  however, 
that  its  existence  has  long  been  known,  probably  for  more  than  a 
century,  in  France,  Germany,  Switzerland,  and  some  of  the  larger 
islands  of  the  Mediterranean. — N.  Y.  Hind.  Insects  and  Diseases 
Injurious  to  Wheat. 

Mr.  Bryant,  in  speaking  of  the  introduction  of  the  "  Old  World 
sparrow"  into  America,  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  insects  and 
worms,  says :  — 

And  the  army-worm  and  Hesdan  fly, 
And  the  dreadful  canker-worm,  shall  die. 

Hickory.  A  name  given  to  several  species  of  Carya.  It  is  a  hand- 
some tree,  with  timber  valuable  for  its  hardness  and  toughness, 
and  with  edible  nuts.  Hence,  a  ^'-hickory  Catholic,"  a  ^''hickory 
Quaker,"  for  instance,  is  a  flexible,  yielding  one.  Western.  It 
sometunes  means  tough,  firm.  Thus,  Parson  Brownlow  was  called 
the  hickory  Unionist.  General  Andrew  Jackson  was  known  as  "  Old 
Hickory.'''' 


HIC— HIG 


285 


Captain  Smith  describes  a  preparation  of  pounded  walnut  meats 
with  water,  "which  they  call  Pawcohiccora,  and  keep  it  for  their 
use/' —  Hist,  of  Virginia  (1624),  b.  2,  p.  26. 

But  Popler,  Plum,  Crab,  Oake,  and  Apple  tree. 
Yea,  Cherry,  and  tree  called  Pohickery. 

J.  Ferrar,  in  Reformed  Virginia  Silk  Worm  (1653). 
Pekickery,^^  named  with  "Walhiut,"  &c.,  among  the  trees  of  Virginia. — 
Shriyley''s  Tme  Relation  of  Virginia  and  Maryland^  1669. 

It  is  curious  that  "hickory  "  seems  both  in  sound  and  sense  to  be 
pure  Greek,  viz.,  17  Kapva  (he  carya),  the  walnut.    The  resemblance 
is,  however,  casual;  since  the  name  is  in  fact  of  American  aborigi- 
nal derivation. 
Hickory  Nut.    See  Walnut. 

Hickory  Shirt.  A  shirt  made  of  heavy  twilled  cotton  with  a  narrow 
blue  stripe,  so  called  from  its  strength.  These  shirts  are  much 
worn  by  laborers. 

Swindling  practisers  of  trade  flaunt  in  silks,  while  honest  virtue  staves  off 
starvation  by  making  hickory  shirts  at  eight  cents  a  piece.  —  Doesticks,  p.  68. 

Hicksites.    A  sect  of  Quakers,  so  called  from  their  leader's  surname. 

To  hifer.    To  loiter.    Used  in  North  Pennsylvania. 

Highbinder.    A  riotous  fellow.    See  same  word  in  Addenda. 

Highbelia.    See  Lowhelia. 

High  Blackberry.  Generally  used  in  the  United  States,  as  the  dis- 
tinctive name  of  the  fruit  of  the  Rubus  villosus. 

Higher  Law.  A  law  higher,  or  above  that  of  the  Constitution ;  the 
laws  of  God.  This  term  was  first  used  by  the  Hon.  William  H. 
Seward,  in  a  speech  in  the  United  States  Senate,  in  March,  1850, 
on  "Freedom  in  the  New  Territories,"  and  has  since  been  fre- 
quently heard  in  that  body  and  elsewhere.  In  this  speech,  the 
Senator  said:  — 

I  know  there  are  laws  of  various  kinds,  which  regulate  the  conduct  of  men. 
There  are  constitutions  and  statutes,  codes  mercantile  and  civil;  but  when  we  are 
legislating  for  States,  especially  when  we  are  founding  States,  all  these  laws  must 
be  brought  to  the  standard  of  the  laws  of  God.  The  Constitution  regulates  our 
stewardship;  the  Constitution  devotes  the  domain  to  union,  to  justice,  to  defence, 
to  welfare,  to  liberty.  But  there  is  a  higher  law  than  the  Constitution,  which 
regulates  our  authority  over  the  domain.  —  Speeches,  Vol.  I.  pp  66,  74. 

Highfaluten.  High-flown  language,  bombast.  There  can  be  little 
doubt  of  its  derivation  from  "  highflighting." 

Mr.  Hotten,  in  his  "  Dictionary  of  Slang,"  says  it  is  now  heard 
in  Liverpool  and  London.  He  derives  it  from  the  Dutch  verlooten^ 
a  derivation  which  we  doubt.    It  originated  in  the  Western  States. 


236 


IIIG— HIT 


I  was  at  the  Barnburners'  convention  in  Utica,  and  the  first  person  I  henrd  was 
n  ^^()0(l-Iookin<?,  fat,  rosy-looking  man,  who  got  up  and  ground  out  what  we 
term  at  the  West  a  regular  built  fourth-of-July  —  star-spanglerl-banner — times- 
Ihat-tried-men's-souls  —  Jefferson  speech,  making  gestures  to  suit  the  hiyhfa- 
luttns.  — Speech  nf  Leslie  Coombs,  in  N.  York,  Sept.  29,  1848. 

One  of  the  boys,  I  reckon?  All  right  on  the  goose,  ehV  No  hifjhfaluten  airs 
here,  you  know. —  Gladsfone,  EnfjUshman  in  Kansas,  p.  43. 

High-heeled  Boots.  A  proud,  haughty  person  is  said  to  "  have  on 
his  high  heeled-boots." 

High-heeled  Shoes.  To  say  of  a  woman  that  she  "  has  on  her  high- 
heeled  shoes  "  is  to  intimate  that  she  sets  herself  up  as  a  person  of 
more  consequence  than  others  allow  her  to  be;  or,  in  other  words, 
that  slie  is  "stuck  up."    New  England. 

High-Hole.    See  Clape  and  Yellow-Hammer. 

High  Jinks.  A  great  frolic.  "  To  kick  up  high  jinks  "  is  to  kick  up 
a  row;  to  have  a  roistering  time.  In  the  north  of  England,  "to 
jink  "  is  to  be  very  gay.  —  HaUiwell.  To  be  on  the  hirjh  Jinks  is  to 
assume  an  undue  superiority.  —  Hotten,  Slang  Die. 

All  along  our  route,  we  chaffed  our  pretty  lover,  and  expected  high  Jinks  eit 
Damascus,  where  his  marriage  was  to  be  solemnized.  —  T.  G.  Appleton,  Syiian 
Sunshine,  p.  20. 

High-Studded.    Airy.    Said  of  one  who  affects  great  dignity. 
Hindoos.    A  name  given  to  the  Know  Nothing  party,  in  consequence 

of  their  candidate  for  the  presidency,  Daniel  Ullman,  having  been 

charged  with  being  a  native  of  Calcutta. 

To  hire.  Often  improperly  applied  to  renting  a  house.  In  good 
English,  a  house  is  rented^  while  a  vehicle  or  workman  is  hired. 

Hired  Man.  A  man-servant.  Hired  woman,  a  servant-girl.  Many 
servants  dislike  to  be  called  such,  and  think  it  more  respectable  to 
say  "  help  "  or  "  hired  woman." 

To  hire  his  Time.  A  slave  is  said  to  "  hire  his  time  "  who  contracts 
with  his  master  to  pay  a  stipulated  price  for  his  time,  and  during 
such  time  regulates  his  own  conduct  in  respect  to  labor  to  be  per- 
formed by  him,  or  makes  contracts  as  to  such  labor. 

In  Russia,  a  certain  yearly  payment  called  Obrock,  equivalent  to  a  practice 
which  prevails  to  a  certain  extent  in  some  of  our  Southern  States,  of  allowing 
slaves  to  hire  their  own  time,  goes  a  great  way  to  extinguis^h  all  the  distinctions 
between  serfs  and  slaves. — N.  Y.  Tribune,  Aug.  20,  1858. 

Hist,  for  hoist.    To  lift.    "  Hist  her  up." 
Hitch.    An  entanglement,  impediment. 

All  the  hitches  in  the  case  of  McXulty  being  got  over,  the  gentlemen  of  the  long 
robe  set  themselves  at  work  in  earnest.  —  N.  Y.  Com.  Adv.,  1845. 


HIT— HOB 


287 


This  word  is  used  in  the  same  sense  in  England,  but  is  not  an 
elegant  word,  even  though  used  by  Lord  Clieste.r fields  who  says:  — 

I  am  credibly  informed  tliat  there  is  still  a  considerable  Idtck  t  hobble  in 
your  enunciation. 

The  "London  Athenaeum,"  in  its  review  of  the  Journal  of  the 
Persian  Boundary  Commission,  Oct.  7,  1876,  p.  457,  thus  speaks  of 
the  impediments  met  with. 

Then  arose  hitch  number  two;  .  .  .  here  hitch  number  three  arose  .  .  .  Then 
arose  hitch  number  five. 

To  hitch.  It  is  a  common  expression,  when  persons  do  not  agree,  to 
say,  "  They  don't  Utch,^^  or  "  They  don't  hitch  together." 

I 've  been  teamin'  on 't  some  for  old  Pendleton,  and  have  come  to  drive  a  spell 
for  this  old  fellow,  but  . I  guess  we  shan't  ^i<cA  long.  —  Mrs.  Clavers,  Forest  Life, 
Vol.  I.  p.  116. 

To  hitch  Horses.  Same  as  the  foregoing,  and  quite  as  common. 
"  They  don't  hitch  horses,"  i.  e.  "  they  don't  agree;  "  i.  e.,  "  they 
hav^e  quarrelled." 

I  never  truckle  to  man,  if  he 's  as  big  as  all  out-doors.  And  after  he  poked 
his  fist  in  my  face,  one  election,  we  never  hitched  horses  together.  —  McClintock, 
Tcdes. 

An'  so  we  fin'lly  made  it  up,  concluded  to  hitch  h asses, 
An'  here  I  be  'n  my  ellerment  among  creation's  bosses. 

Lowed,  The  Biylow  Papers. 

You  have  seen  a  great  deal,  and  he  has  read  a  great  deal,  and  you  are  jest  the 
boys  to  hitch  your  hosses  together,  I  know.  —  Sam  Slick,  Wise  Saws,  p.  04. 

Hither  and  Yon.  This  expression  is  often  used  in  the  country  towns 
of  New  England  for  here  and  there.  It  is  provincial  in  the  north 
of  England.  It  is  never  heard  in  our  seaport  towns. — Pickering. 
A  person  born  in  New  Hampshire  in  1800  says  hether  and  yen. 

Ho.  A  word  used  by  teamsters  to  stop  their  teams.  It  has  been  used 
as  a  noun,  for  stop,  moderation,  bounds. —  Webster.    See  Whoa. 

Because,  forsooth,  some  odd  poet  or  some  such  fantastic  fellows  make  much  on 
him,  there 's  no  ho  with  him :  the  vile  dandiprat  will  overlook  the  proudest  of  his 
acquaintance.  —  Lingua,  Old  Play. 

Mr.  Malone  says  it  is  yet  common  in  Ireland;  as,  "  There 's  no  ho 
in  him,"  that  is,  he  knows  no  bounds.    This  expression  is  common 
in  the  United  States. 
Hoarse  up.    "  He 's  got  a  bad  cold,  and  is  all  hoarsed  up,^^  i.  e.  he  is 
hoarse. 

Hobble-Bush.     (Viburnum  lanfanoides.)     A  straggling  shrub,  also 

called  Tangle-Legs  and  Wayfaring. 
To  hobble.    To  hobble  a  horse  is  to  tie  its  feet  together,  to  hopple  it. 

Webs/er. 


288 


HOB— HOG 


The  horses  were  now  hobbled;  tliat  is  to  say,  their  fore  legs  were  fettered  with 
cords  and  leatliern  straps,  so  as  to  impede  their  movements  and  prevent  their 
wandering  from  camp.  —  //-vm^'s  Tour  on  the  Praiiies. 

Ho-Boy  or  Haut-Boy.    A  nightman.    New  York. 

The  Thames,  below  London,  is  odorous  with  the  sewerage  matter  it  bears  from 
that  metropolis;  and  there  is  scarce  a  stream  flowing  through  a  civilized  commu- 
nity but  is  degraded  to  the  occupation  of  a  haut-boy,  by  the  adoption  along  the 
banks  of  itself  and  tributaries  of  more  or  less  ingenious  devices  for  dissolving  and 
washing  away  rather  than  hoarding  up  and  rendering  useful  the  nitrogenized 
material  which,  if  properly  applied,  will  enable  the  earth  to  yield  the  most  bounti- 
ful harvests.  —  Scientific  American,  Aug.  8,  1857. 

Hockey-Stick.    A  stick  used  in  playing  hockey. 

I  guess  Aunt  I.ibby  never  had  a  hockey-stick.  — Fanny  Fern. 

Hod-Carrier.    A  laborer  that  carries  mortar  and  bricks  in  a  hod  to 

masons;  a  hodman. 
rfoe-Cake.    A  cake  of  Indian  meal,  baked  before  the  fire.    In  the 

interior  pai-ts  of  the  country,  where  kitchen  utensils  do  not  abound, 

they  are  baked  on  a  hoe ;  hence  the  name. 

Some  talk  of  hoe-cake,  fair  Virginia's  pride  ; 
Rich  Johnny-cake  this  mouth  has  often  tryed. 
Both  please  me  well,  their  virtues  much  the  same; 
Alike  their  fabric  as  allied  their  fame. 

J.  Barlow,  Hasty  Pudding. 
As  we  've  broken  hoe-cake  together,  we  cannot  rake  up  the  old  ashes  to  make 
dust  with.  —  Simms,  The  Wigwam  and  Cabin,  p.  10. 

They  [the  ancient  Marylanders]  were  great  horse-racers  and  cock-fighters, 
mighty  wrestlers  and  jumpers,  and  enormous  consumers  of  hoe-cake  and  bacon. 
W.  Irving,  Knickerbocker. 

Hoe-down.    Another  name  for  Break-down,  which  see. 
To  hoe  one's  Row.    To  do  one's  share  of  a  job;  to  attend  to  one's 
own  business. 

In  ole  Virginny,  whar  I  war  born, 

I  eat  hoe-cake  and  hoe  de  corn  ; 

And  Massa  Tyler,  he  not  slow 

To  show  me  how  to  hoe  my  row.  —  Negro  Melodies. 

Hog-Age.    The  age  between  boyhood  and  manhood.  Xantucket. 

Hog  Backs.  "Ridges  of  upheaval,  or  '  hog  backs,'  as  they  are  some- 
times called  in  the  West,  .  .  .  occur  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  all 
along  the  eastern  flanks  of  the  Rocky  IMountains."  —  Dr.  ffayden's 
Report  on  the  Geol.  Survey  of  Wyoming  Ter.,  &c.  (1870),  p.  162. 

Hog  and  Hominy.  Pork  and  Indian  corn,  the  usual  fare  of  country 
people  in  the  West.  The  term  is  used  for  the  sake  of  the  allitera- 
tion, even  where  the  ground  meal  is  much  more  common  than  the 
hominy. 


HOG 


289 


I  can  give  you  plenty  to  eat ;  for,  besides  hog  and  hominy,  you  can  have  bar 
(bear)  ham  and  bar  sausages,  and  a  mattrass  of  bar-skins  to  sleep  on.  —  Thorpe, 
Big  Bear  of  Arkansas. 

There  was  a  member  in  the  House  [of  Representatives]  from  some  back- 
woods, benighted  region  in  Ohio,  by  the  name  of  Sawyer.  Now,  Mr.  Sawyer,  — 
the  Honorable  Mr.  Sawyer.  —  having  lived  all  his  life  in  a  plain,  backwoods 
style,  on  '■'■hog  and  hominy,''''  or,  for  a  special  luxury  in  the  winter,  on  sausages 
and  corn-bread,  found  his  stomach  rebellious  against  the  ways  of  Washington, 
and  especially  the  way  of  dining  at  supper-time.  —  Sargeant,  Public  Men  and 
Events,  Vol.  11.  p.  287' 

Hog-Choke.  In  North  Carolina,  the  flounder  is  so  called.  —  Harper^s 
Mag.,  March,  1857,  p.  442. 

Hog-Fish.  (Etheostoma  caprodes.  Rafinesque.)  Common  in  all  the 
Western  rivers,  and  so  "  called  almost  everywhere,"  say  Rafinesque 
and  Kirtland.  — Boston  Jour.  Nat.  Hist.,  III.  346. 

Hog  Guessing.  A  sport  peculiar  to  Long  Island.  In  the  fall,  a  fat 
hog  is  selected  to  be  "guessed  for."  The  chances  are  put  at  a 
given  price,  as  in  a  raffle;  and  at  the  time  appointed  each  holder  of 
a  chance  "  guesses  "  at  the  weight  of  the  hog,  which  is  then  deter- 
mined in  the  presence  of  all  by  the  scales.  The  best  guess,  of  course, 
takes  the  animal. 

Hog-Minder.    One  who  has  charge  of  swine. 

Hog-Plum.  (Ximenia  Americana.^  A  tall  shrub  of  South  Florida. 
It  bears  a  drupe  the  size  of  a  plum,  which  is  yellow  and  pleasant  to 
the  taste. 

Hog-Reeve.  (Ang.-Sax.  gerefa.  Old.  Eng.  rece,  an  officer;  a  stew- 
ard; whence  shrieve  and  sheriff.)  An  officer  whose  duty  it  is  to  take 
up  hogs  running  at  large  for  the  purpose  of  impounding  them.  New 
England.    In  the  Statutes,  he  is  called  a  Field-Driver,  which  see. 

A  man  who  can  get  down  on  his  face  and  eat  dirt  after  that  fashion  for  nothing 
but  a  beggarly  office  is  not  fit  for  a  hog-reeve.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  June,  1858. 

In  an  article  in  "  Harper's  Mag.,"  of  Sept.,  1877,  p.  613,  by  his 
nephew,  Mr.  Benjamin,  is  the  following  saying  of  the  late  J.  L. 
Motley,  taken  from  the  "  New  World  "  newspaper:  — 

I  began  [said  Mr.  Motley]  a  tremendous  political  career  during  the  election  of 
[President  Polk],  having  made  two  stump  speeches  of  an  hour  and  a  half  each, — 
one  in  Dedham  Town-hall,  and  one  in  Jamaica  Plains,  —  with  such  eminent  suc- 
cess that  many  invitations  came  to  me  from  the  surrouiuling  villages.  If  I  had 
continued  in  active  political  life,  I  might  have  risen  to  be  a  vote  distributor,  or 
fence-viewer,  or  selectman,  or  hog-reeve,  or  something  of  the  kind. 

Hog-tight  and  Horse-high.  Always  used  together,  of  fences  that 
are  sufficient  to  restrain  trespassing  stock.  Maryland. 

19 


290 


HOG— HOL 


Hog-Wallow.  On  some  of  the  Western  prairies,  but  particularly 
those  in  Texas,  the  ground  has  every  appearance  of  having  been 
rooted  or  torn  u[)  by  hogs;  hence  the  name. 

Professor  Riddell  gives  the  following  account  of  the  hof/-waUow 
prairies  and  of  their  origin:  "  The  long  droughts  in  summer  cause 
the  woodless  surface  of  the  prairies  to  crack  deeply,  and  oftentimes 
symmetrically;  subsequent  rains  wash  the  adjacent  earth  into  these 
cracks,  filling  them  up,  converting  them  into  little  valleys,  and 
leaving  intermediate  hillocks.  Xext  year  the  same  round  of  cause 
and  effects  occurs  in  the  same  places;  and  thus  successive  years 
contribute  for  a  long  time  to  produce  a  maximum  of  effect,  the 
appearance  of  which  is  very  striking.  When  the  prairie  is  level, 
the  hillocks  are  exactly  hexagonal,  and  usually  eight  or  ten  feet  in 
diameter.  The  depressions  between  them  are  commonly  twelve  to 
eighteen  inches  deep.  If  the  surface  is  inclined,  the  hexagons 
become  elongated  at  right  angles  to  the  elongation  of  the  dip,  when 
they  frequently  resemble  the  waves  of  the  ocean.  From  difference 
of  surface,  soil,  and  exposure,  there  arises  a  great  diversity  in  the 
size,  depth,  and  general  appearance  of  the  hog-wallows.  They  never 
occur  in  a  sandy  soil,  consequently  they  are  not  seen  on  the  sandy 
prairies  near  the  sea-coast."  —  Silliman^s  Journal  of  Science,  Vol. 
XXXIX.  p.  211. 

The  ground  we  were  riding  over,  known  as  hog-wallow,  being  a  succession  of 
small  mounds  and  corresponding  hollows.  —  A  Stray  Yankee  in  Texas. 

To  hold  on.  To  wait,  stop;  as,  "  Hold  on  a  minute."  Originally  a 
sea  phrase.  Also,  to  hold  fast,  to  keep;  as,  "He  held  on  to  the 
money." 

To  hold  the  Market,  in  Wall  Street  parlance,  is  to  buy  and  hold  so 
large  amount  of  a  particular  stock  that  the  price  cannot  easily 
decline. 

To  holloo.  (Pron.  holler.)  To  give  up;  to  quit;  to  yield.  In  vulgar 
use  in  the  West,  originating  probably  in  wrestling  or  fighting, 
where  the  party  down  halloos,  i.  e.  cries  out,  in  which  case  he  is 
understood  to  yield.  I  once  heard  a  Western  man  say  he  had 
"  hollered  on  drinking,"  meaning  that  he  had  quit  the  practice. 

Tige  was  using  me  powerful  rough,  and  had  done  whipped  me  ;  but  pshaw!  I 
never  did  holler.  —  N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

To  holloo  before  one  is  out  of  the  Woods.  To  rejoice  prematurely, 
before  one  is  out  of  a  difficulty. 

In  a  few  minutes,  we  were  back  in  the  harbor  again,  and  I  gave  Joe  a  piece  of 
mv  mind  about  hollenncj  before  we  ivere  out  of  the  woods.  — A  Sti-ay  Yankee  in 
Texas,  p  105. 


HOL— HOM 


291 


Yet,  fellows,  must  I  warn  you  not  to  sliout 
Ere  we  have  left  the  troublous  wood  behind. 

W.  Mortis,  The  Earthly  Paradise,  Prologue,  p.  33. 

Holp.  The  old  preterite  and  past  part,  of  help.  "  This  antiquated 
inflection  of  the  verb  to  help  is  still  used  in  Virginia,  where  it  is 
corrupted  into  holped.'^ — Pickering.  A  friend  says  he  has  heard 
the  word  in  New  England. 

Home.  1.  England,  Great  Britain;  a  term  in  common  use  among 
natives  of  Great  Britain,  as  well  as  those  of  English  descent  resident 
in  the  United  States  and  Canada.  Some  say  "  the  Old  Country." 
This  term  is  of  ancient  use;  and  Mr.  Irving,  in  his  "  Life  of  Wash- 
ington," says  he  "remembers  when  the  endearing  phrase  still  lin- 
gered on  Anglo-Saxon  lips  even  after  the  Revolution;"  and  that 
its  use  by  Washington  himself  "  evinces  the  chord  which  still 
vibrated  in  the  American  bosom."  In  a  letter  to  George  Mason 
(1769),  speaking  of  the  difficulty  arising  from  the  clashing  interests 
of  merchants,  Washington  says :  — 

In  the  tobacco  colonies  where  the  trade  is  so  diffused,  and  in  a  manner  wholly 
conducted  by  factors  for  their  principals  at  home,  these  difficulties  are  enhanced. 

Again,  in  a  letter  to  his  brother  Augustine,  written  in  April, 
1755,  he  says :  — 

My  command  was  reduced,  under  a  pretence  of  an  order  from  home. 

2.  ^ome  is  frequently  used  for  at  home,  in  one's  own  dwelling; 
as,  "  I  breakfasted  home.''''  "  How 's  all  home  V  A  jSTew  England 
Yankee  of  the  Sam  Slick  stamp  would  say,  "  How 's  all  to  hum?  " 
Hominy.  Food  made  of  maize  or  Indian  corn  boiled,  the  maize  being 
either  coarsely  ground  or  broken,  or  the  kernels  merely  hulled.  — 
Flint,  Mississippi  Valley.  Roger  Williams,  in  his  "  Key  to  the 
Indian  Language,"  has  the  word  aupuminea,  parched  corn,  —  which, 
with  the  accent  on  the  second  syllable,  has  much  the  sound  of 
hominy.  The  word  appears  to  have  been  extensively  used  by  various 
Indian  tribes  and  nations.    See  Pone. 

A  mat  was  spread  without  the  house,  .  .  .  furnished  with  Pone  Ilomini,  oysters, 
and  other  tilings.  —  Norwood's  Voyaye  to  Viryinia,  1649,  Force's  Tracts,  III. 
p.  34. 

The  Indians  sift  the  flour  out  of  their  meal,  which  they  call  samp ;  the  remainder 
the}'  call  homminy.  This  is  mixt  with  flour  and  made  into  puddings.  —  Jossclyn's 
New  Enyland  Rarities,  1G72,  p.  53. 

The  Indians  live  chiefly  on  maize,  or  Indian  corn  roasted  in  the  ashes,  some- 
times beaten  and  boyled  with  water,  called  homine.  —  Thomas's  Pennsylvania, 
London,  1698,  p.  49. 

ffomony  ...  is  Indian  Corn  soaked,  broken  in  a  mortar,  husked,  and  then 
boiled  in  water  over  a  gentle  fire  for  ten  or  more  hours,  to  the  consistency  of 


292 


HOM— HON 


Furmity,  — the  thin  of  this  is  what  my  Lord  Bacon  calls  "  Cream  of  Maize."  — 
Beverly's  Virginia,  Book  III.  (1725). 

"Stranger,"  said  old  iSchultz  (the  backwoodsman),  "you  have  been  welcome 
under  my  roof.  I 've  given  you  nothing  but  wild  meat  and  hominy,  because  I 
had  no  better ;  but  I 've  been  glad  of  your  company."  —  Irvinf/,  WolftrVs  Roost, 
p.  271. 

Hommock,  Hummock,  or  Hammock.  In  Florida,  a  name  given  to 
small  elevations  or  islands  in  the  "  everglades,"  or  lands  covered  by 
fresh-water  swamp.  They  are  supposed  to  have  been  coral  islands 
before  the  mud  and  sand  were  deposited  around  them. 

The  term  hammock^  ...  we  believe,  is  one  peculiar  to  the  South- 
ern States.  It  means  a  piece  of  ground  thickly  wooded,  whether  a 
plain  or  a  hill,  and  distinguished  from  the  open  oak  and  hickory 
land,  or  immense  forests  of  thinly  scattered  pines,  which,  with  few 
exceptions,  cover  the  whole  face  of  the  country.  The  word  has  been 
confounded  with  hummock,  used  by  mariners  to  designate  the  knolls 
or  small  elevations  along  the  coast. — North  Am.  Review,  April, 
1828,  p.  486. 

The  Indians  retired  from  the  neighborhood  of  the  whites,  and  burying  them- 
selves in  the  deep  forests,  intricate  swamps  and  hommocks,  and  vast  savannahs, 
devoted  themselves  to  a  pastoral  life.  —  W.  Irving,  WolferVs  Roost,  p.  290. 

Although  the  larger  portion  of  the  country  is  covered  with  pine  barrens,  .  .  . 
yet  there  is  also  much  upland,  interval,  and  hammock  land  of  the  most  excellent 
quality.  —  Williams,  View  of  Florida  (1827),  p.  6. 

Hommocky.    Filled  with  hommocks.    Used  also  of  elevations  in  ice. 

The  Seminoles  possess  a  vast  territory  in  Florida ;  and  being  such  a  swampy, 
hommocky  country,  it  furnishes  supplies  for  the  nourishment  of  varieties  of  ani- 
mals. —  Bartram's  Travels  in  North  Araemca. 

Honey-fogle,  Honey-fuggle.  To  humbug,  swindle,  cheat.  West 
and  South.  Coney-fogle,  to  lay  plots,  a  Lancashire  word,  noticed  by 
Mr.  Halliwell  in  his  "  Dictionary  of  Archaic  and  Prov.  Words," 
may  be  the  origin  of  it. 

When  the  Loco-focos  take  you  round  a  corner,  and  try  to  honey-fogle  you,  as 
they  say  in  Kentucky,  ask  them  w^hat  are  Cass's  civil  qualities. — Speech  of 
F.  Smith  at  a  Taylor  Meeting,  Washington. 

The  Washington  correspondent  of  "The  Xew  Orleans  Delta" 
writes,  1858,  as  follows:  — 

I  have  a  passion  for  Seward.  He  comes  up  to  my  idea  of  Rodin  in  the  Wan- 
dering Jew,  —  the  most  delectable  devil  that  was  ever  drawn  by  human  pen,  — 
so  cool,  so  clear-headed,  so  indomitable,  so  relentless  in  the  pursuit  of  his  fiendish 
purposes.  If  he  becomes  our  next  President,  and  disunion  does  not  immediately 
follow  his  election,  I  will  wager  that  he  will  so  beautifully  honey-fuggle  both 
South  and  North  that  the  people  will  pronounce  him  one  of  the  best  Presidents 
we  have  ever  had. 


HON— HOO 


293 


Honey  Locust.  {GleditscMa  triacantlius.')  A  tree  so  called  from  the 
sweet  pulp  in  its  ripe  pods.  In  the  West  and  South,  it  is  called  the 
Thorny  Locust. 

Honor.  "  His  Honor  "  is  the  title  applied  in  Massachusetts  and  Rhode 
Island  to  a  Lieutenant-Governor  while  in  ofl&ce.  When  his  term  of 
office  has  expired,  he  is,  like  the  Governor,  styled  "  Honorable." 

Honorable.  A  title  given  by  courtesy  to  members  of  both  Houses  of 
Congress,  and  of  State  legislatures;  in  some  States,  to  Senators 
only ;  also  to  heads  of  departments  of  the  government,  as  secretaries 
and  commissioners.  The  title  is  ever  afterwards  retained,  under  the 
rule  of  "Once  an  honorable,  always  an  honorable."  Newspapers 
and  posters  often  bestow  the  title  on  any  stump-speaker. 

Hoodlum.  A  ragamuffin;  a  "gamin;"  a  rough  fellow^ ;  a  rowdy.  A 
California  word.  "  You  at  the  East,"  says  a  correspondent  in  San 
Francisco,  "  have  but  little  idea  of  the  hoodlums  of  this  city.  They 
compose  a  class  of  criminals  of  both  sexes,  far  more  dangerous  than 
are  to  be  found  in  the  Eastern  cities.  They  travel  in  gangs,  and 
are  ready  at  any  moment  for  the  perpetration  of  any  crime. "  —  Boston 
Journal,  Aug.,  1877. 

The  origin  of  the  name  is  said  to  be  this :  A  neM^spaper  man  in 
San  Francisco,  in  attempting  to  coin  a  word  to  designate  a  gang  of 
young  street  Arabs  under  the  beck  of  one  named  "  Muldoon,"  hit 
upon  the  idea  of  dubbing  them  noodlums ;  that  is,  simply  reversing 
the  leader's  name.  In  writing  the  word,  the  strokes  of  the  n  did 
not  correspond  in  height,  and  the  compositor,  taking  the  n  for  an  ^, 
printed  it  hoodlum.  **  Hoodlum  "  it  is,  and  probably  ever  will  be. 
The  Congregationalist,  Sept.  26,  1877.    See  same  word  in  Addenda. 

The  stoning  and  beating  of  Chinamen  [in  California],  long  time  a  popular 
recreation  among  young  hoodlums,  have  recently  grown  unpopular  through  the 
efforts  of  a  Police  Judge.  —  San  Francisco  Cor.  of  N.  Y.  Evening  Post. 

Three  hoodlums  in  San  Francisco,  under  age,  were  convicted  on  a  charge  of 
stealing  beer.  .  .  .  The  friends  of  the  hoodlums  came  to  the  front,  and  liquidated 
the  damage.  .  .  .  Hoodlum  justice  is  an  interesting  study  of  the  jurisprudence  of 
the  century. —  iV.  Y.  Tribune,  Nov.  7,  1876. 

The  outrages  thus  far,  in  San  Francisco,  seem  to  have  been  committed  by 
unorganized  gangs  of  vicious  hoodlums. —  Telegram  from  San  Francisco,  July 
25,  1877. 

Hook.  (Dutch,  hoek,  a  corner,  a  cape.)  This  name  is  given,  in  New 
York,  to  several  angular  points  in  the  North  and  East  Rivers ;  as, 
Corlear's  Hook,  Powle's  Hook,  Sandy  Hook. 

To  hook.   To  steal.   A  common  vulgarism,  formerly  used  in  England. 

A  maid  hooked  one  of  her  mistress's  dresses  the  other  day  ;  but  the  affair  was 
passed  over,  because  it  was  done  behind  the  lady's  back.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  1857. 


294 


HOO 


The  devil  and  I  are  sworn  enemies  ever  since  he  put  me  up  to  hookiny  water- 
melons for  the  fun  of  tiie  thing.  —  Daw's  Sermons,  Vol.  I.  p.  5. 

And  while  Aunt  Polly  closed  with  a  happy  Scriptural  flourish,  Tom  hooktd  a 
doughnut.  —  Mark  Twain,  Tom  Sawyer,  p.  34. 

On  one's  own  Hook.  A  phrase  much  used  in  familiar  language, 
denoting  on  one'.s  own  account;  as,  "He  is  doing  business  on  fas 
own  hook,^'  i.  e.  for  himself. 

I  now  resolved  to  do  business  entirely  alone,  —  to  go  on  my  own  hook.  If  I 
get  rich,  the  money  will  all  be  mine.  — Perils  of  Pearl  Street,  p.  195. 

Every  man  on  his  own  hook  is  the  system  in  action  of  the  American  volunteer 
soldier;  and  trusting  to,  and  confident  in,  their  undeniable  bravery,  they  go 
aiiead  and  overcome  all  obstacles.  —  Ruxton's  Adventures  in  Mexico,  p.  179. 

AVe  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  time  is  fast  approaching  when  we 
shall  have  our  American  Pope,  our  American  Catholic  Cardinals,  and  American 
Catholic  every  thing  on  our  own  hook.  —  N.  Y.  Herald,  October,  1845. 

I  went  to  the  opera  in  London,  where  I  kept  lookin'  round;  and  when  any- 
body laughed,  I  laughed  too,  and  when  they  'plauded,  I  'plau<!ed  too;  and  some- 
times, jest  to  make  'em  think  I  was  a  reglar  Frenchy,  I 'd  laugh  right  out  on  my 
own  hook.  —  N.  Y.  Family  Companion. 

Hookey.  To  "  play  hookey  "  is  to  play  truant.  A  teiTn  used  among 
school-boys,  chiefly  in  the  State  of  New  York. 

He  moped  to  school  gloomy  and  sad,  and  took  his  flogging  along  with  Joe 
Harper  for  pla^'ing  hookey  the  day  before.  —  Mark  Twain,  Tom  Sawyer,  p.  100. 

Hook  Jack.    To  play  truant.    New  England. 

Hoop-la.    A  stage-driver's  ejaculation  to  his  horses.  California. 

The  Stock  Exchange  to-day  commenced  its  business  of  speculation  with  a  grand 

'■'■hooj)  la,''  regardless  of  the  closing  prices  of  yesterday. — N.    Y.  Tribune, 

March  1,  1877. 

Hoop-la,  —  Melican  man  he  heap  much  nice,  —  fetchee  me  home  all  light,  top 
side  up  on  slippery  walk.  —  Specimen  of  Chinese  Pigeon  Entjlish,  Harper's  Bazar. 

Hoople.  (Dutch,  hoepel.)  The  boys  in  the  city  of  New  York  still 
retain  this  Dutch  name  for  a  trundling  hoop. 

Hoosier.    A  nickname  given,  at  the  West,  to  natives  of  Indiana. 

A  correspondent  of  the  Providence  Journal,  writing  from  Indiana, 
gives  the  following  account  of  the  origin  of  this  term:  "  Through- 
out all  the  early  Western  settlements  were  men  who  rejoiced  in 
their  physical  strength,  and  on  numerous  occasions,  at  log-rollings 
and  house-raisings,  demonstrated  this  to  their  entire  satisfaction. 
They  were  styled  by  their  fellow-citizens  hushers,  from  their  primary 
capacity  to  still  their  opponents.  It  w^as  a  common  term  for  a  bully 
throughout  the  West.  The  boatmen  of  Indiana  wei-e  formerly  as 
rude  and  as  primitive  a  set  as  could  well  belong  to  a  civilized  coun- 
try, and  they  were  often  in  the  habit  of  displaying  their  pugilistic 
accomplishments  upon  the  Levee  at  New  Orleans.    Upon  a  certain 


HOO— HOP 


295 


occasion  there,  one  of  these  rustic  professors  of  the  '  iioble  art ' 
very  adroitly  and  successfully  practised  the  '  fancy '  upon  several 
individuals  at  one  time.  Being  himself  not  a  native  of  this  Western 
world,  in  the  exuberance  of  his  exultation  he  sprang  up,  exclaim- 
ing, in  foreign  accent,  '  I 'm  a  hoosier,  I 'm  a  hooskr.''  Some  of 
the  New  Orleans  papers  reported  the  case,  and  afterwards  trans- 
ferred the  corruption  of  the  epithet  '  husher '  (Jioosier)  to  all  the 
boatmen  from  Indiana,  and  from  thence  to  all  her  citizens.  The 
Kentuckians,  on  the  contrary,  maintained  that  the  nickname  ex- 
presses the  gruif  exclamation  of  their  neighbors,  when  one  knocks 
at  a  door,  &c.,  '  Who 's  ^jere  V 

There  was  a  long-haired  hoosier  from  Indiana,  a  couple  of  smart-looking 
suckers  from  Illinois,  a  keen-eyed,  leather-belted  badger  from  Wisconsin ;  and 
who  could  refuse  to  drink  with  such  a  company  ?  —  Hoffman,  Winter  in  the 
West,  p.  210. 

Broad  Indiana's  hoosier  sons  her  fame  must  needs  keep  good, 
By  healthful  sport  of  rolling  logs  and  stumping  in  the  wood. 

The  American  Congress,  Am.  Rejected  Addresses. 
It  has  been  in  my  mind  since  I  was  a  Hoosier  boy  to  do  something  toward 
describing  life  in  the  back-country  districts  of  the  Western  States.  — Eggleston, 
The  Hoosier  Schoolmaster,  p.  5. 

Hoosier  Cake.  A  Western  name  for  a  sort  of  coarse  gingerbread, 
which,  say  the  Kentuckians,  is  the  best  bait  to  catch  a  hoosier  with, 
the  biped  being  fond  of  it. 

Hoosierdom.    The  State  of  Indiana. 

A  young  lady  from  the  rural  districts  of  Hoosierdom  lately  visited  Chicago 
with  her  beau.  —  N.  Y.  Observer,  Dec.  26,  1861. 

Hooter.  Probably  a  corruption  of  iota.  Common  in  New  York  in 
such  phrases  as  "  I  don't  care  a  hooter  for  him,"  "  This  note  ain't 
worth  a  hooter. ' ' 

It  is  the  truth  that  politicians  who  pretend  to  have  such  regard  for  the  dear 
peoi)le  don't  care  a  hooter,  so  long  as  their  own  selfish  ends  are  attained.  —  Dow's 
Sermons,  Vol.  I.  p.  6. 

And  agin  to  impress  on  the  poppylar  mind 

Tlie  comfort  an'  wisdom  o'  goin'  it  blind,  — 

To  say  that  I  didn't  abate  not  a  hooter 

O'  my  faith  in  a  happy  an'  glorious  futur!  — J.  R.  Lowell. 

Hoped.    Used  among  the  illiterate  in  North  Carolina  as  the  past  part. 

of  to  help.    Ex. :  "  It  can't  be  hoped.      See  Holp. 
Hopper.    1.  Hopper-car.    A  sort  of  car  used  on  railroads,  its  form 

resembling  the  hopper  of  a  mill. 

There  were  one  hundred  and  eighty-three  iron  hopper-cars  recovered  in  a  con- 
dition to  be  restored.  Of  the  f]ft3'-seven  hoppers  thrown  over  Opequan  bridge, 
one-half  can  be  put  into  serviceable  order  again.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  .June  10,  1862. 


296 


HOP— HOR 


2.  A  grass-hopper,  especially  the  ravaging  locust  called  grass- 
hopper at  the  West. 
Hopping  John.    A  stew  of  bacon  and  peas  with  red  pepper.  South 
Carolina. 

Hopping  Mad.  Exceedingly  angry,  in  a  violent  rage.  A  very  com- 
mon colloquial  expression. 

Miss  Fustick  said  Liddy  Ann  was  too  old  to  wear  plumes.    Old  Miss  C  

went  straight  and  told  her;  which  made  Liddy  hoppin'  mad,  and  led  to  an  awful 
quarrel.  —  Widoiu  Bedott  Paj)ers,  p.  275. 

Hop-Tree.  (Ptelia  trifoliata.)  A  tall  shrub  found  in  the  Eastern 
States.  The  fruit,  a  wafer-like  seed,  grows  in  clusters,  is  a  bitter 
tonic,  and  has  been  used  as  a  substitute  for  hops. 

Horn.  A  dram.  Probably  so  named  from  the  old  custom  of  drinking 
out  of  a  horn. 

The  chaplain  gave  us  a  pretty  stiff  hoim  of  liquor  a-piece,  —  and  first-rate  stuff 
it  was,  I  swow.  —  Burton,  Waggeries. 

Faith,  said  Patrick,  if  you  had  seen  me  sell  Father  Matthews's  medal,  which 
he  blessed  and  gave  me  with  his  own  hand,  to  a  boy,  for  three  cents,  just  to  get 
a  ho7'n  of  whiskey,  you  would  not  ask  me  if  I  loved  the  creatur'.  —  Milne,  Tem- 
perance Tale. 

He  poured  out  a  tumbler  of  brandy  and  water,  that  warn't  half  and  half,  but 
almost  the  whole  hog.  Oh,  gummy,  what  a  horn  !  It  was  strong  enough  to 
throw  an  ox  over  a  five-bar  gate.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature. 

In  a  Horn.  A  low  phrase,  now  common,  used  to  qualify  a  falsehood, 
equivalent  to  the  English  "  over  the  left."  A  boy  will  say,  "  I  saw 
a  man  jump  over  the  house,"  and  add  sotto  voce,  In  a  horn;^^ 
meaning  thereby  directly  the  reverse. 

"  Tie  the  boat  up !  "  says  Jim.  "  I  '11  tie  her  up,  in  a  horn  !  Do  you  reckon  I 
can't  run  her  in  such  a  fog  as  we  '11  have  to-night  ?  "  —  Major  Bunkum,  in  New 
Yoi-k  Spiiit  of  the  Times. 

I  have  mentioned  before  the  innumerable  comforts  —  in  a  horn  —  of  the  old 
White  Sulphur  Springs.  I  think  it  hardly  necessary  that  I  should  recapitulate ; 
for  there  is  never  any  change :  raw  beef,  tough  mutton,  and  tolerably  fine  ham 
is  the  regular  bill  of  fare,  and  there  is  no  variation  that  I  have  seen  or  heard  of. 
Evening  (  Wash.)  Star,  Aug.  26,  1858. 

Horned  Grebe.    See  Dipper. 

Horned  Pout.    See  Catfish  and  Pout. 

Horned  Sucker.    See  Chub  Sucker. 

Horrors.  "  To  have  the  horrors  "  is  to  be  in  low  spirits,  to  have  a  fit 
of  the  blues.    It  also  means  to  have  delirium  tremens. 

Now,  when  steam  distilling  wrenches  the  last  possible  drop  of  spirit  out  of  the 
corn,  it  brings  with  it  an  unusual  quantity  of  this  poison  [fusil  oil],  which  acts 
with  teirible  results  on  the  nerves;  seeming  like  a  diabolical  inspiration,  stirring 


HOR 


297 


up  mania,  convulsions,  and  the  hor7'ors  in  an  incredibly  short  space  of  time.  — 
Philad.  Evening  Bulletin^  1857. 

Horse  and  Horse.  Even.  Originally  applied  to  horses  which  in 
running  a  race  come  in  side  by  side,  or,  as  the  phrase  is,  "  neck 
and  neck;  "  and  then  transferred  to  gamesters.  A  story  is  told  of 
a  planter,  who,  sending  his  son  to  market  with  a  load  of  cotton,  re- 
ceived from  young  hopeful  the  following  statement  on  his  return :  — 

"  Why,  daddy,  you  see,  I  sot  down  to  old  sledge  along  with  Jake  Stebbins. 
It  was  horse  and  horse,  and  his  deal.  Says  he,  '  Bill,  will  you  go  the  cotton  ?  ♦ 
*  Done,'  says  I ;  and  don't  you  think  if  the  dern  fool  didn't  turn  jack!  "  — Bun- 
hum's  Recollections. 

Horse-Barn.    A  stable. 

Horse-Boat.  A  boat  propelled  by  horse-power,  common  in  the 
Western  waters.    Usually  a  ferry-boat. 

Horse-Cake.    Gingerbread  rudely  fashioned  into  the  shape  of  a  horse. 

Horse- Car.  A  car  drawn  by  horses  on  a  railway,  common  in  all 
American  cities,  and  recently  introduced  into  European  cities. 

Horse-Colt  We  frequently  see  in  advertisements  these  terms,  horse- 
colt^  mare-colt,  &c.    A  horse-colt  is  simply  a  colt ;  a  mare-colt,  a  Jilly. 

Horse-Ferry.    A  ferry  which  is  passed  by  a  horse-boat.  —  Webster. 

Horse-Foot.  {Limulus  polyphemus.)  The  common  name  of  a  crusta- 
cean found  in  our  waters  from  Massachusetts  to  Virginia,  and  in 
some  places  so  abundant  as  to  be  used  for  manure.  In  form  it  much 
resembles  a  horse's  hoof.  It  is  also  called  Horse-shoe  and  King- 
crab,  which  latter  is  the  name  by  which  it  is  known  in  England. 

Horse-Mackerel.  When  the  Blue-fish  reappeared  on  the  coast  of 
New  England,  — some  twenty-five  years  ago, — the  fishermen,  who 
were  unacquainted  with  the  species,  sometimes  called  it  Horse- 
mackerel.  But  that  name  was  previously,  and  is  now  usually  given 
to  the  Cyhrum  maculatum  (Mitchell),  sometimes  called  Spanish  mack- 
erel. (Ayres,  in  Bost.  Jour.  Nat.  Hist.  iv.  261  (1842),  says  the  C. 
maculatum  received  both  these  names  from  the  fishermen  of  Long 
Island.)  Dr.  Storer,  in  describing  the  Temnodon  saltator  ot  Cuvier, 
says,  "This  species  described  by  Mitchell  as  the  Scomber  plumbeus, 
and  called  the  horse-mackerel  by  the  vulgar,  is  better  known  in  those 
portions  of  our  State  where  it  is  taken  as  the  blue-fish.^ ^  —  Fishes  of 
Mass.,  p.  57.    See  Blue-Fish. 

Horse-Mint.  (Monarda  punctata.)  A  large  species  of  mint,  grow- 
ing from  New  York  southward.  —  Webster. 


295 


IIOR— IIOU 


Horae-Nettle.  {Solanum  Carolinense.)  A  plant  well  known  for  its 
orani^e-yellow  berries.  It  is  remarkable  that  a  similar  species  is 
known  in  Brazil  by  the  same  name  in  Portuguese. 

Horse-Railroad.    A  railroad  running  through  the  streets  of  a  town  or 
city,  on  which  the  cars  are  drawn  by  horses.  —  Webster. 
In  England,  they  are  called  tramways. 

Horse-Shoe.    See  Horse-Foot. 

Hose.  The  Western  term  for  "stockings,"  which  is  considered 
extremely  indelicate,  although  "  long  socks  "  is  pardonable. 

Hoss.  (A  corruption  of  the  word  horse.)  A  man  remarkable  for  his 
strength,  courage,  &c.  A  vulgarism  peculiar  to  the  West.  Even 
of  a  prominent  lady,  a  Western  eulogist  will  say,  "  She 's  a  hoss;  " 
that  is,  a  sort  of  Pandora  or  nonsuch. 

Ho.'fs  Allen  is  powerful  popular,  and  the  "bar"  hunters  admire  his  free-and- 
easy  manners,  and  consider  him  one  of  the  people,  — none  of  your  stuck-up  im- 
ported chaps  from  the  dandy  States,  but  a  genuine  Westerner,  — in  sliort,  a  hoss! 
Eobb,  Squatter  Life,  p.  70. 

I  see  thar  was  mischief  in  the  preacher  as  big  as  a  meetin'  house,  and  I  deter- 
mined to  give  him  as  good  as  he  sent;  so  I  looked  at  him  sorter  savagerous  like, 
and  says  I,  "Look  here,  hoss,  how  can  you  have  the  face  to  talk  to  me,  arter 
Avhat  you  said  V  "  —  Mike  Hooter,  by  a  Missourian. 

Hostiles.    Enemies.  Western. 

Hotel  Disease.  A  disease  which  broke  out  among  the  guests  at  the 
National  Hotel  in  Washington  in  the  year  1856,  somewhat  resem- 
bling cholera,  attended  with  vomiting,  diarrhoea,  and  rapid  general 
prostration.  Similar  symptoms  have  since  shown  themselves  at 
some  other  hotels,  though  not  with  the  same  virulence. 

Hot  Slaw.  Cabbage,  minced  and  heated  with  vinegar  :  thus  called  to 
distinguish  it  from  Kool  Slaa  (erroneously  etymologized  into  Cold 
Slaw).    Litchfield  Co.,  Conn. 

Hound.    A  negro-catcher. 

A  recognized  Hound  or  nigger  hunter,  named  McCabe,  stated  that  on  Wednes- 
day, kc.—N.  Y.  Tiibune,  July,  1861. 

Hounds.  1.  A  gang  of  ruffians  who  infested  San  Francisco  in  1849. 
They  also  styled  themselves  "Regulators."  Their  murderous  ex- 
cesses were  committed  under  the  pretence  of  guarding  the  com- 
munity against  the  encroachments  of  Spanish  foreigners. 

2.  The  portions  of  a  wagon  which,  projecting  from  the  forward 
axle,  form  a  support  for  the  tongue  or  pole.  The  term  is  borrowed 
from  nautical  language,  in  W'hich  it  means  the  projecting  parts  or 


HOU 


299 


head  of  the  mast,  serving  as  shoulders  for  the  top  or  trestle-trees  to 
rest  on. 

To  hound.  To  pursue  as  with  a  hound.  Used  by  the  police  and 
detectives  of  New  York.  A  man  arrested  for  crime  in  New  York 
said:  — 

He  had  been  hounded  almost  to  death  by  policemen,  detectives,  and  reporters. 
N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Hour.  An  hour  hy  sun  means  an  hour  before  sunset.  Southern  and 
Western. 

Hourly.    Formerly  used  in  and  about  Boston  for  an  omnibus. 
House.    Used  to  form  compounds,  such  as  meat-house^  wash-house, 

milk-house;  where  an  Englishman  would  say,  respectively,  larder, 

laundry,  dairy. 

House-Car.    A  sort  of  close  car  used  on  railways ;  a  box  car. 

House-Hunting.  In  the  city  of  New  York,  most  houses  are  let  from 
the  first  day  of  May;  and  the  landlords  have  assumed  to  themselves 
the  right  of  requiring  from  their  tenants  a  decision,  as  to  whether 
they  will  keep  their  houses  or  not,  three  months  before  the  period 
for  which  they  hired  them  expires.  On  those  houses  which  are  not 
hired  for  another  term  (usually  a  year),  "  bills  "  are  put  up  by  the 
landlords,  signifying  that  they  are  to  let.  Persons  who  intend  to 
"  move  "  traverse  that  section  of  the  city  in  which  they  desire  to 
establish  themselves,  in  search  of  a  suitable  house,  in  which  search 
they  are  guided  by  the  landlord's  "bills."  This  is  called  house- 
hunting, and  is  practised  by  thousands  every  year. 

Polly  began  to  grow  uneasy  now,  because  we  hadn't  got  no  house,  and  said  I 
ought  to  go  a  house-hunting  as  everybody  else  did,  or  else  we  should  be  turned 
out  of  doors.  — Major  Downing,  May-day  in  New  York. 

To  housekeep  is  a  verb,  formed  on  the  same  principle  as  the  verb  to 
hloodlet,  which  is  credited  in  the  dictionaries  to  Arbuthnot.  South- 
ern and  New  England.  English  cricket-players  always  say  to 
wicket-keep;  and,  in  the  past,  he  wicket-keeped. 

Housen,  as  the  plural  of  house.  This  old  form  is  still  used  by  the 
illiterate  in  the  interior  of  New  England,  as  also  in  the  States  of 
New  York  and  New  Jersey.  It  is  provincial  in  various  parts  of 
England. 

Cornelius  Nepos  writeth  that  the  housen  in  Rome  were  no  otherwise  covered 
overhead  but  with  shindies  [shingles]  until  the  war  with  King  Pyrrhus,  to  wit 
for  the  space  of  470  vears  after  the  foundation  of  the  citv.  —  Holland's  Pliny^ 
XVI.  10. 

That  day  at  housen  so  she  stopped 

She  was  behind  for  dinner.  —  Essex  Dialect,  p.  14. 


300 


Hou— now 


The  same  word  is  used  as  a  noun  collective,  for  all  that  apper- 
tains to  the  house  or  homestead,  its  outbuildings,  &c. 

It  is  enacted  by  the  court  and  authoritie  thereof,  that  henceforth  no  person  or 
persons  shall  permit  any  meetings  of  the  Quakers  to  bee  in  his  house  or  housing. 
Plymouth  Colony  Laws,  1661. 

I  testifie  that  about  forty-two  yeares  from  this  date  Richard  Smith  had  kept 
possession  of  his  hoivsing,  land,  and  meadows.  —  Letter  from  Roger  Williams, 
R.  I.  Col.  Records,  1679,  Vol.  III.  p.  57. 

Beside  the  house  and  lot,  there  was  the  housing  upon  it. — New  Haven 
Records  (1G54). 

Housen-StuflF.    Household  furniture. 

On  the  first  day  of  May,  at  12  o'clock,  if  the  tenant  isn't  out,  an  officer  goes 
and  puts  him  into  the  street,  neck  and  heels,  with  his  wife  and  children  and  all 
his  housen-stuff.  —  Major  Downing,  May-day  in  New  York,  p.  30. 

A  wife  would  make  good  housen-stuff. 

If  she  were  downright  clever ; 
And  Sail  could  suit  me  well  enough. 
If  she  would  let  me  have  her.  —  Song,  Yankee  Doodle. 

Hove.  (Ang.-Sax.  liof,  pret.  of  heafan,  to  heave.)  This  old  preterite 
is  much  used  by  illiterate  persons  in  the  United  States. 

How  ?  Used  chiefly  in  New  England,  like  the  French  comment  ?  in 
asking  for  the  repetition  of  something  not  understood. 

Do  put  your  accents  in  the  proper  spot ; 

Don't  —  let  me  beg  you  —  don't  say  "  How  ?  "  for  "  What  ?  " 

0.  W.  Holmes,  Poems. 

How  are  you,  Johnny  ?    A  term  of  address  used  by  the  soldiei'S  in 

the  late  war,  and  now  applied  to  any  stranger. 
How  come?    (Pron.  huc-cum.)    How  came  it  ?  how  did  it  happen  ? 

Southern. 

How  de  ?  A  still  further  contraction  of  how  d''ye  ?  for  how  do  you  do? 
Southern.    Used  also  as  a  noun;  as,  "  to  send  howdg.''' 

Howdy.  A  desideratum  accomplished.  "  That 's  the  howdy, — the 
very  thing  desired. 

How  fare  you  ?  This  is  a  common  expression,  in  some  parts  of  Xew 
England,  for  "  How  do  you  do?  "  It  is  pronounced  short;  as,  "  How 
fa'  yef''    In  English  prov.  dialect,  "  How  fare  'e  " 

Newman.    What,  come  back  so  soon  ?    How  fare  you,  Doolittle  ? 
Doolittle.    Cleverly.    Steady,  pretty  steady,  and  quite  chirk  again,  I  thank 
you.  —  D.  Humphreys,  The  Yankee  in  England. 

How  is  that  for  high?  A  slang  expression  and  quite  common, 
equivalent  to  "  AVhat  is  your  opinion  as  to  the  height  of  it?  "  "  How 
is  that  for  grandeur?  "  "  What  do  you  think  of  it?  " 


HOW— HUC 


801 


A  Quaker  unused  to  the  slang  phrases  of  the  day,  and  quite 
mystified  with  what  he  has  heard,  thus  speaks  of  the  manner  in 
which  he  was  accosted  by  a  rude  fellow :  — 

Thee  knoAvs  I  cultivate  the  peaceful  habit  of  our  sect, 

But  this  man's  conduct  wrought  on  me  a  singular  effect; 

For  when  he  slapped  my  broad-brim  off,  and  asked,  "  How 's  that  for  high  ?  " 

It  roused  the  Adam  in  me,  and  I  smote  him  hip  and  thigh ! 

A^Tien  Scotty  Briggs,  the  California  miner,  called  upon  the  min- 
ister to  preach  the  funeral  discourse  of  Buck  Fanshaw,  a  noted 
character,  he  said :  — 

We  are  going  to  get  it  up  regardless  of  expense.  [Buck]  was  always  nifty 
himself,  and  so  you  bet  his  funeral  ain't  going  to  be  no  slouch,  —  solid  silver 
door-plate  on  his  coffin,  six  plumes  on  the  hearse,  and  a  nigger  on  the  box  in  a 
biled  shirt  and  a  plug  hat,  —  hoio's  that  for  high  ?  "  —  Mark  Twain,  Roughing 
It,  p.  334. 

How  you  talk!  Said  in  order  to  indicate  surprise  or  other  emotions. 
New  England. 

Hub.  "  The  Huh  "  is  a  term  applied  to  Boston.  "  The  Huh  of  the 
Universe,''^  i.  e.  the  great  centre,  or  chief  city,  like  the  hub  of  a 
wheel,  to  which  the  spokes  are  subservient.  This  term  is  applied 
by  the  special  correspondent  of  the  "  London  Daily  News,"  Jan.  18, 
1876,  to  the  greatest  commercial  city  of  India.  In  describing  the 
visit  of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  he  says:  — 

Calcutta,  with  no  trivial  infusion  of  downright  vulgarity,  swaggers  as  if  it 
were  the  hub  of  the  univer'se,  the  veritable  salt  of  the  earth. 

Hubby,  Hubbly.  Uneven;  rough.  A  term  applied  to  roads,  par- 
ticularly when  frozen.  The  original  word,  still  used  provincially  in 
England,  is  hohhly. 

Huckleberry.  (Gaylusffacia.)  A  small  shrub,  and  its  small,  globu- 
lar, black,  sweet  fruit,  resembling  the  Whortleberry  of  England, 
whence  it  is  sometimes  called  by  that  name. 

As  to  huckleberrTj  and  blackberry  pies,  you  will  find  them  [in  Connecticut]  just 
as  our  mother  made  them  fifty  years  ago. —  Goodridi's  Reminiscences,  Vol.  I. 
p.  305. 

A  species  found  in  wet  land,  of  a  bluish  color  and  sweeter  than 
the  black,  is  known  as  the  Swamp- Huckleherry. 

Huckleberry  above  the  Persimmon.  To  be  a  huckleherry  ahove  one's 
persimmon  is  a  Southern  phrase,  meaning  to  excel. 

The  way  he  and  his  companions  used  to  destroy  the  beasts  of  the  forests  was 
htickleberry  above  the pej'simmo7i  of  Siny  n&tive  in  the  country.  —  Thorpe,  Back- 
woods, p.  166. 


HUG— HUM 


Huge  Paws.  A  nickname  given  to  the  working  men  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  in  New  York.  Said  to  have  been  first  used  by  the  late 
J.  T.  Buckingham,  in  the  "  Boston  Courier." 

The  Hiif/e  Pairs  oiif^ht  to  have  another  meeting  in  Tammany  Hall,  before  they 
make  their  nominations.  — N.  Y.  Herald,  Oct.  7,  184G. 

Hugger-Mugger.    1.  To  hush ;  to  smother. 

If  a  British  captain  board  an  American  ship,  and  make  a  selection  of  the 
choicest  of  her  crew,  that  is  a  venial  offence,  to  be  hu(j(jer-mu(jfje.red  up;  while 
all  our  complaints  are  drowned  by  a  chorus  of  "  Britannia  rules  the  waves."  — 
N.  Y.  Tribune,  June  1,  18G2. 

2.  To  take  secret  counsels;  to  act  clandestinely;  to  complot. 

Listening  to  key-hole  revelations,  and  hu(j(jer-mu(j(jerin(j  with  disappointed 
contractors  and  bar-room  politicians,  .  .  .  they  went  home  to  reek  themselves, 
&c.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Feb.  25,  1862. 

Hulking.    Exhibiting  bulk ;  bulky ;  bulky. 

Great,  vigorous,  healthy  men,  .  .  .  walking  rapidly  back  from  the  first  touch 
of  the  foe,  .  .  .  great  hulking  poltroons. — N.  Y.  Tribune,  June  5,  18G2. 

Hull.  A  vulgar  pronunciation  of  the  word  whole,  very  common  in 
New  England. 

Hulled  Corn.  Indian  corn  scalded  or  boiled  in  lye,  until  the  hulls 
come  off.  It  is  then  rinsed  and  boiled,  making  a  most  palatable 
dish.    See  Tortilla. 

When  I  was  about  nineteen,  I  ate  so  much  hulled  corn  that  it  made  m}-  jaws 
ache.  —  Kellogg,  Black  Rifie,  p.  19. 

Hulls.  The  husks  of  peas,  &c.  At  the  South,  applied  also  to  the 
shells  of  oysters. 

To  hull.    To  free  from  the  husks:  accordingly,  to  hull  peas  is  to  shell 

them;  to  hull  oysters,  to  open  them.  Southern. 
Huly.    A  noise,  uproar.    "  To  raise /mZ?/. "    Xew  England. 

Hum.  A  vulgar  pronunciation  of  home;  as,  "My  old  man  ain't  to 
hum,^^  i.  e.  is  not  at  home.    New"  England. 

Well,  well,  I  know  it  now.  —  '•  hum  is  hum,  be  it  ever  so  humbly."  I  am  desperd 
sick  of  being  in  strange  parts.  I  wish  I  was  at  hitm  agin,  under  mother's  own 
ruff,  I  guess  —  I  know  I  do.  — D.  Humphrei/s,  The  Yankee  in  England. 

When  is  charity  like  a  top  ?    When  it  begins  to  htm.  — Baltimore  Sun. 

Human,  for  human  being.      Western,  and  sometimes  Eastern. 

As  I  was  lookin'  down  the  gully,  I  espied  a  might}'  big  bear,  that  was  travellin' 
my  way.  I  had  no  idee  that  he  was  around,  and  am  quite  sartin  he  didn't  expect 
to  meet  a  human  in  such  a  place.  —  Hammond,  Wild  Northern  Scenes,  p.  224. 

Parson  Brownlow,  the  editor  of  the  "  Knoxville  Whig,"  is  just  as  fierce  upon 
dogs  when  they  annoy  him  as  he  is  upon  the  humans  who  cross  his  path.  — Har- 
per's  Mag.,  Dec,  1857,  p.  136. 


HUM— HUN 


303 


What  brings  a  duck  a  streaking  it  down  stream  if  humans  ain't  behind  her  ? 
and  who 's  in  these  diggins  but  Indians  ?  — Ruxton's  Far  West,  p.  79. 

The  subject  of  woman,  my  dear  hearers,  is  a  difficult,  a  tender,  and  a  delicate 
one.  Woman,  primarily,  was  a  sort  of  second-hand  human,  oi",  I  might  say,  the 
carnated  superfluity  of  man.  — Dow''s  Sermons,  Vol.  III. 

Humanitarian.  (Lat.  humanus.)  One  who  denies  the  divinity  of 
Christ,  and  believes  him  a  mere  man. 

The  "  N".  Y.  Evening  Post,"  July  15,  1859,  in  a  poem  relating 
to  a  Chinaman,  who  had  committed  a  murder  in  California,  says:  — 

Wretched  Barbarian,  worse  than  a  Parian 

Cradled  in  malice. 
What  humanitarian 
Dare  snatch  from  his  lips  till  he  painfully  sips 
The  murderer's  chalice  V 

Humbly.    A  vulgar  mispronunciation  of  homely. 

Hummock.  Knolls  or  small  elevations  along  the  coast,  so  designated 
by  seamen.    See  Hommock. 

Hung.  In  England,  it  occasionally  happens  that  great  offenders  are 
hanged ;  but  in  the  States  and  Canada  criminals  are  never  hanged^ 
they  are  all  hung.  In  England,  beef  is  hung,  gates  are  hung,  and 
curtains  are  hung ;  but  felons  are  hanged ;  in  Canada,  felons,  beef, 
gates,  and  curtains  are  all  treated  the  same  way.  —  Rev.  A.  C.  Geikie, 
in  Canadian  Journal,  Sept.,  1857. 

Hung  Beef.  Dried  beef,  so  called  from  being  hung  up  in  the  air  to 
dry;  also  called  chip  beef. 

The  hams  were  cut  out,  slightly  salted,  and  hung  up  in  the  chimney  to  dry, 
and  thus  became  dried  or  hun>/  beef.  —  Goodrich's  Reminiscences,  Vol.  I.  p  66. 

Hunk.  1.  A  large  piece  or  slice ;  a  big  lump.  Ex.:  "  A  great  hunk 
of  bread  and  cheese."  It  is  a  variation  of  the  word  hunch,  which 
is  used  in  England  in  precisely  the  same  manner.  See  Grose  and 
Moor's  Glossaries. 

2.  (Dutch,  honk.)  Place,  post,  home.  A  word  descended  from 
the  Dutch  children,  and  much  used  by  New  York  boys  in  their  play. 
"  To  be  /^un^',"  or  "  all  /mnl%"  is  to  have  reached  the  goal  or  place 
of  meeting  without  being  intercepted  by  one  of  the  opposite  party, 
to  be  all  safe. 

This  word  has  also  made  its  way  into  political  life.  In  a  debate 
of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  of  New  York  (December,  185G),  on  the 
purchase  of  certain  grounds  on  the  East  River  for  a  market  site, 
Alderman  Ely  said :  — 

Mr.  L  had  filled  in  and  made  this  ground  in  the  waters  of  the  East  River 

without  authority;  and  now  he  felt  himself  all  hunk,  and  wanted  to  get  this  enor- 
mous sum  out  of  the  city.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Dec.  30,  1856. 


301 


HUN 


Hunkers.  Those  who  cling  to  the  homestead  or  to  old  principles.  A 
nickname  given  in  the  State  of  New  York  to  the  Conservative  wing 
of  the  Democratic  party  as  opposed  to  the  Young  Democracy,  or 
Barnburners.  They  are  often  called  Old  Hunkers^  from  Hunk, 
home,  as  above. 

Senator  A  has  long  coveted,  and  finally  obtained,  a  leading  position.  He 

is  now  the  leader  of  the  hunkers  of  Missouri,  —  a  noble  band,  with  just  seven 
principles,  and  a  foresight  the  exact  length  of  their  noses.  —  New  York  Evening 
Post,  1849. 

Hunkerism.  The  doctrines  of  the  Conservative  Democracy,  or  Old 
Hunkers. 

Hunkey.  Very  fine;  "tip-top;"  "just  the  thing."  Applied  more 
commonly  to  things  than  to  persons.    "  That 's  hunkey.'''' 

In  one  of  the  songs  of  the  late  war  called  "  The  Men  of  the  Day," 
allusion  is  thus  made  to  the  Confederates  and  a  distinguished 
General:  — 

And  though  the}'  many  a  plan  have  tried, 

They  cannot  him  inveigle  ; 
The  "little  Dutchman's  "  wide  awake, 

A  hunkey-hoy  is  Sigel. 

On  the  trial  .of  General  Babcock  for  connection  with  the  whiskey 
frauds  at  St.  Louis,  Feb.,  1876,  the  following  telegram,  from  J.  H. 
Joyce  to  General  McDonald,  was  submitted :  — 

Matters  are  hunkey,  go  it  lively,  and  watch  sharply.  Every  thing  looks  well. 
Send  a  report.    Feel  hunkey. 

Hunkidori.  Superlatively  good.  Said  to  be  a  word  introduced  by 
Japanese  Tommy,  and  to  be  (or  to  be  derived  from)  the  name  of  a 
street,  or  a  bazaar,  in  Yeddo. 

Oh,  the  noble  class  of  '68  is  just  old  hunkedore; 

It 's  bound  to  cover  Hamilton,  likewise  itself,  with  glory. 

Hamilton  College  Sonys  in  Carmina  Colleyensia,  p.  147. 

At  the  trial  of  General  Babcock,  at  St.  Louis  (Feb.,  1876),  a 
witness  w^as  asked  if  he  got  a  receipt  for  a  certain  telegram  delivered 
Mr.  Joyce.    He  replied,  "  No." 

Counsel.    "  What  did  he  say  when  you  asked  for  it  V  " 

Witness.  He  said,  "Oh!  that's  all  right,  hunkidon,  or  something  like  that. 
It 's  only  a  blind."  —  Report  in  Neio  York  Tribune. 

To  hunt  for  Meat.  At  the  Far  West,  the  hunter  hunts  for  meat,  when 
in  search  of  food,  in  contradistinction  to  hunting  for  skins. 

Hunting- Shirt.  A  blouse  or  shirt  originally  made  of  deerskin  and 
highly  ornamented,  worn  by  trappers  and  hunters  as  well  as  by 
travellers  on  the  Western  frontier. 


HUR 


305 


A  light,  figured,  and  fringed  hunting-shirt  of  cotton  covered  his  body,  while 
leggings  of  deerskin  rose  to  his  knee.  —  Cooper,  Oak  Openings. 

Rise  up,  Fremont !  and  go  before ; 

The  hour  must  have  its  man ; 
Put  on  the  hunting-shirt  once  more, 

And  lead  in  Freedom's  van!  — Whittier. 

Hurra's  Nest.    A  state  of  confusion.    A  woman's  word. 

"Now  just  look  at  you,  Mr.  Jones!  T  declare,  it  gives  me  a  chill  to  see  you 
go  to  a  drawer.    What  do  you  want  V    Tell  me,  and  I  will  get  it  for  you." 

Mrs.  Jones  springs  to  the  side  of  her  husband,  who  has  gone  to  the  bureau  for 
something,  and  pushes  him  away. 

"There  now!  Just  look  at  the  Awrra's  nes^  you  have  made!  What  do  you 
want,  Mr.  Jones  ?  "  —  Arthur's  Ladies'  Magazine. 

"  Hallo,"  says  she,  "  here 's  the  devil  to  pay,  and  no  pitch  hot.  Are  you  goin' 
to  kill  that  boy  ?  Here 's  a  pretty  hurra's  nest ;  let  me  see  one  of  you  dare  to  lay 
hands  on  this  pickanniny."  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature,  p.  59. 

I  lay  till  after  daylight,  and  then  one  of  my  comrades  shook  me,  to  tell  me  that 
the  Indian  boys  had  found  a  hurra's  nest.  Out  I  went,  and  about  a  hundred 
yards  from  camp  there  war  an  old  buffalo  bull  with  a  hundred  little  screeching 
imps  about  him  with  their  bows  and  arrows.  —  Crockett's  Adventures. 

"  You 've  got  our  clock  all  to  pieces,  and  have  been  keeping  up  a  perfect 
hurrah's  nest  in  our  kitchen  for  three  days.  Do  either  put  that  clock  together 
or  let  it  alone."  —  Mrs.  Stowe,  Oldtown  Folks,  chap.  iv. 

Hurricane.  (W.  Ind.  urican.)  This  word  does  not  appear  in  any 
English  dictionary  before  1720,  when  Phillips  notices  it  as  a  word 
denoting  "  a  violent  storm  of  wind,  which  often  happens  in  Jamaica 
and  other  parts  of  the  West  Indies,  making  very  great  havoc  and 
overthrow  of  trees,  houses,  &c."  Other  dictionaries  of  a  later 
period  describe  it  as  a  violent  wind  in  the  West  Indies.  It  is  the 
Carib  name  for  a  high  wind,  such  as  is  described  by  Phillips,  and 
was  doubtless  carried  by  seamen  to  Europe,  whence  it  became 
introduced  into  various  languages. 

I  shall  next  speak  of  hurricanes.  These  are  violent  storms,  raging  chiefly 
among  the  Caribee  Islands ;  though  by  relation  Jamaica  has  of  late  years  been 
much  annoyed  by  them.  They  are  expected  in  July,  August,  or  September.— 
Dumpier,  Voyages,  Vol.  II.  ch.  6. 

To  its  covert  glides  the  silent  bird. 
While  the  hurricane's  distant  voice  is  heard 
Uplifted  among  the  mountains  round, 
And  the  forests  hear  and  answer  the  sound. 

Bryant,  The  Hurricane. 

Hurrygraph.    A  sketch  made;  a  letter  written  hurriedly. 

But  I  must  close  this  hurrygraph,  which  I  have  no  time  to  review.  —  The 
Independent,  July  31,  1861. 

20 


306 


IIUR— liUS 


Hurryment.    Hurry;  confusion.  Southern. 

I  always  hate  to  kiss  old  women  what  hain't  got  no  teeth;  and  I  was  monstrous 
glad  old  Miss  Stallins  had  her  handkerchief  to  lier  face,  for  in  the  hurryment  I 
kissed  it.  —  Major  Jones's  Travels. 

Hurry  up.  A  word  derived  from  the  eating-house  direction  to  the 
servants  below.  It  vexed  a  lover  of  good  speech  and  apt,  when  he 
heard  a  boy  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  call  to  one  to  come  down  by  using 
that  phrase. 

Hurry  up  the  Cakes,  i.  e.  Be  quick,  look  alive.  This  phrase,  which 
has  lately  got  in  vogue,  originated  in  the  common  New  York  eating- 
houses,  where  it  is  the  custom  for  the  waiters  to  bawl  out  the  name 
of  each  dish  as  fast  as  ordered,  that  the  person  who  serves  up  may 
get  it  ready  without  delay,  and  where  the  order,  Hurry  up  them 
cakes,' ^  &c.,  is  frequently  heard. 

If  you  have  any  communications  to  make,  hurry  them  up,  hot  and  hasty,  like 
buckwheat  cakes  at  a  cheap  eating-house.  —  Doio's  Sermons,  p.  51. 
Of  General  Lee,  the  Rebel  chief,  you  all  perhaps  do  know, 
How  he  came  North,  a  short  time  since,  to  spend  a  month  or  so  ? 
But  soon  he  found  the  climate  warm,  although  a  Southern  man, 
And  quickly  hurried  up  his  cakes,  and  toddled  home  again. 

Ballad,  How  are  you.  General  Lee  t 

To  hush  up.  To  cease  speaking,  to  be  silent,  to  hush.  To  dry  up, 
give  us  a  rest,  and  to  shut  up,  are  other  vulgar  expressions  with  the 
same  meaning. 

We  passed  out,  Greene  following  us  with  loud  words,  which  brought  the  four 
sailors  to  the  door,  when  I  told  him  to  hush  up,  or  I  would  take  him  prisoner.  — 
General  Sherman's  Memoirs,  Vol.  I.  p.  37. 
Husking.  The  act  of  stripping  off  husks  from  Indian  corn ;  generally 
called  "shucking"  in  the  South  and  West.  In  New  England,  it 
is  the  custom  for  farmers  to  imdte  their  friends  to  assist  them  in 
this  task.  The  ceremonies  on  these  occasions,  called  also  Husking 
Bees  and  Husking  Frolics,  are  well  described  by  Joel  Barlow,  in  his 
poem  on  Hasty  Pudding :  — 

For  now,  the  cow-house  fiird,  the  harvest  home, 

Th'  invited  neighbors  to  the  hushing  come; 

A  frolic  scene,  where  work  and  mirth  and  play 

Unite  their  charms  to  chase  the  hours  away. 


The  laws  of  husTdng  every  wight  can  tell ; 

And  sure  no  laws  he  ever  keeps  so  well : 

For  each  red  ear  a  gen'ral  kiss  he  gains. 

With  each  smut  ear  she  smuts  the  luckless  swains; 

But  when  to  some  sweet  maid  a  prize  is  cast, 

Red  as  her  lips,  and  taper  as  her  waist, 

She  walks  around,  and  culls  one  favor'd  beau, 

Who  leaps,  the  luscious  tribute  to  bestow. 


HUS— HYS 


807 


Various  the  sport,  as  are  the  wits  and  brains 
Of  well-pleas'd  lasses  and  contending  swains  ; 
Till  the  vast  mound  of  corn  is  swept  away, 
And  he  that  gains  the  last  ear  wins  the  day.  —  Canto  3. 
He  talked  of  a  turke^'-hunt,  a  husking-hee,  thanksgiving  ball,  racing,  and  a 
variety  of  things.  —  Margaret,  p.  48. 

He  counts  his  cousin  Phebe  no  better  in  her  home  upon  the  Avenue  than  when 
she  played  barefooted  at  the  old  husking-frolics  of  Newtown.  —  Ike  Marvel, 
Fudge  Doings. 

My  name  is  Jedeuiah  Homebred,  — called  Jed  for  short,  — allowed  to  be  the 
smartest  chap  at  a.huskin'  or  log-roUin'  in  all  our  parts,  besides  knowin'  something 
about  grammar.  —  The  Green  Mountain  Boy,  A  Drama,  p.  9. 

According  to  Longfellow,  the  good  luck  attending  the  finding  of 
a  red  ear  is  an  Indian  superstition :  — 

And  whene'er  some  lucky  maiden 
Found  a  red  ear  in  the  husking, 
Found  a  maize  ear  red  as  blood  is, 
Nushka !  cried  they  all  together, 
Nushka!  you  shall  have  a  sweetheart, 
You  shall  have  a  handsome  husband. 

Song  of  Hiawatha,  Canto  xiii. 

Huss-Bran  in  Indiana  is  the  same  as  Coh  in  Virginia.    A  corruption 
of  husk. 

Hyper.    To  bustle.    "  I  must  hyper  about  an'  git  tea." 

Hyperion.   (Ceanothus  Americana.)  A  plant,  from  the  leaves  of  which 

was  made  formerly  a  beverage  popular  in  New  England.  See 

Labrador  Tea. 
Hypo.    An  abbreviation  of  hypochondria. 

The  old  man  would  give  up  to  the  hyj)o,  and  keep  his  bed  for  week?.  During 

this  time,  he  wouldn't  say  a  word,  but  "I 'm  not  long  for  this  Avorld."  —  HaUbur- 

ton.  The  Americans  at  Home,  Vol.  I.  p.  176. 

Hypo-y,  from  Hypo.    "  She 's  not  sick,  she 's  only  hypo-y.^^ 
Hypped.    One  who  has  hypochondria  is  said  to  be  hypped.  Used 
also  in  England. 

Hyst.  (Corruption  of  hoist.)  A  violent  fall.    Ex.  :  "  His  foot  slipped, 
and  he  got  a  Mr.  J.  C.  Neal  thus  discourses  on  this  word  : 

"  A  fall,  for  instance,  is  indeterminate.  It  may  be  an  easy  slip  down, 
—  a  gentle  visitation  of  mother  earth ;  but  a  hyst  is  a  rapid,  forcible 
performance,  which  may  be  done  either  backward  or  forward,  but 
of  necessity  with  such  violence  as  to  knock  the  breath  out  of  the 
body,  or  it  is  unworthy  of  the  noble  appellation  of  hy.<>t.  It  is  an 
apt  but  figurative  mode  of  expression,  and  it  is  often  carried  still 
further;  for  people  sometimes  say,  'Lower  him  up,  and  hyst  him 
down.'  " —  Charcoal  Sketches. 


808 


IDA— ILL 


I  can't  see  the  {^ound,  and  every  dark  night  am  sure  to  get  a  Tiyst^  —  either  a 
forrerd  hyst  or  a  backerd  hy»t^  or  some  sort  of  a  hyst,  but  more  backerds  than  for- 
rerds. — J.  C.  Ntal^  Sketches. 

One  of  the  most  unfeelin'  tricks  I  know  of  is  the  way  some  folks  have  got  of 
laughing  out  when  they  see  a  gentleman  catching  a  regular  hyst,  with  his  legs  in 
the  air,  and  his  noddle  splat  down  on  the  cold  bricks.  A  hyst  is  bad  enough 
without  being  sniggered  at.  — New  Enyland  Tales. 

Pity,  kind,  gentle  folks,  friends  of  humanity, 
Twig  how  the  pavements  are  covered  with  ice; 

Sprinkle  the  sidewalks  with  ashes  for  charity, 
Scatter  the  ashes  and  save  us  a  hyst. 

(  Wash.)  Evening  Star,  Feb.  4,  1857. 

1. 

I  Dad !    An  exclamation  used  in  the  Western  States. 

I  dad!  if  I  didn't  snatch  up  Ruff  and  kiss  him."    Here  the  emotion  of  the 
old  mau  made  a  pause.  —  Carlton,  The  New  Purchase,  Vol.  I.  p.  179. 

Ideal  Brokerage.  Among  stock-brokers,  the  ideal  of  brokerage  is  the 
purchase  or  sale  of  securities  for  outside  parties,  where  the  object  is 
an  absolute  acquisition  of  property,  or  absolute  sale  of  property. 
Generally  speaking,  there  must  be  in  such  case  a  deposit  of  the 
stock  or  of  the  money  value  of  the  stock. — Medhery,  Men  and 
Mysteries  of  Wall  Sreet,  p.  48. 

Hk.  In  Scotland  and  the  North  of  England,  it  signifies  the  same ;  as, 
"  Mackintosh  of  that  ilk  "  denotes  a  gentleman  whose  surname  and 
the  title  of  his  estate  are  the  same;  as,  "Mackintosh  of  Mackin- 
tosh." —  Worcester. 

By  a  curious  perversion,  political  newspaper  writers  in  America 
often  use  the  phrase  "of  that  ilk  "  in  the  sense  of  "of  that  sort, 
stamp,  class."  Thus  the  "Baltimore  Sun,"  of  the  15th  of  May, 
1854,  says  :  — 

"The  'Journal  of  Commerce'  and  the  'True  Democrat'  both  denounce  in 
advance  the  meeting  called  in  the  New  York  Park,  Saturday  afternoon  [to  cen- 
sure Senator  Douglas's  Nebraska  Bill],  as  a  thorough  abolition  demonstration; 
in  proof  of  which  the  names  of  John  Van  Buren,  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  and  others 
of  that  ilk,  that  were  promised  to  speak,  are  referred  to." 

111.  Vicious.  This  strange  application  of  the  word  is  common  in 
Texas  ;  as,  "  Is  your  dog  ilU  "  meaning,  is  he  vicious.  —  Olmsted^s 
Texas,  p.  78. 

niy.  A  word  used  by  writers  of  an  inferior  class,  who  do  not  seem 
to  perceive  that  ill  is  itself  an  adverb,  without  the  termination  ly. 
The  late  Dr.  Messer,  President  of  Brown  University,  on  seeing 


IMM— IMP 


309 


this  word  in  a  composition  submitted  to  his  critical  inspection, 
asked  of  the  student  who  presented  it,  "Why  don't  you  say 
welly 

Distressed  as  my  mind  is,  and  has  been,  by  a  variety  of  attentions,  I  am  illy 
able  by  letter  to  give  you  the  satisfaction  I  could  wish  on  the  subject  of  your 
letter.  — Letter  of  Richard  H.  Lee  to  his  sister,  1778. 

"My  good  friend,"  said  the  man  of  gravity,  "  have  you  not  undergone  what 
they  call  hard  times,  — been  set  upon  and  persecuted,  and  very  illy  entreated,  by 
some  of  your  fellow-creatures?  "  — Putnam^s  Monthly,  August,  1854. 

Immediately,  for  as  soon  as.  Ex.  :  "  The  deer  fell  dead  immediately 
they  shot  him."  This  wretched  word  is  creeping  into  use  from 
England,  where  directly  is  used  in  the  same  way. 

Immigrant.  A  person  that  removes  into  a  country  for  the  purpose  of 
a  permanent  residence.  —  Webster. 

Immigration.  (Lat.  immigratio.}  The  passing  or  removing  into  a 
country  for  the  purpose  of  a  permanent  residence.  —  Webster. 

The  "London  Quarterly  Review,"  in  noticing  "  Dwight's  Trav- 
els," in  a  note,  says,  "  The  Americans  have  judiciously  adopted  this 
word  from  our  old  writers." — Vol.  XXX.  p.  39. 

The  immigrations  of  the  Arabians  into  Europe,  and  the  Crusades,  produced 
numberless  accounts,  partly  true  and  partly  fabulous,  of  the  wonders  seen  in 
Eastern  countries.  —  Warton's  Hist.  Eng.  Poetry,  Vol.  I. 

Immigration  has  doubtless  been  a  prolific  source  of  multiplying  words.  — 
Hamilton,  Nug(B  Literarice,  p.  381. 

Mr.  Pickering,  in  his  Vocabulary,  observes  that  this  word,  as  well 
as  immigrant  and  the  verb  to  immigrate,  were  first  used  in  this  coun- 
try by  Dr.  Belknap,  in  History  of  New  Hampshire,  who  gives 
his  reasons  for  their  use.  Immigrant  is  original  with  Dr.  B.  ;  but 
the  others  have  long  been  used  by  good  English  authors,  though  of 
course  less  frequently  than  by  American  writers,  who  have  more 
need  of  them. 

To  improve.  1.  To  render  more  valuable  by  additions,  as  houses, 
barns,  or  fences  on  a  farm.  Thus  we  frequently  see  advertisements 
of  a  piece  of  ground  improved  by  a  dwelling  and  out-houses. 

Where  lands  lye  in  common  unfenced,  if  one  man  shall  improve  his  land  by 
fencing  in  several,  and  another  shall  not,  he  who  shall  improve  shall  secure  his 
lands  against  other  men's  cattle.  —  Mass.  Colony  Laws,  1642. 

2.  To  occupy  ;  to  make  use  of,  employ.  Thus,  some  persons  speak 
of  an  "  improved  "or  an  "  unimproved  "  house,  meaning  one  occu- 
pied or  unoccupied.  "  This  word,"  says  Mr.  Pickering,  "in  the 
first  sense,  is  in  constant  use  in  all  parts  of  New  England,  but  in 


310 


IMP— IN 


the  second  sense  (when  applied  to  persons,  as  in  the  following 
example)  it  is  not  so  common." 

In  action  of  trespass  against  several  defendants,  the  plaintiffs  may,  after  issue 
is  closed,  strike  out  any  of  them  for  the  purpose  of  improving  them  as  witnesses. 
SwiJVs  System  of  the  Coleny  Laws  of  Connecticut^  Vol.  II.  p.  238. 

In  a  petition  from  a  Baptist  society  in  the  town  of  Newport,  R.  I., 
in  1783,  for  relief,  they  say  :  — 

Our  meeting-house  has  been  improved  as  a  hospital  by  the  English  and  after- 
wards by  the  French  army,  and  so  much  injured  as  not  to  admit  of  being  re- 
paired. —  Acts  of  Assembly,  Rhode  Island,  June,  1783. 

Dr.  Franklin,  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Webster,  dated  Dec.  26,  1789, 
has  the  following  remarks  :  "  When  I  left  New  England  in  the 
year  1723,  this  word  had  never  been  used  among  us,  as  far  as  I 
know,  but  in  the  sense  of  ameliorated  or  made  better,  except  once,  in 
a  very  old  book  of  Dr.  Mather's  entitled  '  Remarkable  Provi- 
dences.' " 

Ann  Cole,  a  person  of  serious  piety,  living  in  Hartford,  in  1662,  Avas  taken 
with  very  strange  fits,  whereon  her  tongue  was  improved  by  a  demon ,  to  express 
things  unknown  to  herself.  —  Cotton  Mather,  Maynalia,  Book  VI. 

3.  To  take  an  opportunity;  to  do  as  occasion  requires.  "He 
improved  accordingly."  —  Chaplin  on  the  Sacraments,  p.  54,  n.  par.  1. 

Improvement.  The  part  of  a  discourse  intended  to  enforce  and  apply 
the  doctrines  is  called  the  improvement.  —  Webster.  Mr.  Pickering 
has  shown  that  the  word  is  used  also  by  Scottish  writers. 

The  conclusion  is  termed,  somewhat  inaccurately,  making  an  improvement  of 
the  whole.  The  author,  we  presume,  means  deducing  from  the  whole  what  may 
contribute  to  the  general  improvement.  —  British  Critic,  Vol.  I.  p.  379. 

The  "  British  Critic  "  is  wrong  in  the  presumption.  A  minister 
improved  the  occasion,  or  the  subject  of  his  sermon,  by  its  practical 
application  of  it  to  his  hearers.  The  improvement  was  the  name 
given  to  such  application. 
Improvements.  Valuable  additions  or  ameliorations;  as  buildings, 
clearings,  drains,  fences  on  a  farm.  —  Webster.    See  Betterments. 

In,  for  into.  Mr.  Coleman,  in  remarking  upon  the  prevalence  of  this 
inaccuracy  in  New  York,  says  :  "  We  get  in  the  stage,  and  have  the 
rheumatism  into  our  knees."  —  N.  Y.  Evening  Post,  Jan.  6,  1814. 
An  observing  English  friend  at  Philadelphia  also  speaks  of  its  fre- 
quent use  there  in  the  following  terms  :  "  The  preposition  into  is 
almost  unknown  here.  They  say,  '  When  did  you  come  in  town  ?  * 
'  I  met  him  riding  in  town.'  "  —  Pickering.    Also  heard  in  Boston. 

In,  a.  The  reverse  of  out.    So  used  in  New  England. 


IN— IND 


311 


In,  n.  1.  A  person  having  office  or  position;  the  being  in  office,  the 
opposite  of  out. 

2.  A  favorable  disposition;  the  being  "  in  humor." 

Do  you  suppose  /  would  bear  with  Moses  Fennel,  all  his  ins  and  outs,  and  ups 
and  downs,  and  be  always  putting  him  before  myself  in  every  thing,  as  you  do? 
The  Independent,  Feb.  6,  1861,  Tale  by  Mrs.  Stowe. 
In  our  midst.  A  very  common  and  incorrect  expression  among 
clergymen,  and  much  used  at  prayer-meetings.  The  Newport  cor- 
respondent of  the  "Providence  Journal,"  in  describing  a  fashion- 
able wedding  in  that  city,  says  :  — 

The  whole  affair  was  one  of  the  most  agreeable  that  has  occurred  in  our  midst 
for  a  long  time. 

We  have  in  our  midst  also  our  tales  and  traditions  of  the  Revolution.  — Apple- 
ton's  Journal,  April,  1877,  p.  367. 

Inaugural.  The  address  of  a  public  officer  on  his  inauguration  into 
office  ;  an  inaugural  address.  Ex. ;  "  Have  you  read  the  President's 
inaugural  " 

To  inaugurate.  To  begin.  A  word  now  coming  much  into  use  in  this 
sense.  The  good  English  use  of  the  word  is  to  consecrate ;  to 
invest  with  new  office  by  solemn  rites,  &c.  Good  writers  never  use 
it  as  we  now  do. 

Inca.  (Kechua.)  The  title  of  a  king  or  prince  of  Peru,  before  its  con- 
quest by  the  Spaniards. 

Indebtedness.  The  state  of  being  indebted.  —  Chancellor  Kent.  A 
modern  word,  reputed  of  American  origin;  not  often  used  by  En- 
glish writers,  yet  it  is  found  in  recent  English  dictionaries. 

Independence  Day.  The  fourth  day  of  July,  the  day  on  which  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  renounced  their  subjection  to  Great 
Britain,  and  declared  their  independence. 

Indian  Bed.  An  Indian  bed  of  clams  is  made  by  setting  a  number  of 
clams  together  on  the  ground  with  the  hinge  uppermost,  and  then 
kindling  over  them  a  fire  of  brushwood,  which  is  kept  burning  till 
they  are  thoroughly  roasted.  This  is  the  best  way  of  roasting 
clams,  and  is  often  practised  by  picnic  parties.    See  Clambake. 

Indian  Bread.  Bread  made  of  the  meal  of  Indian-corn  and  rye  also 
called  "  Boston  bread,"  or  "  Rye  and  Indian," 

If  I  don't  make  a  johnny-cake  every  day,  Kier  says,  "  Ma,  why  don't  you  make 
some  Indian  bread  V  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  70. 

Indian  Corn.    Maize;  so  called  because  cultivated  by  the  aborigines. 
Indian  Corn-Hills.    1.  In  Essex  Co.,  Mass.,  a  plat  of  ground  where 
hummocks  look  like  the  hillocks  in  which  maize  is  gi'own. 


812 


IND 


2.  A  term  given  to  hillocks  covering  broad  fields  near  the  ancient 
mounds  and  earthworks  of  Ohio,  Wisconsin,  &c.  They  are  with- 
out order  or  arrangement,  being  scattered  over  the  surface  with  the 
utmost  irregularity.  That  these  maramillary  elevations  were  formed 
in  the  manner  indicated  by  their  name  is  inferred  from  the  present 
custom  of  the  Indians.  The  corn  is  planted  in  the  same  spot  each 
successive  year,  and  the  soil  is  gradually  brought  up  to  the  size  of  a 
little  hill  by  the  annual  additions. — Lapham's  Antiquities  of  Wis- 
consin. 

These  antique  corn-kills  were  unusually  larp^e,  and  were,  as  the  Iroquois  in- 
formed me,  three  or  four  times  the  diameter  of  modern  hills,  a  size  which  resulted 
from  the  want  of  a  plough.  —  SchoolcraJVs  Indian  Tribes,  Vol.  I.  p.  57. 

Indian  Currant.    See  Coral  Berry. 

Indian  Dab.    A  kind  of  batter-cake.  Pennsylvania. 

Indian  Fig.  The  fruit  of  a  gigantic  plant  (Cereus  f/iganieus)  of  the 
Cactus  family,  known  among  the  Indians  of  New  Mexico  and 
Arizona  as  the  Pitahaya,  the  fruit  of  which  resembles  the  fig  in 
taste. — BartletCs  Pers.  Narrative,  Vol.  II.  p.  189.  It  is  also  ap- 
plied to  the  common  prickly  pear,  and  so  is  Barbary  fig, 

Indian  File.  Single  file;  the  usual  way  in  which  the  Indians  traverse 
the  woods  or  march  to  battle,  one  following  after  and  treading  in 
the  footsteps  of  the  other. 

Magua  arose  and  gave  the  signal  to  proceed,  marching  himself  in  advance. 
They  followed  their  leader  singly,  and  in  that  well-known  order  which  has  ob- 
tained the  distinguishing  appellation  of  Indian  file.  —  Cooper,  Last  of  the  Mohi- 
cans. 

Indian  Fort.  Enclosures,  usually  by  banks  of  earth  three  or  four  feet 
in  height,  found  in  Western  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and 
other  Western  States.  They  were  found  by  the  early  settlers,  and 
are  apparently  of  gi-eat  antiquity. 

Indian  Gift.  A  term  proverbially  applied  to  any  thing  reclaimed 
after  being  given. 

Indian  Giver.  When  an  Indian  gives  any  thing,  he  expects  to  receive 
an  equivalent,  or  to  have  his  gift  returned.  This  term  is  applied 
by  children  to  a  child,  who,  after  having  given  away  a  thing,  wishes 
to  have  it  back  again. 

Indian  Hemp.    {Apocynum  cannahinum.)    A  medicinal  plant. 

Indian  Ladder.  A  ladder  made  of  a  small  tree  by  trimming  it  so  as 
to  leave  only  a  few  inches  of  each  branch  as  a  support  for  the  foot. 
Southern. 


IND 


313 


Having  provided  ourselves  with  a  long  snagged  sapling,  called  an  Indian 
ladder,  we  descended  safely  to  the  bottom  of  the  grotto.  —  Bartram's  Florida, 
p.  247. 

Indian  Liquor.    Whiskey  adulterated  for  sale  to  the  Indians. 

A  citizen  of  St.  Paul  furnishes  some  pretty  hard  papers  on  his  fellow  sinners 
who  trade  with  the  North-western  Indians.  He  says  a  barrel  of  the  "pure 
Cincinnati,"  even  after  it  has  run  the  gauntlet  of  railroad  and  lake  travel,  is  a 
sufficient  basis  upon  which  to  manufacture  one  hundred  barrels  of  "  good  Indian 
liquor!''''  He  says  a  small  bucketful  of  the  Cincinnati  article  is  poured  into  a 
wash-tub  almost  full  of  rain  water;  a  large  quantity  of  "dog-leg  "  tobacco  and 
red-pepper  is  then  thrown  into  the  tub;  a  bitter  species  of  root,  common  in  "  the 
land  of  the  Dakota,"  is  then  cut  up  and  added;  burnt  sugar  or  some  such  article 
is  used  to  restore  something  like  the  original  color  of  the  whiskey.  The  compound 
has  to  be  kept  on  hand  a  few  days  before  it  is  fit  for  use.  It  is  then  administered 
to  the  aborigines  ad  libitum.  — Nat.  Intelligencer,  .July  10,  1858. 

Indian  Meal.    Meal  made  from  Indian  corn.    A  mixture  of  the  flour 

of  wheat  and  maize  is  called  wheat  and  Indian. 
Indian  Orchard.    An  old  orchard  of  ungrafted  apple-trees,  the  time 

of  planting  being  unknown.    New  York  and  Massachusetts. 
Indian  Peaches.    Ungrafted  peach-trees,  which  are  considered  to  be 

more  thrifty  and  to  bear  larger  fruit  than  the  others. 
Indian  Physic.    See  Bowman'' s  Root. 
Indian  Pipe.    See  Wax  Plant. 

Indian  Pudding.  A  pudding,  the  chief  ingredients  of  which  are 
Indian  meal  and  molasses. 

As  to  grandmother's  Indian  puddings,  —  alas !  I  shall  never  see  their  like  again. 
Goodrich's  Reminiscences,  Vol.  I.  p.  371. 

Indian  Reservation  or  Reserve.  A  tract  of  land  reserved  for  the 
use  of  Indians. 

Indians.  The  name  improperly  given  by  early  navigators  to  the  abo- 
rigines of  America,  in  the  belief  that  the  country  they  inhabited 
was  the  eastern  portion  of  India,  a  name  then  applied  to  far  eastern 
Asia.  The  Spaniards,  until  within  the  present  century,  applied 
the  name  of  "  India  "  and  "  Indies  "  to  their  possessions  in  Amer- 
ica; and  even  now  it  is  said  that  in  Seville  the  department  or  office 
where  the  business  of  America  is  transacted,  and  which  in  England 
would  be  called  the  "Colonial  Office,"  is  known  as  the  "India 
House." 

Columbus  was  the  first  to  call  the  natives  of  the  New  World 
Indians,  believing  that  the  lands  he  had  discovered  were  on  the 
confines  of  India,  in  Asia.  In  his  celebrated  letter  to  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella,  announcing  his  great  discovery,  when  speaking  of  the 
names  he  had  given  to  the  islands,  he  says,  "  To  the  first  island  I 


314 


IND 


fell  in  with  I  gave  the  name  of  San  Salvador;  .  .  .  the  Indians  call 
it  Guanahani  "  (andado  los  indios  guanaham). 

Indian  Sign.  Signs  of  the  recent  presence  of  Indians  in  the  wilder- 
ness.   See  Sign. 

Indian  Summer.  A  writer  in  the  National  Intelligencer  "  for 
Nov.  26,  1857,  has  the  following  remarks  on  this  topic:  "The 
short  season  of  pleasant  weather  usually  occurring  about  the  middle 
of  November  is  called  the  Indian  Sumyner,  from  the  custom  of  the 
Indians  to  avail  themselves  of  this  delightful  time  for  harvesting 
their  corn ;  and  the  tradition  is  that  they  were  accustomed  to  say 
*  they  always  had  a  second  summer  of  nine  days  just  before  the 
winter  set  in.'  It  is  a  bland  and  genial  time,  in  which  the  birds, 
insects,  and  plants  feel  a  new  creation,  and  sport  a  shoi-t-lived  sum- 
mer ere  they  shrink  finally  from  the  rigor  of  the  winter's  blast. 
The  sky  in  the  mean  time  is  generally  filled  with  a  haze  of  orange 
and  gold  intercepting  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun,  yet  possessing 
enough  of  light  and  heat  to  prevent  sensations  of  gloom  or  chill, 
while  the  nights  grow  sharp  and  frosty,  and  the  necessary  fires  give 
cheerful  forecast  of  the  social  winter  evenings  near  at  hand. 

"  This  season  is  synonymous  with  the  '  Summer  of  St.  Martin' 
of  Europe,  which  derives  its  name  from  the  festival  of  St.  Martin, 
•  held  on  the  1 1th  of  November.    Shakspeare  alludes  to  it  in  the  First 
Part  of  Henry  IV. :  — 

'  Farewell  thou  latter  spring ! 
Farewell  all  hallown  summer !  ' 

*'  And  more  expressively  in  the  First  Part  of  Henry  VI. :  — 

'  This  night  the  siege  assuredly  I  '11  raise ; 
Expect  St.  Martin's  summer,  halcyon  days.'  " 

Indian  Tobacco.  (Lobelia  ijijlata.)  A  plant  whose  leaves  contain  a 
poisonous,  white,  viscid  juice,  of  an  acrid  taste.  The  common  Mul- 
lein {Verbascum  thapsus)  was  formerly  called  "Indian  Tobacco," 
in  New  Jersey.  — Kalm's  Travels,  Vol.  I.  p.  401. 

Indian.  Turnip.  1.  {Arum  tripliyllum.)  The  root  of  an  acrid  and 
powerful  poison  when  fresh.  Commonly  called  "  Wake  Robin  "  in 
New  England;  and  in  Rhode  Island  "  Jack-in-the-pulpit." 

2.  (Psoralea  esculenta.}  A  common  root  in  the  West,  much  used 
by  the  Sioux  Indians  as  food.  It  is  also  called  Pomme  Blaiiche  and 
Pomme  de  Prairie. 

Indian  Weed.  Tobacco. 

When  Charles  the  First,  long  since  came  hither. 
In  stormy  and  tempestuous  weather, 


IND— INS 


315 


Leaving  behind  to  raise  up  seed, 
And  tend  a  stinking  Indian  W eed, 
Scotch,  Irish,  and  Hybernians  wild,  &c. 
Sot-weed  Redivivus  .  .  .  calculated  for  the  Meridian  of  Maryland  (1730),  p.  10. 
To  indict.    To  indite. 

Never  was  letter  to  the  "  Congregationalist"  indicted  from  this  locality  before.  — 
Congregationalist^  Feb.  7,  1862,  Lett,  from  Hatteras  Inlet. 

Indignation  Meeting.  A  public  meeting  called  by  a  political  or  other 
party,  for  the  purpose  of  devising  means  to  correct  an  alleged  or  real 
public  abuse. 

Instead  of  those  indignation  meetings  set  on  foot  in  the  time  of  William  the 
Testy,  where  men  met  together  to  rail  at  public  abuses,  groan  over  the  evils  of 
the  times,  and  make  each  other  miserable,  there  were  joyous  meetings  of  the 
two  sexes  to  dance  and  make  merry.  —  Irving,  Knickerbocker. 

The  public  look  chiefly  to  the  press  for  advice  and  information  as  to  their 
rights  and  duties,  and  had  resolved  that  it  should  not  be  gagged  and  i)ut  down  by 
"  illegal  orders,  attachments,  fines  and  imprisonments  for  imaginary  contempts 
against  courts  which  cannot  be  reduced  much  lower  than  they  have  reduced  them- 
selves." So  said  the  resolutions  of  the  indignation  meeting  of  the  9th  March,  1851 ; 
and  this  language  was  generally  applauded.  — Annals  of  San  Francisco^  p.  324. 

Infair.  The  "  reception  "  party  or  entertainment  of  a  newly  married 
couple.    West  and  South. 

The  infair,  or  wedding  supper,  was  all  ready,  we  were  marshalled  to  our  seats; 
and  a  most  sumptuous  feast  it  was.  —  Southern  Sketches,  p.  59. 

Informatory.  Giving  information.  "To  indite  long  letters  inform- 
atory  and  descriptive." — Lett,  from  Virginia  in  N.  Y.  Trihune, 
April  9,  1862. 

Inside  of.    Within ;  in  less  time  than.    In  common  use. 

They  [the  libertine  and  the  harlotl  would  pollute  the  ■societ}'-  of  Heaven  inside 
of  twenty-four  hours,  if  they  went  there.  —  Boston  Journal,  April  27,  1877. 

Institution.  A  flash  word  of  recent  introduction,  as  applied  to  any 
prevalent  practice  or  thing. 

The  driving  of  vehicles  is  a  great  institution  among  us,  and  may  be  safely  said 
to  constitute  almost  the  onl}--  out-door  amusement  of  the  majority  of  our  male  popu- 
lation. The  ambition  of  every  fast  man,  young  or  old,  is  to  possess  a  wagon  with 
one  or  two  trotting  horses  attached.  —  N.  Y.  Herald. 

Garroting,  as  an  institution,  may  be  said  to  be  almost  extinct  in  New  York.  It 
•went  out  of  fashion  in  a  desperate  hurry  immediately  after  a  sensible  judge  sen- 
tenced three  garroters  to  the  state  prison,  one  for  life,  the  others  for  twenty-one 
years  each.  —  Tricks  and  Traps  of  Neto  York,  p.  47. 

Whatever  small  thinkers  and  small  actors  may  attempt,  woman  cannot  be 
counted  out  and  classified  as  a  mere  appendage.  She  is  an  institution,  and  here- 
after must  receive  the  most  generous  culture  and  recognition,  if  man  and  society 
are  ever  to  be  more  than  they  have  been  in  times  past.  —  //.  L.  Stuart,  in  N.  Y. 
Tribune,  1858. 


316 


INS— INT 


A  very  unwholesome  object,  the  carcass  of  a  large  dog,  has  been  suffered  to  lie 
in  Ninth  Street,  near  D,  since  Tuesday,  although  most  abominably  offensive  and 
unhealthy.  A  similar  institution  has  occupied  a  site  on  the  commons  for  some 
time  past,  filling  the  air  with  noxious  odors.  —  (  Wash.)  Evtning  Star,  July,  1858. 

From  the  following  example,  it  appears  that  this  use,  or  rather 
abuse,  of  the  word,  is  not  confined  to  this  country :  — 

The  camels  form  an  institution  of  India,  —  possibly  a  part  of  the  traditional 
policy,  — and  they  must  be  respected  accordingly.  —  London  Times  Cor.  from 
India.  —  April,  1858. 

To  instruct  out.  To  remove  from  office,  as  a  Member  of  Congi*ess, 
by  instructions  sent  from  a  State  Legislature. 

Mr.  Tyler  .  .  .  opposed  the  removal  of  the  U.  S.  deposits  from  the  U.  S.  Bank 
by  General  Jackson's  order,  and  was  in  1836  instructed  out  of  the  Senate  on 
thiit  issue,  having  previously  been  very  strongly  sustained  by  the  Legislature  of 
[Virginia]  .  —  N.Y.  Tribune,  Jan.  22,  1862. 

To  insurrect.    To  rise;  to  make  an  insurrection. 

If  there 's  any  gratitude  in  free  niggers,  now  they  '11  insurrect  and  take  me 
out  of  prison.  —  Vanity  Fair,  April  5,  1862. 

Interest.  Manifestation  of  attention ;  expression  of  emotion ;  revived 
feeling,  especially  respecting  religion. 

The  South  Church  in  Concord  has  had  a  quiet  religious  interest  for  two 
months  or  more.  —  Rev.  Joseph  Cook,  in  Congregationalist. 

To  interfere.  "  He  interfered  with  me,"  in  the  West,  generally  implies 
rough  usage. 

Interior.    The  Mississippi  Valley.    Recent  and  growing  usage. 

Interval  or  Intervale.  Low  or  alluvial  land  on  the  margins  of  rivers. 
So  called  in  New  England.  Similar  land  is  called,  in  the  Western 
States,  '*  bottom  land."  —  Worcester. 

The  interval  intended  in  New  England  geography  is  the  interval  or  space 
between  a  river  and  the  mountains,  which  on  both  sides  uniformly  accompany 
its  course  at  a  greater  or  less  distance  from  its  margin.  Hence  interval  lands 
include  meadow  and  uplands,  and  in  general  the  whole  of  the  naiTow  valley 
through  which,  in  these  regions,  the  rivers  flow.  —  Kendall's  Travels,  Vol.  III. 
p.  183. 

Interviewer.  A  person  employed  by  some  of  the  leading  newspapers, 
whose  business  it  is  to  obtain  an  interview  with  a  particular  party 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  information,  which  is  to  be  made 
known  to  the  public.  A  Cincinnati  paper,  of  Sept.  10,  1877,  thus 
heads  an  article  upon  the  policy  of  President  Hayes,  who  was  at  the 
time  on  a  visit  to  Ohio:  "The  President  run  down  by  the  Inter- 
viewers.^^ 

Then  the  interviewer  began  gently  to  exercise  those  lathery  arts,  for  skill  in 
which  kis  sort  is  renowned.  —  N.  Y.  Tnbune. 


INT— IRR 


317 


Senator  Rollins,  of  New  Hampshire,  refuses  to  talk  politics  with  anybody,  but 
a  vigorous  application  of  the  interviewer'' s  pump  has  extracted  from  him  the 
remark  that  the  Civil  Service  order  against  office-holders  will  eventually  be  a 
dead  letter.  — Boston  paper. 

The  Hon.  Zachariah  Chandler  has  paid  a  brief  visit  to  Washington.  .  .  .  The 
hungry  interviewer  sounded  him  in  vain  for  an  opinion,  and  had  to  content  him- 
self with  the  general  observation  that  the  §x-Secretary  looks  like  a  man  who  is 
saying  nothing,  but  doing  an  awful  amount  of  thinking.  —  iV.  Y.  Tribune,  Sept. 
18,  1877. 

To  interview.  To  question;  to  obtain  information  by  questioning; 
to  "  pump  a  person  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  secrets." 

Mr.  Beecher  is  interviewed  every  day  or  two  now  on  the  political  situation,  and 
each  time  he  takes  a  more  cheerful  view  of  the  outlook.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Into.  Used  as  denoting  a  number  or  quantity,  &c.,  deficient;  as,  "I 
had  enough  [money]  into  six  cents."  "It  v^^as  wide  enough  into  an 
inch."  Connecticut. 

In-ty.  Certainly;  indeed.  "Yes;  in-ty."  Used  by  aged  persons  at 
Salem,  Mass.,  about  1820,  and  also  in  New  Hampshire.  The  word 
is  probably  French,  entier,  entire,  used  much  as  the  English-speaking 
Irish  now  use  entirely.  "  Yes,  in-ty;  "  "  No,  in-ty,"  were  formerly 
used  in  the  vicinity  of  Roxbury  and  of  Newton,  Massachusetts, 
as  stated  by  Professor  C.  E.  Stowe  to  the  Rev.  R.  M.  Chipman. 

Inwardness.  Interest;  purpose.  Frequently  employed  in  this  sense 
in  the  Beecher-Tilton  correspondence. 

The  true  inwardness  of  the  late  Southern  policy  of  the  Republican  party.  — 
N.  Y.  Tiibune,  April,  1877. 

Irish.  Temper;  anger.  Colonel  Dick  Johnson,  of  Tecumseh  reputa- 
tion, used  this  Western  substantive  in  one  of  his  Eastern  speeches: 
"  My  friends  say  that  my  Irish  is  getting  up,"  meaning,  I  am  get- 
ting angry. 

Irish  Potato.  A  term  used  throughout  the  country  to  distinguish 
the  common  (Solanum  tuberosum)  from  the  sweet  potato  (Convolvulus 
batatas). 

Iron-clad  Oath.  A  term  applied  to  an  oath  required  to  be  taken  by 
Southern  men  engaged  in  war  against  the  Union,  to  entitle  them  to 
the  privileges  of  an  American  citizen. 

Iron  Weed.  (Vernonia  novehoracemis.)  A  plant,  called  in  the  North- 
eastern States  Flat  Top,  almost  the  only  tall  weed  found  in  the  beau- 
tiful "  wood  pastures  "  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  Western. 

Irreliability.    The  quality  of  that  which  we  cannot  rely  upon. 

Surely,  the  irreliability  of  our  war  news  must  be  demoralizing  all  our  channels 
•f  information.  —  The  ConyreyationaUst,  Jan.  31,  1862. 


318 


IS— IWA 


Is.  Some  American  grammarians  condemn  such  expressions  as  "  He 
is  come,  arrived,  returned,  gone;  was  come,"  &c.,  universal  in  Eng- 
land and  occurring  everywhere,  in  the  Bible  and  the  best  w^riters. 
No  Englishman  would  say  "  the  boat  has  gone,"  "  has  come:  "  he 
would  say,  "  he  has  gone  to  London  many  a  time;  "  "he  has  come 
several  miles  to  no  purpose;"  "he  has  returned  by  a  different 
road." 

The  difference  in  meaning  is  obvious,  and  contributes  to  enrich 
the  language.  In  the  former  expression,  gone,  arrived,  &c.,  are  real 
participial  adjectives,  expressing  a  permanent  state ;  in  the  latter, 
they  are  verbs. 

Isabella  Grape.  A  cultivated  grape  of  Vitis  lahrusca,  not  much  es- 
teemed for  its  wine-producing  qualities,  but  grown  for  table  use. 

Island.  In  prairie  regions,  the  same  terms  are  used  as  if  the  timber 
were  land  and  the  prairie  water.  A  cluster  of  trees  is  called  an 
island,  sometimes  a.  mot, — a  small  strip  of  prairie  running  into  a 
wood,  a  cove,  and  a  larger  one,  a  hay. 

The  soil  of  the  prairies  is  deep  and  rich;  but,  being  of  a  clayey  nature,  retains 
the  water  after  heavy  rains,  so  as  to  appear  flooded.  In  some  are  little  chimps  of 
trees  on  higher  ground,  which  are  called  islands.  —  Harris,  Journal  of  a  Tour, 
&c.,  p.  178. 

At  the  summit  of  the  hill  is  a  beautiful  grove,  or  island  of  timber,  where  the 
heroes  that  fell  at  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto  sleep  their  last  sleep. — A  Stray 
Yankee  in  Texas,  p.  252. 

Issuance.    The  act  of  issuing. 

Mr.  Wilson  called  up  the  bill  for  the  reduction  of  the  militaiy 
peace  establishment. 

A  long  discussion  occurred  on  a  portion  of  the  bill  providing  for  the  issuance  of 
arms  to  the  State  authorities  for  militia  purposes.  —  Debate  in  U.  S.  Senate, 
July  20,  1868. 

Item.  Information;  as,  "I  got  item  of  his  being  in  town."  This  word 
is  used  among  Southern  gamblers  to  imp^y  information  of  what 
cards  may  be  in  a  partner's  or  an  opponent's  hands:  this  is  called 
"  giving  ?Vem." 

Keep  your  eyes  skinned  and  your  rifles  clean,  and  the  minit  yer  get  item  that 
I  'm  back,  set  ofE  for  the  cross  roads,  &c.  — N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

Itemize.    To  make,  prepare,  collect. 

Itemizer.    "  An  itemizer  of  the  '  Adams  Transcript.'  "  —  Congrega- 

tionalist,  Sept.  21,  1860. 
Ivy.    In  Connecticut  use,  for  Laurel. 

I  want  to  know!  Exclamation  of  surprise.  "The  Russians  have 
gained  a  great  battle."    "I  want  to  know  I  " 


JAB— JAM 


819 


J. 

To  jab.    To  strike  or  thrust;  as,  "  He  jobbed  a  knife  into  me." 
Jacal.    (Span.,  pron.  Jiacal;  from  the  Mexican  xacalli,  a  straw  hut.) 

A  house  built  of  erect  stakes,  with  their  interstices  filled  with  mud. 

They  are  common  in  Texas  and  in  new  Spanish  settlements. 

The  modern  village  of  Goliad  is  composed  of  about  twenty  jacals,  large,  and 
of  a  comparatively  comfortable  character,  scattered  over  two  hills.  —  Olmsted's 
Texas,  p.  262. 

Jackass -Rabbit.  (Lepus  calloHs.)  A  rabbit,  found  on  the  high  plams 
of  Texas  and  near  the  Rocky  Mountains,  so  called  from  its  very 
long  ears  and  long  and  slender  legs.  It  is  known  also  by  the  names 
of  Mule  Rabbit,  Texan  Hare,  and  Black-tailed  Hare.  The  term  is 
also  applied  to  the  Lepus  Texianus  (Audubon  and  Bachman,  III.  156). 
Both  species  were  so  called  by  our  soldiers,  in  the  Mexican  war. 

Our  conversation  was  cut  short  by  a  jackass-rabbit  bounding  from  under  our 
horses'  feet.  — Audubon's  Quadrupeds  of  North  Amerim,  Vol.  II.  p.  95. 

The  jackass-rabbit  crossed  our  path  occasionally;  but  it  sprang  up  so  suddenly, 
and  darted  through  the  low  bushes  or  chapparal  so  rapidly,  that  I  could  not  get 
a  shot  at  one.  — BartletVs  New  Mexico,  Vol.  I.  p.  76. 

Jack-at-a-Pinch.    As  a  last  resort.    Au  pis  aller. 

The  fact  is,  Miss  Coon  feels  wonderfull}-  cut  up,  because  she  knows  that  her 
husband  took  her  Jack-at-a-jnnch.  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  27. 

Jackson  Crackers.    Fire  crackers.  South-western. 

Jack-in -the-Pulpit.    (Ariscema  triphyllum.)    The  Indian  turnip.  The 

recent  tuber  boiled  in  milk  is  a  popular  medicine  in  coughs.  New 

England.    In  Connecticut,  it  is  called  One-berry. 

Jack-in-the-pulpit  preaches  to-day, 

Under  the  green  trees  just  over  the  way, 
Squirrel  and  song-sparrow,  high  on  their  perch. 

Hear  the  sweet  lily-bells  ringing  i.j  chu.ch.  -  Jane  Taylor. 

Jack-Stones.  A  game  played  with  five  small  stones,  or  with  the  same 
number  of  bones  from  the  knees  of  a  sheep.  It  is  an  old  game,  and 
is  known  in  England  as  Dibbs.    See  further  in  Addenda. 

Jag.    A  parcel  or  load.  —  HalUwell.    And  so  in  New  England. 

As  there  was  very  little  money  in  the  country,  the  bank  bought  a  good  jng 
on 't  in  Europe.  —  Major  Doioninf/s  Letters,  p.  168. 

Jam.  In  Maine,  Canada,  and  elsewhere,  where  logs  are  floated  down 
streams,  they  have  often  to  pass  where  the  channel  is  contracted  by 
encroaching  cliffs,  or  where  the  river  is  otherwise  obstructed.  In 
going  down,  the  progress  of  the  logs  is  sometimes  checked,  other 


320 


JAM 


logs  are  driven  down  until  thousands  are  piled  up  in  inextricable 
confusion,  blocking  up  the  river  for  hundreds  of  yards,  and  some- 
times where  the  stream  is  narrow  for  miles.  This  is  called  a  jam. 
It  is  sometimes  very  difficult,  and  attended  with  great  danger,  to 
break  these  ^aw^  of  logs.  In  some  cases,  they  form  a  dam,  when  the 
water  rises  until  the  dam  gives  way.  The  breaking  of  a  jam  in- 
volves the  failure  or  success,  among  lumbermen,  of  a  Jong  winter 
campaign.  It  must  be  done  quickly,  ere  the  freshet  subsides,  or 
the  labor  of  the  year  is  lost.  The  same  term  is  applied  to  floating 
ice,  which,  floating  down  a  river,  meets  with  an  obstruction  and 
forms  a,  jam. 

Jam  up.  A  slang  expression,  equivalent  to  the  English  "  slap  up," 
"  bang  up,"  i.  e.  capital,  prime. 

There  must  have  been  a  charming  climate  in  Paradise.  The  temperature  was 
perfect,  and  connubial  bliss,  I  allot,  was  real  jam  up.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature, 
p.  273. 

Jamaica  Pepper.    See  Allspice. 
Jamboree.    A  frolic;  a  row;  a  jollification. 

Case  was  arrested  by  a  police  oflRcer,  at  his  house,  drunk  clear  through.  He 
was  having  a  good  deal  of  a  jimboree,  and  defied  the  police  to  take  him,  —  New 
York  Police  Report. 

G.  B.  went  on  a  xegnlar  jamboree  on  Thursday  night.  I'illing  himself  up  -with 
bad  liquor,  he  raised  a  row  and  was  taken  up  by  the  police,  —  Providence  Press. 

Jamestown  Weed.  (Pron.  Jimson  weed.)  The  Thorn  Apple  {Da- 
tura stramonium).  Its  Northern  names  are  Stinkweed  and  Apple 
of  Peru.  It  is  said  to  have  been  introduced  from  tropical  America, 
and  to  have  been  first  observed  about  Jamestown,  Virginia,  where  it 
sprang  up  on  heaps  of  ballast  and  other  rubbish  discharged  from 
vessels;  whence  its  Southern  name. 

The  Jamestown  weed  is  one  of  the  greatest  coolers  in  the  world.  It,  being  an 
early  plant,  was  gathered  very  young  for  a  boiled  salad  by  some  of  the  soldiers, 
to  pacify  the  troubles  of  bacon,  and  some  of  them  eat  plentifully  of  it,  the  effect 
of  which  was  a  very  pleasant  comedy;  for  they  turned  natural  fools  upon  it  for 
several  days  — Beverly,  Hist,  of  Virginia,  Book  II. 

The  Jamestown  weed  is  excellent  for  curing  burns  and  assuaging  inflammations; 
but  taken  inwardh'  brings  on  a  sort  of  drunken  madness.  —  Lawson's  Carolina^ 
1718,  p.  78. 

"George,  did  you  ever  see  Sicily  Burns  V  "  "  Yes,  a  very  handsome  girl." 
"Handsome!  this  wurd  don't  kiver  the  case.  She  shows  among  wimen  like  a 
sun-flower  as  compared  to  dog-fennel,  an'  smart  weed,  andji'i/wsen,"  —  Sut  Luven- 

good''s  Experience. 

Jammed,  Mashed,  when  applied  to  potatoes.  "  Will  you  have  your 
potatoes  whole  or  jammed?  was  asked  of  a  traveller  at  a  hotel  in 
the  interior  of  the  State  of  New  York. 


JAP— JER 


321 


Japonicadom.  A  word  invented  by  N.  P.  Willis  to  denote  the  upper 
classes  of  society.  Allusive  to  the  flower  known  as  the  Japonica 
Lily. 

Jaquima.  (Span,,  pron.  hak-ke-ma.)  The  head-stall  of  a  halter,  used 
in  Texas  and  California  for  breaking  wild  horses. 

Jayhawker.  A  cant  name  in  the  Western  States  for  a  lawless  or 
other  soldier  not  enlisted;  a  freebooting  armed  man;  a  guerilla. 
' '  The  Leavenworth  Conservative  ' '  says  ' '  the  term  was  first  applied 
to  Colonel  Jennison,  of  New  York,  and,  being  a  jovial,  festive,  and 
lively  cuss,  his  comrades  always  spoke  of  him  as  the  '  Gay  Yorker.' 
This  expression  was  afterwards  used  to  designate  his  men,  and  in 
its  various  travels  naturally  underwent  many  changes  until  at  last 
it  crystallized  into  Jayhmvker.^^  — iV".  Y.  World,  Jan.  8,  1862. 

We  are  soldiers,  not  thieves  or  plunderers,  or  Jayhawkers.  —  Proclamation  of 
General  James  Lane,  Oct.,  1861. 

General  Sheridan,  in  a  despatch,  having  spoken  of  Louisiana 
"  banditti,"  gave  much  offence  to  the  people  of  New  Orleans.  In 
explanation,  the  General  said:  — 

The  terms  Jayhawher  and  Banditti  were  employed  to  distinguish  them  from 
the  White  League,  a  secret  military  organization.  The  term  Jayhawher  could  not 
be  used,  for  the  White  Leagues  were  not  plunderers  and  robbers. 

To  jeopardize.  To  expose  to  loss  or  injury. — Webster.  This  word 
is  often  seen  in  the  debates  of  Congress,  as  they  are  reported  in  the 
newspapers.  It  is  doubtless  a  corruption  of  the  ancient  verb  to 
jeopard,  as  deputize  is  of  depute.  —  Pickering.  The  word  is  much 
used  in  the  United  States,  and  less  frequently  in  England. 

The  profound  respect  for  the  cause  of  truth  which  led  Mr.  Tooke  not  io  jeopard- 
ize its  interests  by  any  hast}'  assumption  of  its  name  and  pretensions  for  a 
discovery  yet  incomplete  constitutes  one  of  his  surest  holds  upon  posterity.  — 
London  Athenceum,  March  18,  1848. 

A  horse,  with  a  wagon  attached,  took  fright  yesterday  afternoon  in  York 
Street,  and  started  off  at  full  speed,  JeoparrfiVm*/  the  lives  and  limbs  of  pedestrians. 
One  female,  with  a  child  in  her  arms,  narrowly  escaped  being  knocked  down  and 
run  over.  —  iV.  Y.  Conner  and  Enquirer. 

Jerked  Meat.  Dried  meat;  a  term  more  generally  applied  to  beef 
dried  in  the  open  air.  Some  imagine  the  word  to  have  come  from 
the  Spanish  Charqui,  the  common  term  in  all  Spanish  America, 
Mexico  alone  excepted,  for  dried  beef. 

Jerks  and  Jerking  Exercise.  The  paroxysms  into  which  certain 
religious  enthusiasts  fell  at  their  camp-meetings  in  the  West,  though 
chiefly  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  It  consisted  in  being  jerked  in 
all  directions,  and  over  whatever  object  happened  to  be  in  the  way. 

21 


322 


JES— JIG 


In  these  cases,  the  persons  affected  would  be  left  to  themselves, 
because  the  people  said  that  to  oppose  thein  would  be  to  resist  the 
influences  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 

Jessie.    "  To  give  one  Jessie  "  means  to  give  him  a  flogging. 

Well,  boss,  you 've  slashed  the  hide  off 'er  that  feller,  touched  his  raw,  and 
ruinpled  his  feathers,  —  tliat 's  the  way  to  (jive  him  jessy.  —  liohb,  Squatter  Life, 
p.  33. 

The  preacher  went  in  for  ginnrj  Jessie  to  the  Church  of  Rome.  —  Doesticks, 
p.  105. 

It  is  represented  that  a  great  many  people  from  Salt  Lake  have  been  met,  and 
they  all  say  that  the  Mormons  are  going  to  (jive  us  Jessie.  —  St.  Louis  Republi- 
can, 1857. 

The  Judge  [who  was  a  candidate  for  office]  had  to  stay  at  a  convenient  distance 
to  hear  that  Hoss  Allen  was  giving  him  particular  Jesse.  —  Hoss  Allen's  Apoloyy. 

Jewhillikens !    A  Western  exclamation  of  surprise. 

Didn't  you  know  that  feller,  Arch  Cooney  ?  He  was  a  hoss-fly.  He 's  a  few ! 
■well  he  is.  Jeichilliken,  how  he  could  whip  a  nigger!  and  swear!  whew!  — 
Traits  of  American  Humor. 

To  jib.  A  horse  in  a  carriage,  when  he  stands  still  and  refuses  to  go, 
is  said  to  jih.  In  England,  the  term  is  applied  to  a  horse  that 
backs  instead  of  going  forward.  —  Halliwell.    See  Baulk. 

Jibber.    A  horse  in  harness  who  stands  still  and  refuses  to  go  forward. 

Let  any  person  driving  a  strange  horse,  with  a  load  that  he  is  not  sure  he  can 
start  easily,  proceed  according  to  directions;  and  he  may  be  certain  that,  if  the 
animal  be  not  already  a.  jibber,  he  will  not  make  himself  so.  — Jenninys  on  the 
Horse,  p.  200 

To  jibe.  To  suit,  agree,  harmonize.  A  variation  of  to  gee,  which  last 
is  used  both  in  England  and  in  this  country.  Xautical  in  its 
origin:  "  to  go  about,  with  the  wind  aft;  "  to  jibe  well  is  to  work 
well.    One  vessel  jibes,  another  iacks,  better. 

I  attempted  to  sing  the  words  of  "  Old  Hundred,"  while  the  lady  played  the 
Jenny  Lind  Polka,  which  didn't  seem  to  jibe.  —  Doesticks,  p.  113. 

Jig.    An  artificial  squid  for  trolling.    Xew  England. 

"  A  school  of  blue-fish !  "  exclaimed  the  Professor,  as  his  eye  caught  the  move- 
ment to  which  I  pointed.  He  shouted  frantically  to  the  pilot  to  make  haste  with 
the  dory,  and,  throwing  on  an  overcoat,  seized  from  the  locker  where  we  kept 
our  fishing  tackle  a  long,  stout  line,  at  the  end  of  which  was  a  shining,  spoon- 
shaped  piece  ot"  pewter,  terminated  by  a  large  hook.  This  apparatus  he  called  a 
jig.  —N.  Y.  Tribune,  July  •22,  1858.' 

Upon  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  the  contrivance  referred  to  is  called 
a  spoon-hook,  where  it  is  used  for  catching  bass,  pike,  and  mus- 
kalunge. 


JIG— JOG 


323 


The  Jig  is  up,  i.  e.  the  game  is  up ;  it  is  all  over  with  me. 

The  time  was  when  I  could  cut  pigeon-wings  and  perform  the  double-shuffle 
with  precision  and  activity ;  but  those  days  are  over  now,  —  the  Jiff  is  up.  —  Ken- 
dall, Santa  Fe  Expedition,  Vol.  I.  p.  62. 

Jigamaree.  A  trivial  or  non-sensible  thing.  A  factitious  word,  equiv- 
alent to  "  jiggumbob  "  and  "  thingumbob."  It  is  explained  in  the 
English  glossaries  to  mean  a  manoeuvre,  a  trick. 

He  is  also  the  inwentor  of  the  "  housekeeper's  friend,"  that  ere  jigamaree  the 
wimmim  scrubs  with,  instead  of  going  on  their  hands  and  knees  as  they  used  to. 
N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

I  went  over  t'other  night  to  see  them  all,  as  they  was  as  bus}'  as  bees  in  a  tar 
barrel  sowin'  and  makin'  up  finery.  Mary  was  sowin'  something  mighty  fine 
with  ruffles  and  jiffamarees  all  around  it.  — Major  Jones's  Courtship). 

Jigger.    1.  An  insect.    See  Chigoe. 

2.  A  small  fishing  vessel.    New  England. 

3.  A  sail. 

Jiggling-Board.  A  board  the  ends  of  which  are  placed  upon  frames  or 
stools,  upon  which  a  person  stands  and  springs  up;  also  called  a 
jolly-board . 

Jimber jawed.    Where  the  lower  jaw  projects  unnaturally. 
Jim-Jams.    Delirium  tremens.  Kentucky. 

Jimmy.  A  piece  of  iron,  varying  in  length,  sharp-pointed  atone  end, 
used  by  burglars  for  prying  open  doors  and  iron  safes,  or  for  forcing 
a  lock. 

Jimpson  or  Jimson  Weed.  Jamestown  Weed.  {Stramonium.)  Said 
to  have  been  first  introduced  at  Jamestown,  Virginia.  See  James- 
town Weed. 

She  went  to  the  open  door  and  stood  in  it  and  looked  out  among  the  tomato 
vines  and _/i?rt/>soTO  MJeec/s  that  constituted  the  garden.  —  Mark  Twain,  Tom  Saiv- 
yer,  p.  18. 

Jobber.    1.  Used  only  conventionally  in  Wall  Street     In  London,  it 

is  the  equivalent  of  a  stock  operator.  —  Medhery. 

2.  One  who  purchases  goods  from  importers  and  manufacturers 

by  the  package,  and  sells  to  retailers. 
Jobbing-House.    A  mercantile  establishment  which  purchases  from 

importers  and  sells  to  retailers.  —  Webster. 
Joe-pye  Weed.    (Eupatorium purpureum.)  Maine. — Thoreau\s  Maine 

Woods,  p.  317.    So  called  from  an  Indian  of  that  name,  who  cured 

typhus  fever  with  it,  by  copious  perspiration. — Rafinesque,  Med. 

Flora,  Vol.  I.  p.  179. 
Jog.    A  projection  or  deviation  from  a  straight  line  or  plain  surface, 

e.  g.  in  the  course  of  a  fence,  or  in  the  side  of  a  building.  Comp. 


824 


JOII— JOR 


English  provincial  Jockey^  "  uneven  "  (Kent).  Jogging,  a  protuber- 
ance on  the  surface  of  sawn  wood.  Eastern. 

The  afklition  which  Hilly  Jacobs  had  made  [to  the  house]  was  oblong,  running 
out  to  the  south,  and  projecting  on  the  front  a  few  feet  beyond  the  other  part. 
This  obtrusivc  /oy  was  certainly  very  ugly.  — Mercy  Phllbiicts  Choice,  p.  7. 

The  little  clumsy,  meaningless ^o*/  ruined  the  house,  —  gave  it  an  uncomforta- 
bly awry  look,  &c.  —  Ibid.,  p.  8. 

John.    A  common  name  in  California  for  a  Chinaman. 

I  passed  out  of  the  Chinese  theatre,  with  a  lady  and  two  children.  We  had 
to  walk  through  a  crowd  of  Johns.  .  .  .  Moreover,  all  that  John  does,  he  seems 
to  do  with  a  sluggish  amount  of  sluggish  decorum.  — Nordhojps  CaliJ'oi-nia,  p.  85. 

Johnnies.    During  the  late  civil  war,  a  term  applied  by  the  soldiers 

of  the  Union  army  to  those  of  the  Confederate  army. 
Johnny-Cake.    A  cake  made  of  Indian  meal  mixed  with  milk  or 
water.    A  New  England  Johnny-Cake  is  invariably  spread  upon  the 
stave  of  a  barrel-top,  and  baked  before  the  fire.    Sometimes  stewed 
pumpkin  is  mixed  with  it. 

Some  talk  of  hoe-cake,  fair  Virginia's  pride ; 
Rich  Johnny-cake  this  mouth  has  often  tried. 
Both  please  me  well,  their  virtues  much  the  same; 
Alike  their  fabric,  as  allied  their  fame, 
Except  in  dear  New  England,  where  the  last 
Receives  a  dash  of  pumpkin  in  the  paste. 

Joel  Barlow,  Poem  on  Hasty  Pudding. 
Little  Sarah  she  stood  by  her  grandmother's  bed, 
"And  what  shall  I  get  for  your  breakfast  V  "  she  said. 
"You  shall  get  me  a  Johnny-cake :  quickly  go  make  it, 
In  one  minute  mix,  and  in  two  minutes  bake  it."  —  L.  Maria  Chila. 

The  origin  of  the  word  is  doubtful.  Some  imagine  it  to  have 
originally  been  Journey-cake. 

All  the  greatness  of  our  State  has  been  nourished  on  johnny-cakes  of  white  corn- 
meal.  Johnny-cake  I  spell  in  deference  to  modern  usage,  though  the  old  name, 
journey-cake,  may  well  recall  to  us  that  long  and  toilsome  journey,  when  our  great 
founder  fled  from  the  odious  land  of  yellow  corn.  —  Cor.  of  Providence  Journal. 

Johnny-jump-up-and-kiss-me,  Johnny-jump-up,  Johnny-Jump- 
er. Names  given  to  the  Heart's  Ease,  or  Violet.  This  name  is 
also  given  to  the  breast-bone  of  a  goose,  with  its  two  ends  brought 
together  by  a  twisted  string  held  by  a  stick  passing  through  it  and 
stuck  fast  to  the  end  by  a  piece  of  wax. 

Jornada.  (Spanish,  pron.  horndda.)  A  march  or  journey  performed 
in  a  day.  In  the  interior,  it  is  only  applied  to  a  long  reach  of  desert 
country  without  water,  and  not  to  a  day's  journey;  as,  the  "  Jornada 
del  Muerto  "  in  New  Mexico,  which  is  ninety  miles  across,  and 
which  it  takes  several  days  to  traverse. 


JOS— JUD 


325 


If  experiments  with  artesian  wells  should  prove  successful,  the  progress  of 
agriculture  in  New  Mexico  would  be  more  rapid,  and  even  many  dreaded  jor- 
nadas  might  be  changed  from  waterless  deserts  into  cultivated  plains.  —  Wisli- 
zenus.  New  Mexico. 

Until  the  autumn  of  1849,  the  California  desert  was  found  to  be  a  sandy  and 
dreary  jornada^  without  water  or  grass.  —  Captain  Whipple's  Explorations, 
R.  R.  Survey. 

Josey.  A  loose,  light,  upper  garment,  with  sleeves  and  a  short  skirt, 
now  worn  by  women  and  girls.  Both  the  dress  and  the  name  are 
contractions  of  the  old-fashioned  Joseph. 

Josh.  A  word  shouted  at  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange  to  wake  up 
a  sleepy  member. 

A  member  drops  asleep,  worn  out  it  radiy  be  by  long  nights  and  feverish  daily 
wrestlings  with  bull  or  bear.  ^^Josh,^''  ^'■Josh,'^  Josh,''  comes  roaring  from  a 
dozen  leathern  lungs,  and  the  broker  lifts  his  head  and  rubs  his  eyes,  startled 
from  slumber  by  the  traditional  ralij'ing  cry.  —  Medbery,  Men  and  Mysteries  of 
Wall  Street,  p.  146. 

Jour  or  Jur.  An  abbreviation  of  the  word  yowrne/yman.  "  The  boss 
quarrelled  with  the  jur s  ;  "  i.  e.,  the  master  quarrelled  with  his  jour- 
neymen. 

Juba.  One  of  the  classical  names  often  given  to  Negroes  by  their 
masters.  "  Patting  or  Clapping  Juba  "  is  keeping  time  by  striking 
the  feet  on  the  floor  and  clapping  the  hands  on  the  legs  to  the  music 
of  the  banjo.  It  adds  much  to  the  excitement  of  the  rustic  dances 
at  the  South. 

Here  we  saw  rare  sport!  Here  were  Virginia  slaves,  dancing  jigs  and  clapping 
Jvher,  over  a  barrel  of  persimmon  beer,  to  the  notes  of  the  banjo.  —  Southern 
Sketches,  p.  98. 

Juber  up  and  Jid)er  down, 
Juber  all  around  de  town, 
Juber  dis  and  Juber  dat, 
And  Juber  round  de  simmon  vat. 

Hoe  corn  and  hill  tobacco, 
Get  over  double  trouble,  Juber,  boys,  Juber  1  —  Ibid.,  p.  101. 

In  some  versions,  the  fourth  line  reads,  ' '  Juba  lub  de  'possum  fat. ' ' 

Judas  Tree.    See  Red  Bud. 

Judges  of  the  Plains.  A  translation  of  the  Spanish  Jueces  del  Ca.m.po. 
In  California,  there  are,  by  law,  appointed  certain  persons  in  every 
county,  whose  duty  it  is  to  attend  all  the  rodeos,  or  gatherings  of 
cattle,  whether  for  the  purpose  of  marking  or  branding,  or  for  sepa- 
rating the  cattle,  when  called  upon  by  any  ranchero,  farmer,  or 
owner  of  stock.  These  are  called  Judges  of  (he  Plains,  and  have  the 
power  to  decide  all  disputes  connected  with  the  ownership  of  horses, 
mules,  or  horned  cattle.  —  Laws  of  California.    See  Rodeo. 


826 


JUD— JUM 


The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  liand-bill  stuck  up  in  San 
Diego :  — 

Ordered,  That  the  three  Judfjex  of  the  Plains  at  large  shall  meet  at  San  Loui.s 
Rey  ...  for  consultation  in  all  matters  appertaining  to  their  duties  as  Judtjes 
of  the  Plains,  and  to  adopt  such  rules  and  regulations  as  may  be  authorized  by 
law,        —  Nordlioff's  California,  p.  238. 

Judiciary.  The  judiciary  power,  or  the  power  that  administers  jus- 
tice; judicature.  — Judge  Storij.  This  word  is  often  used  as  a  sub- 
stantive in  the  United  States,  but  is  not  often  so  used  in  England. 

W orcester. 

Judy.  1.  "To  make  a  Judy  of  one's  self  "  is  what,  with  more  vigor 
than  politeness,  is  termed  making  an  ass  of  one's  self. 

The  "Boston  Chronotype,"  in  speaking  of  the  bad  management 
and  confusion  at  the  Water  celebration,  says:  — 
It  is  thought  tliat  a  set  of  men  never  did  make  greater  Judies  of  themselves. 
2.  A  lamp  formerly  used  in  Xew  England  for  burning  blubber. 
Jug.    A  jail.    1.  To  be  in  jug,  or  in  the  stone  jug,  is  to  be  in  jail. 

So  arter  this  they  sentenced  me,  to  make  all  tight  and  snug, 
Afore  a  reg'lar  court  o'  law,  to  ten  years  in  the  Jug. 

2.  In  American  Thief  Slang,  jug  signifies  a  Bank. 

3.  To  jug  money,  &c.,  to  hide  it  away. 

Jugful.  "Not  by  2^  jugful  is  a  phrase  commonly  used  to  mean, 
not  by  a  great  deal,  by  no  means. 

Downingville  is  as  sweet  as  a  rose.  But  'taint  so  in  New  York,  not  by  di  jugful. 
Major  Downing,  May-day  in  New  York. 

He  wished  to  state  of  the  pro-slaven''  men  of  Kansas,  so  that  their  friends  in 
Missouri  might  see  into  their  plans  and  polic}',  they  had  not  abandoned  the  idea 
of  making  Kansas  a  slave  State,  by  a  jugful.  — P.  T.  Ablets  Speech,  July,  1857. 

Julep.  A  drink,  composed  of  brandy  or  whiskey  with  sugar,  pounded 
ice,  and  some  sprigs  of  mint.    Frequently  Alint  Julep. 

Hoffman  brings  the  gods  together  on  Mount  Olympus,  after  their 
last  butt  of  nectar  had  run  out,  to  taste  mint  juleps:  — 

The  draught  was  delicious,  each  god  did  exclaim. 
Though  something  yet  wanting  they  all  did  bewail; 

'Bntjideps  the  drink  of  immortals  became, 
When  Jove  himself  added  a  handful  of  hail. 

The  word  julep  supposed  to  be  American ,  both  in  name  and  for  a 
beverage,  is  mentioned  by  Beaumont  and  Fletcher:  — 
Men  drown  themselves  for  joy  to  draw  in  juleps, 
When  they  are  hot  with  wine ;  in  dreams  we  do  it. 

The  Mad  Lover,  Act  ii.  Sc.  1. 
Jump.    "  From  the  jump  "  is  a  phrase  meaning  from  the  start,  from 
the  beginning. 


JUM— KAN 


227 


Here  is  a  whole  string  of  Democrats,  all  of  whom  had  been  going  the  whole 
hog  for  Cass  from  the  jump,  without  regard  to  our  adherence  or  opposition  to 
Taylor.  —      Y.  Tribune,  Nov.  11,  1848. 

To  jump  a  Claim,  in  Western  parlance,  is  to  endeavor  to  obtain  pos- 
session of  the  land  or  "  claim  "  which  has  been  taken  up  and  occu- 
pied by  a  settler,  or  "squatter,"  in  a  new  country.  The  first 
occupant  is,  by  squatter  law  and  custom,  entitled  to  the  first  claim 
on  the  land.  Sometimes  dishonest  men  attempt  to  deprive  the 
squatter  of  his  rights,  which  often  leads  to  bloodshed. 

When  I  hunted  claims,  I  went  far  and  near, 

Resolved  from  all  others  to  keep  myself  clear; 

And  if,  through  mistake,  I  jumped  a  man's  claim, 

As  soon  as  I  knew  it  I  jumped  off  again. 

E.  H.  Smith,  Hist,  of  Black  Hawk,  1846. 
If  a  man  jumped  my  claim,  and  encroached  on  my  boundaries,  and  I  didn't 
knock  him  on  the  head  with  a  pickaxe,  I  appealed  to  the  crowd,  and,  my  claim 
being  carefully  measured  and  found  correct,      jumper  would  be  ordered  to  con- 
fine himself  to  his  own  territory.  — F.  Marryat,  Mountains  and  Molehills,  p.  217. 

At  Florence,  Nebraska  Territory,  on  the  26th  of  May,  seven  men  were  arrested 
by  a  mob,  for  what  is  called  claim-jumping,  — that  is,  settling  down  on  sections 
of  land  already  entered  or  claimed  by  other  persons.  They  were  tried  b}'^  a  club 
association,  and  condemned  to  death  by  hanging;  but  the  urgent  entreaties  of 
their  families  averted  the  execution  of  the  infamous  sentence.  — Boston  Traveller. 

To  jump  Bail.  To  abscond.  "Boss  Tweed  jumped  his  bail;  i.  e., 
he  ran  away. 

Jumper.    1.  One  who  takes  a  squatter's  claim. 

2.  A  couple  of  hickory  poles  so  bent  that  the  runners  and  shafts  are 
of  the  same  piece,  with  a  crate  placed  on  four  props,  complete  this 
primitive  species  of  sledge;  and  when  the  crate  is  filled  with  hay, 
and  the  driver  well  wrapped  in  a  buffalo  robe,  the  "turn-out"  is 
about  as  comfortable  a  one  as  a  man  could  wish.  —  Hoffman,  Winter 
in  the  West,  p.  200. 

Junk-Bottle.    The  ordinary  black  glass  porter-bottle. 

Kamas  Root.  (Camassia  esculenta.)  Breadroot.  The  Pomme  des 
Prairies  or  Pomme  Blanche  of  the  Canadians,  and  Prairie  Turnip 
of  the  hunters  and  trappers  of  the  West.  It  is  very  extensively  used 
as  food  by  the  Digger  Indians. 

Kanacka.  A  native  of  the  Sandwieh  Islands.  Kanaka  is  the  Sand- 
wich Island  word  for  "  man."  California. 

Kanticoy.    See  Canticoy. 


328 


KAR— KEE 


Karimption.    A  squad.  Western. 

A  wiiole  hirimption  of  Dutch  emigrants  were  landed  here  yesterday.  —  Cairo, 

Illinois^  Times. 

Katowse.    (Germ.  Getose.)    A  din,  tumult,  rumpus;  as,  "What  a 

katowse  you  are  making!  "  New  England. 
Katydid.  (Plati/phyllum  concavum.)  The  popular  name  of  a  species 
of  grasshopper;  so  called  from  its  peculiar  note.  Two  of  them  will 
chirp  alternately  from  different  trees,  one  saying.  Katydid!  and  the 
other  replying  with  equal  positiveness,  KaO/  diduH  !  At  least,  so 
their  conversation  is  interpreted  by  the  children. 

I  sit  among  the  leaves  here, 

When  evening  zephyrs  sigh, 
And  those  that  listen  to  my  voice 

I  love  to  mystify. 
I  never  tell  them  all  I  know, 

Altho'  I 'm  often  hid. 
I  laugh  at  curiosity, 

And  chirrup  Katy  did.  —  Ethiopian  Songs. 
I  love  to  hear  thine  earnest  voice. 

Wherever  thou  art  hid, 
Thou  testy  little  dogmatist, 
Thou  pretty  Katydid.  —  0.  W.  Holmes's  Poems. 
Nature  was  fast  asleep,  and  not  a  sound  interrupted  the  solemn  stillness,  save 
the  pitiful  plaint  of  a  lovelorn  Katydid,  or  an  occasional  yawl  from  some  sacri- 
legious cat.  —  Bow's  Sermons,  Vol.  III. 

Kay,  Cay,  Key.    (Span,  cayo.)    A  small  island  or  rock  in  the  sea. 

The  term  is  generally  applied  to  those  on  the  Florida  coast. 
Kechug !  or  Kerchug !   Whop !   The  noise  made  by  popping  into  the 
water.    See  the  observations  on  interjections  of  this  sort  under 
Cachunk.    A  modern  poet,  in  speaking  of  the  plunge  of  a  frog,  thus 
makes  use  of  the  word :  — 

You  see  him  sitting  on  a  log 

Above  the  vasty  deep ; 
You  feel  inclined  to  say,  "  Old  Chap, 

Just  look  before  you  leap!  " 
You  raise  your  cane  to  hit  him  on 

His  ugly-looking  mug, 
But  ere  you  get  it  half  way  up 
Adown  he  goes,  — kerchug  ! 

Kedge.  Brisk;  in  good  health  and  spirits.  Ex.:  "  How  do  you  do 
to-day?  "  "  I  am  pretty  kedge.''^  It  is  used  only  in  a  few  of  the 
country  towns  of  New  England. — Pickering.  Provincial  in  Eng- 
land. 

Keel-Boat.  A  description  of  vessel  formerly  used  on  the  Mississippi 
and  its  tributaries.    It  is  thus  described  by  Flint:  "  The  keel-h^at 


KEE 


329 


is  of  a  long,  slender,  and  elegant  form,  and  generally  carries  from 
fifteen  to  thirty  tons.  Its  advantage  is  in  its  small  draft  of  water 
and  the  lightness  of  its  construction.  It  is  still  used  [1832]  on  the 
Ohio  and  Upper  Mississippi  in  low  stages  of  water,  and  on  all  the 
boatable  streams  where  steamboats  do  not  yet  run.  Its  propelling 
power  is  by  oars,  sails,  setting  poles,  the  cordelle,  and,  when  the 
waters  are  high  and  the  boat  runs  on  the  margin  of  the  bushes, 
'bush-whacking,'  or  pulling  up  by  the  bushes."  —  History  and 
Geography  of  Mississippi  Valley. 

Keeler  Tub.    A  tub  in  which  dishes  are  washed.    "  An  greasy  Joan 
doth  keel  the  pot." 

The  vessel  in  a  brewery  now  called  a  cooler  was  formerly  called  a  heeler.  — 
WmghVs  Glossary. 

To  keel  over.    A  nautical  phrase,  meaning  to  capsize  or  upset,  and 
metaphorically  applied  to  a  sudden  prostration. 

As  it  seems  pretty  evident  that  the  sovereigns  of  Europe,  instead  of  occupy- 
ing or  sharing  thrones,  are  predestined  to  the  walks  of  private  life,  it  would  be 
highly  proper  to  cultivate  in  them  a  spirit  of  self-abnegation  and  humility.  If 
the  royal  parents  wish  to  see  their  offspring  "let  down  easy"  from  their  high 
estate,  they  will  adopt  this  course.  Keel  over  they  must,  and  a  gradual  careen 
would  be  much  better  than  a  sudden  capsize.  Now  that  the  people  are  assuming 
the  rights  and  privileges  of  sovereignty,  we  trust  that  they  will  have  some  con- 
sideration for  princes  in  distress.  —  N.  Y.  Sunday  Despatch. 

Keeled  up.    Laid  up  or  worn  out  from  sickness  or  old  age.    A  sea- 
man's phrase,  like  the  preceding. 

When  we  get  keeled  up,  that  will  be  the  last  of  us.  —  Mrs.  Stowe,  Dred,  Vol.  I. 
p.  116. 

Keener.    A  very  shrewd  person,  one  sharp  at  a  bargain,  what  in  Eng- 
land would  be  called  "  a  keen  hand."  Western. 

Keep.   Food,  subsistence,  keeping.   In  a  letter  to  his  brother,  Bishop 
Heber,  speaking  of  Bishops'  College  costing  so  much,  says:  — 

Besides,  it  has  turned  out  so  expensive  in  the  monthly  bills  and  necessary 
of  its  inmates,  that  my  resources,  &c.  — Vol.  II.  p.  319. 

The  cottager  either  purchased  hay  for  the  keep  [of  the  cow],  or  paid  for  her 
run  in  the  straw-yard.  —  Edinburyh  Beview,  Vol.  LXI.  p.  245. 

"  They  tell  me  you  puritans  preach  by  instinct." 

"I  don't  know  how  that  is,"  answered  Gershom,  "I  heer'n  tell,  across  at 
Bois  Bruly,  of  sich  doin's,  and  would  give  you  a  week's  keep  a.t  Whiskey  Centre 
to  know  how't  was  done." —  Cooper,  The  Oak  Openinys. 

Poor  folks  like  us  can't  afford  to  keep  nobody  jest  to  look  at,  and  so  he  '11  have 
to  step  spry  and  work  smart  to  aim  his  keep.  —  Mrs.  Stowe,  Oldtown  Folks,  p.  98. 

To  keep.    The  phrase  to  keep  shop  is  often  shortened  into  to  keep  ;  as, 
"  Where  do  you  keep  now?  "  i.  e.,  where  is  your  place  of  business? 


380 


KEE— KEN 


To  keep  also  has  the  sense  of  to  live,  to  dwell,  which  use  of  the 
word  is  provincial  in  the  eastern  counties  of  England. 

Keeper.  A  custodian  of  attached  property,  appointed  by  a  constable 
or  sheriff. 

To  keep  a  Stiff  Upper  Lip  is  to  continue  firm,  keep  up  one's  courage. 

"My  friend,"  said  he,  "don't  cry  for  spilt  milk;  keep  a  stiff  uppe?-  lip;  all  will 
come  out  right  enough  yet."  —  Knickerbocker  Maynzine,  Vol.  XXV. 

"Tut,  tut,  Majf)r;  keep  a  stiff'  upper  Up,  and  you'll  bring  him  this  time."  — 
Chron.  of  Pineville,  p.  150. 

To  keep  Company.  To  court.  A  common  term  applied  to  a  man 
whose  visits  to  a  lady  are  frequent,  with  the  intention  of  gaining 
her  hand.  "  He  keeps  company  with  her,"  i.  e.  he  is  courting  her; 
or  "They  are  keeping  company, i.  e.  are  courting.  Also  used  in 
England. 

A  young  tailoress  got  a  verdict  against  Mr  B  ,  a  steady  fanner,  who  "^e/>< 

company''''  with  her  some  nv  nths,  and  appointed  a  day  for  the  wedding  [but 
subsequently  changed  his  mind].  — New  York  Commercial  Advertiser. 

"  I  had  no  idee  that  Sally  Smith  was  goin'  to  be  married  to  Sam  Pendergrass," 
sa'd  the  Widow  Bedott.  "  She'd  been  keepin'  company  with  Mose  Hewlett  for 
better  'n  a  year,  and  everybody  said  that  was  a  settled  thing."  —  Widow  Bedott 
Papers,  p.  22. 

Keepiug-Room.  A  common  sitting-room;  not  the  parlor,  but  the 
second-best  room.  New  England.  The  term  is  chiefly  used  in  the 
interior,  although  it  may  sometimes  be  heard  in  the  seaport  towns. 
The  same  expression  is  used  in  Norfolk,  England,  for  "  the  genei-al 
sitting-room  of  the  family,  or  common  parlor."  —  Forhy^f  Norf. 
Glossary. 

Mr.  Goodrich,  in  speaking  of  the  period  of  his  boyhood  in  Con- 
necticut, says: — 

Carpets  were  then  only  known  in  a  few  families,  and  were  confined  to  the 
Tceeping-room  and  parlor.  —  Reminiscences,  Vol.  I.  p.  74. 

Within  there  were  but  the  kitchen,  the  keepiny-room,  and  a  pantry,  together 
with  the  sleeping  apartment.  —  Eastford. 

Keet.    See  Guinea  Keet. 

Kellock.    A  small  anchor.    See  Killock. 

Kelumpus !    Thump !    The  noise  produced  by  a  fall  on  a  hard  body. 

Only  think,  —  a  fellow  to  come  here  drunk  at  night,  and  to  fall  kelumpus  on  the 
fence  by  the  apple-tree !  —  Adv.  of  Pnest,  p.  93. 

Keniption  Fit.    Any  state  of  excitement.    See  Conniption. 

Kentucky  Coffee.  The  fruit  of  the  Gym,nocladus  Canadensis.  A 
large  tree,  resembling  the  locust-tree,  bearing  a  pod  with  berries 
which  are  used  for  coffee.    Its  wood  is  used  for  cabinet-work. 


KEN— KIC 


331 


Kentucky  Flat.    See  Flat-Bmt. 

Kerboodle.    All;  the  whole.    See  ^ooc?/e  and  Caboodle. 

Kerosene.  (From  Gr.  k/;/jos,  wax,  with  termination  ene,  as  in 
camphene.)  A  liquid  hydrocarbon,  or  oil  extracted  from  bituminous 
coal,  used  for  illumination  and  for  other  purposes.  —  Webster. 

Keshaw !    ^ee  Cashaw! 

Keslosh!  Keswosh !  Kewosh!  Plash!  splash!  The  noise  pro- 
duced by  a  body  falling  flat  into  the  water. 

Cousin  Peter  sat  down  between  them  [the  king-  and  queen  in  a  play];  but  they 
riz  up  jest  as  he  went  to  sit  down,  and  the  first  thing  he  knowed,  kerslash  he  went 
into  a  tub  of  water.  — Major  Jones's  Courtship. 

The  kiver-hinge  pin  bein'  lost,  tea-leaves  and  tea  and  kiver 

"Would  all  come  down  kerswosh  !  as  though  the  dam  broke  in  a  river. 

Poetical  Epistle  from  a  Volunteer. 

I  have  seen  manhood  fall  from  the  topmost  cliff  of  ambition  kerswosh  into  the 
depths  of  nonenity,  and  lie  for  ever  buried  in  the  turbid  waves  of  oblivion.  — 
Dow's  Sermons. 

He  shoved  aAvay  the  boat,  and  the  first  thing  I  know'd  down  I  went  kerwosh 
into  the  drink.  —  Southern  Sketches,  p.  36. 

Kesouse !  Souse  1  The  noise  made  by  a  body  falling  from  a  small 
height  into  the  water.    Comp.  T'ouse. 

The  dug-out  hadn't  leaped  more 'n  six  lengths  from  the  bank,  afore  —  zip  — 
chug  —  ke-soHse  I  went;  the  eend  lifted  agin  a  sawyer,  and  emptied  me  into  the 
element.  —  The  AmeHcans  at  Home,  Vol.  I. 

To  kesouse.    To  souse  into  the  water. 

I  ^esoMsef/ the  old  cock  into  a  bucket  of  boilin'  water,  and  —  do  you  believe? 
Why,  it  took  two  of  my  young  ones  and  a  big  pair  of  pincers  a  whole  day  to  get 
the  critter's  feathers  out.  —  N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

Keswollop  !    Flop !    The  noise  made  by  a  violent  fall  to  the  ground. 

The  horses  kept  pretty  even  till  they  reached  the  third  fence,  a  regular  snag; 
and  then  kersivollop  vfent  one  rider  clear  over  the  horse's  head. — N.  Y.  Spirit 
of  the  Times. 

Kettle.    A  pail,  as  of  tin-plate;  a  dinner-pail.  N.England. 
Key.    See  Kay. 

Keystone  State.  The  State  of  Pennsylvania.  So  called  from  its 
being  the  central  State  of  the  Union  at  the  time  of  the  formation 
of  the  Con.stitution. 

Kiblinga.  Parts  of  small  fish  used  by  fishermen  for  bait  on  the  banks 
of  Newfoundland.    See  Slivers. 

To  kick.  To  jilt.  Ex. :  "  Miss  A.  has  kicked  the  Hon.  Mr.  B.,  and 
sent  him  off  with  a  flea  in  his  ear."    Confined  to  the  South. 


332 


KIC— KIL 


Kick.  To  kick  up  a  row  is  to  create  a  disturbance;  the  same  as  to 
kick  up  a  dmt. 

Mr.  Polk  admitted  Santa  Anna,  because  he  knew  him  to  be  capable  of  fighting 
nothing  but  chickens,  and  to  kick  up  a  row  in  Mexico,  and  disconcert  government 
measures.  —  Mr.  Bedinger,  Speech  in  House  of  Representatives. 

Kid.    1.  A  large  box  in  fishing  vessels,  into  which  fish  are  thrown  as 
they  are  caught.    New  England. 
2.  A  kidnapper. 

Attempted  kidnapping  in  Washington.  The  kidnappers  caught  and  locked 
up.  .  .  .  The  kiils  were  taken  before  Colonel  Childs,  who  .  .  .  ordered  them  to 
be  sent  to  the  Provost-Marshal's  office.  —  Washimjton  Republican,  April  9, 1862. 

To  kill.  1.  To  defeat,  to  neutralize.  A  political  term.  "  Do  you 
vote  the  Whig  ticket?  I'll  go  the  Democrat,  and  kill  your  vote." 
"  Ike  Sap  got  a  divorce  from  his  old  woman  in  the  House,  but  it 
was  killed  in  the  Senate." 

2.  To  do  a  thing  to  kill  is  a  common  vulgarism,  and  means  to  do 
it  to  the  uttermost,  to  carry  it  to  the  fullest  extent;  as,  "  He  drives 
to  kill;^^  "  She  dances  to  kilW'' 

"KxW.  (Dutch  M.)  A  channel  or  arm  of  the  sea;  a  stream,  river. 
This  Dutch  appellation  is  still  preserved  in  several  instances;  thus, 
the  channel  that  separates  State n  Island  from  Bergen  Neck  is  called 
Kill  van  KuU,  or  simply  the  Kills ;  to  which  we  may  add  the  names 
Schuylkill  and  Catskill,  applied  to  streams. 

Killdeer.  {Charadrius  vociferus.)  A  small  bird  of  the  plover  kind ;  so 
called  from  its  peculiar  note.  Speaking  of  the  gi-eat  variety  and 
number  of  water-fowl  in  Florida,  Bret  Harte  says :  — 

The  sepulchral  boom  of  the  bittern,  the  shriek  of  the  curlew,  and  the  com- 
plaint of  the  M/f/eer-plover  were  beyond  the  poAver  of  expression.  —  Sketches^ 
p.  90. 

Killhag.  (Indian.)  A  wooden  trap,  used  by  the  hunters  in  Maine. 
Killing  Time.    The  season  when  hogs  are  slaughtered. 
Kill-Lamb.    Connecticut  usage.    See  Lamb-Kill. 

Killock,  Killick.  1.  A  small  anchor.  A  wooden  anchor.  —  Cart- 
wright'' s  Labrador^  Vol.  III. 

2.  The  flue  of  an  anchor.  —  Jamieson.  An  instrument  used  to  moor 
a  fishing-boat  at  sea,  instead  of  a  grapnel  or  anchor.  A  stone  en- 
closed between  the  longer  pieces  of  wood,  fastened  together  with 
two  others. — Notes  and  Queries.^  Vol.  X.  p.  319. 

The  stone  slipping  out  of  the  killick.,  and  thereby  they  driving  faster  than  they 
thought,  &c.  —  Gov.  Dudley" s  Letter  to  the  Countess  of  Lincoln,  1631.  [They  had 
"let  down  their  killick^  that  soe  they  might  drive  the  more  slowly,"  in  a  gale.] 


KIL— KIN 


833 


They  took  their  berths,  unshipped  their  oars,  threw  over  their  Mllicks,  and 
prepared  for  fishing.  —  Peter  Gott.  the  Fisherman. 

So  I  advise  the  numerous  friends  that 's  in  one  boat  with  me 
To  just  up  hillock,  jam  right  down  their  helm  hard  a  lea. 

Lowell,  Biylow  Papers.. 

An  anecdote  is  related  in  "  Harper's  Magazine,"  for  April,  1876, 
p.  790,  of  a  fishing-party  becalmed  in  a  fog  near  Newport,  R.  I., 
which  during  the  night  attempted  to  reach  their  home  by  vigorous 
rowing, 

When  the  fog  lifted  at  the  approach  of  morning,  they  found,  to  their  great 
astonishment,  that  they  had  forgotten  to  raise  the  anchor,  and  had  been  rowing 
round  the  killeck  all  night. 

The  "Preble  "  stood  off  the  bar  for  an  anchorage.  We  found  a  suitable  place, 
and  dropped  the  kellock. — N.  Y.  Tribune,  Nov.,  1861.,  Lett,  from  the  Mississippi. 

Killy-Fish  or  Killy.  (Genus  Fiindulus.)  A  small  fish  found  in  the 
salt  water  creeks  and  bays,  from  one  to  five  inches  in  length.  It  is 
only  used  for  bait  for  larger  fish.  They  are  so  called  from  the 
"  Kills  "  in  which  they  abound.  They  so  much  resemble  the  white- 
bait of  England  that  they  are  only  to  be  distinguished  by  actual 
comparison. 

Kilter.  Out  of  kilter.  In  a  bad  condition ;  out  of  shape.  Halliwell 
notices  the  wwd  A-eZ^er  as  provincial  in  England;  and  Barrow  uses 
it  with  the  prefixed  "  out  of." 

If  the  organs  of  prayer  are  out  of  keltev,  or  out  of  tune,  how  can  we  pray  ? 
Sermons,  Serm.  vi. 

Sir  Charles  Lyell,  not  knowing  the  word,  wrote  it  "out  of 
kettle"! 

Kiln.    See  at  Tar- Kiln. 

Kindlers  or  Kindlings.    Small  pieces  of  w^ood  for  kindling  a  fire; 
kindling-wood.    New  England. 
Put  some  kindlers  under  the  pot,  and  then  you  may  go.  — Margaret,  p  6. 

Mr.  Goodrich,  in  describing  the  wood  fires  of  olden  time  in  New 
England,  says  :  — 

There  was  a  back-log,  top-log,  middle-stick,  and  then  a  heap  of  kindlinys, 
reaching  from  the  bowels  down  to  the  bottom. 

Kind  o',  Kinder.  In  a  manner,  as  it  were,  in  some  respects;  some- 
what; as,  "  She  made  game  on  it  kind  o'."  —  Forhy.    See  Kiny. 

A  kinder  notion  jist  then  began  to  get  into  my  head.  —  Major  Downing. 

At  that  the  landlord  and  officer  looked  kinder  thunderstruck  —  Downing. 

It  kinder  seemed  to  me  that  something  could  be  done,  and  they  let  me  take  the 
CoM.  —  Margaret^  p.  325. 


334 


KIN 


In  the  ptore  that  stands  above  us, 
As  I  sat  beneath  the  counter, 
Kind-a  doing  notliinj?,  only 
Nibbling  at  a  box  of  raisins. 

Ward.  Song  of  Higher  Water. 

Kinder  Sorter.  Somehow,  rather  ;  sometimes  reversed  to  sorter 
kinder. 

I  have  set  my  heart  on  a  gall,  though,  whether  she  will  give  me  hern,  I  ain't 
sartin ;  but  I  rather  hinder  sorter  guess  so,  than  kinder  sorter  not  so.  —  Sam 
Slick.  Human  Nature,  p.  90. 

King-Bird.  (Muscicapa  tyrannus.)  A  bold  and  sprightly  bird,  which 
appears  in  Louisiana  about  the  middle  of  March,  and  continues 
until  the  middle  of  September.  Further  northward,  over  the  entire 
country,  it  comes  later  and  disappears  earlier.  —  R.  Kennicott. 

King-Bolt.  An  iron-bolt  by  which  is  connected  the  axle  and  the  fore- 
wheels  of  a  wagon  to  and  with  the  other  parts  of  the  vehicle.  New 
England.    See  Body-Bolt. 

King-Crab.    See  Horse-Foot. 

King-Fish.  (Urnbrina  a/bvrnus.)  A  sea-fish  of  delicious  flavor,  called 
King-fish  about  Xew  York,  and  Hake  on  the  Jersey  coast. 

Kink.    1.  An  accidental  knot  or  sudden  twist  in  a  rope,  thread,  &c. 

I  wanted  to  sit  by  an  open  window  in  the  [railway]  car,  and  Betsey  Bobbet 
didn't.  I  mistrust  she  thought  the  wind  would  take  the  kink  out  of  her  frizzles. 
Betsey  Bobbet,  p.  273. 

There  is  another  financial  kink  in  the  case  of  the  bonds  of  St.  Charles  County, 
Missouri,  which  lately  became  in  default  of  interest.  — N.  Y.  Post,  April  16, 
1877. 

2.  Figuratively,  a  fanciful  notion,  a  crotchet. 

It  is  useless  to  persuade  him  to  go,  for  he  has  taken  a  kink  in  his  head  thai 
he  will  not.  —  Carlton,  The  New  Purchase. 

I  went  down  to  ^lacon  to  the  examination,  whar  I  got  a  heap  of  new  kinks. 
Major  Jones's  Courtshij),  p.  20. 

Xpver  a  Yankee  was  born  or  bred 
Without  that  peculiar  kink  in  his  head 
By  which  he  could  turn  the  smallest  amount 
Of  Avhatever  he  had  to  the  best  account. 

Cozzens,  California  Ballad. 

Kinkajou.  (Cercolepfes  caudivolrulus.  Illiger.)  "  Carcajou  or  Quin- 
cajou,  a  species  of  cat,  wliose  tail  is  so  long  that  it  is  obliged  to  take 
several  turns  of  it  around  his  body."  —  Charlevoix,  Nouvelle  France, 
Vol.  ITT.  p.  129.  See  Carcajou.  Jonathan  Carver,  in  describing 
the  Carcajou,  mentions  his  long  tail  "  with  which,"  he  says,  "  he 
encircles  the  body  of  his  adversary."  —  Travels,  p.  450. 


KIN-^KrS 


335 


Kinky.    Queer,  eccentric,  crotchety. 

Kinnikinnick.  An  Indian  word  for  a  preparation  of  tobacco,  sumac- 
leaves,  and  willow  twigs,  two-thirds  tobacco  and  one  of  the  latter, 
gathered  when  the  leaves  commence  turning  red.  This  mixture  is 
used  by  the  Indians  and  the  old  settlers  and  hunters  in  the  West. 
The  preparation  of  kinnikinnick  varies  in  different  localities  and 
with  different  tribes.  Mr.  J.  Hammond  Trumbull,  the  best  au- 
thority on  Indian  words,  says,  "  The  name,  which  is  good  Algonkin, 
means  simply  a  mix/wre,  '  that  which  is  mixed.'  In  this  mixture, 
the  bark  of  the  red  willow  is  the  principal  ingredient,  when  it  can 
be  procured;  and  is  often  used  by  itself  without  admixture."  Mr. 
T.  adds,  "  I  have  smoked  a  half-dozen  varieties  of  kinnikinnick  in 
the  North-west, — all  genuine;  and  have  scraped  and  prepared  the 
red  willow-bark,  which  is  not  much  worse  than  Suffield  oak-leaf." 

At  this  moment,  the  Indians  were  in  deliberation.  Seated  in  a  large  circle 
round  a  very  small  fire,  the  smoke  from  which  ascended  in  a  tliin,  straight  colmnn, 
they  each  in  turn  puffed  a  huge  cloud  of  smoke  from  three  or  four  long  cherry- 
stemmed  pipes,  which  went  the  round  of  the  party;  each  warrior  touching  the 
ground  with  the  heel  of  the  pipe-bowl,  and  turning  the  stem  upwards  and  away 
from  him  as  ''medicine"  to  the  Great  Spirit,  before  he  himself  inhaled  the  fra- 
grant kinnik-kinnik.  — iV.  Y.  Sjnrit  of  the  Times. 

I  at  this  moment  presented  to  the  Duke  the  Indian  pipe,  through  which  he  had 
smoked  the  day  before,  and  nlso  an  Indian  tobacco-pouch,  filled  with  the  k'nick- 
k'neck  (or  Indian  tobacco)  with  which  he  had  been  so  much  pleased.  —  Catlin's 
Travels  in  Europe. 

There  are  also  certain  creeks  where  the  Indians  resort  to  lay  in  a  store  of  kinni- 
kinik,  the  inner  bark  of  the  red  willow,  which  they  use  as  a  substitute  for  tobacco, 
and  which  has  an  aromatic  and  very  pungent  flavor.  —  Euxton,  Life  in  the  Far 
West,  p.  116. 

While  I  am  writing,  I  am  smoking  a  pipe  filled  with  kinnikinick,  the  dried  leaves 
of  the  red  sumac,  — a  very  good  substitute  for  tobacco.  —  Carvalho,  Adventures 
in  the  Far  West,  p.  36. 

Kiny.  As  kind  o\  "  Kiny  so."  "  Kiny  so  and  kiny  not  so."  New 
Hampshire. 

Kiskitomas  Nut.  Indian,  from  kmhki  or  koshki,  rough.  A  nut  that 
may  be  cracked  with  the  teeth,  characterizing  the  tree  by  its  bark. 
Rasle  gives,  for  the  Abenaki  ue^ekouskaddmen,  "  J'en  casse  avec  les 
dents,"  I  crack  [walnuts]  with  my  teeth.  A  writer  in  the  "  N. 
Y.  Historical  Mag.,"  1864,  says  the  word  is  still  in  use  on  Long 
Island.  Michaux  says,  "  Descendants  of  the  Dutch  settlers  who 
inhabit  the  parts  of  New  Jersey  near  the  city  of  New  York  call  it 
Kinky  Thomas  nut."  The  French  of  Illinois  knew  it  by  the  name  of 
Noyer  tendre.  —  North  Am.  Sylva,  Vol.  I.  p.  123. 


836 


KIS— KIT 


The  following  sonnet  to  it  is  taken  from  the  "  Literary  World," 
of  Nov.  2,  1850:  — 

Hickory,  shell-bark,  hishitomas  nut! 

Or  whatsoever  thou  art  called,  thy  praise 

Has  ne'er  been  sounded  yet  in  poet's  lays ; 
October's  frosts  now  burst  the  husk  where  shut 
In  snug  recluse  thou'st  passed  the  summer;  but 

Ushered  at  length  into  the  world's  broad  blaze, 

Lo  !  throngs  of  merr}'  children  rush  to  raise 
Thy  form,  and  give  thee  welcome;  every  hut 

And  statelier  dwelling  hails  thy  glad  approach; 

Looking,  when  winter's  snows  and  sleets  encroach, 
To  gather  social  circles  round  the  hearth  ; 

Who,  while  the  generous  cider-cask  they  broach, 
And  munching  apples  laiid  their  various  worth. 
Call  in  thine  aid  to  crown  with  crackling  noise  the  mirth. 

Kiss-me.  Used  as  is  "  Thank-you-Ma^am^''  {y^hich.  see)  for  a  ridge 
or  hollow  place  across  a  roadway;  a  jolting  obstruction  to  vehicles. 
New  England. 

Kiss-me-quick.  A  home-made,  quilted  bonnet  which  does  not  extend 
beyond  the  face.  They  are  chiefly  used  to  cover  the  head  by  ladies 
when  going  to  parties  or  to  the  theatre.  Noted  as  in  general  tLse  in 
England,  by  Ducange  Anglicus,  for  small  bonnets  worn  during  the 
year  1851,  and  for  a  short  time  after. 

She  holds  out  with  each  hand  a  portion  of  her  silk  dress,  as  if  she  was  walking 
a  minuet,  and  it  discloses  a  snow  white  petticoat.  Her  step  is  short  and  minc- 
ing, and  she  wears  a  new  bonnet  called  a  kiss-me-quick.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human 
Nature,  p.  131. 

Kit.    A  man's  baggage. 

Kit  and  Boodle.  "  The  whole  kit  and  hoodie  "  of  any  thing  means 
the  whole.    See  Boodle. 

Then  you're  jest  one  quarter  richer 'n  if  you  owned  half,  and  jest  three  quar- 
ters richer  'n  if  you  owned  the  hull  kit  and  boodle  of  them.  —  T.  Winthrqp,  John 
Brent,  p.  19. 

Kitchen  Cabinet.  A  nickname  applied  to  certain  advisers  of  Presi- 
dent Jackson.  It  was  said  that,  to  avoid  observation,  these  advisers 
were  accustomed,  when  they  called  upon  the  President,  to  go  in  by 
a  back  door. 

In  the  management  of  the  "Washington  Globe,"  the  organ  of  the  President,  it 
became  necessary  for  him  to  consult  often  with  Blair  and  Kendall,  which  was  a 
reason,  among  others,  for  the  Whig  party  to  ridicule  and  condemn  "Jackson's 
kitchen  cabinet.^'  —  Li/e  and  Times  of  Goveimor  Reynolds,  p.  453. 

Kite.    See  Skite. 


Kite-Flier.    A  financier  who  practises  the  operation  of  "  kite-Jlying.^* 


KIT— KNI 


337 


Kite-Flying.  An  expression  well  known  to  mercantile  men  of  limited 
means,  or  who  are  short  of  cash.  It  is  a  combination  between  two 
persons,  neither  of  whom  has  any  funds  in  bank,  to  exchange  each 
other's  checks,  which  may  be  deposited  in  lieu  of  money,  taking 
good  care  to  make  their  bank  accounts  good  before  their  checks  are 
presented  for  payment.  Kite-Jlying  is  also  practised  by  mercantile 
houses  or  persons  in  diiferent  cities.  A  house  in  Boston  draws  on 
a  house  in  New  York  at  sixty  days  or  more,  and  gets  its  bill  dis- 
counted. The  New  York  house,  in  return,  meets  its  acceptance  by 
re-drawing  on  the  Boston  house. 

Flying  the  kite  is  rather  a  perilous  adventure,  and  subjects  a  man  to  a  risk  of 
detection.  One  who  values  his  credit  as  a  sound  and  fair  dealer  would  by  no 
means  hazard  it.  — Perils  of  Pearl  Street,  p.  82. 

It  appears  that  Yankee  land  cannot  claim  the  honor  of  inventing 
either  the  practice  or  the  phrase ;  for,  at  a  legal  dinner  in  Ireland, 
Lord  Norbury  said  to  Chancellor  Milford :  — 

In  England,  you  have  to  raise  a  wind  to  fly  a  kite,  but  in  Ireland  here  we  Jly 
kites  to  raise  the  wind. 

Bause.  In  the  States  of  the  Far  West  and  on  the  plains,  a  native 
pony. 

As  if  some  devilish  infection  pervaded  the  atmosphere,  one  of  our  horses,  a 
kiuse,  took  a  fit  of  "bucking"  soon  after  we  left,  and  was  particular  to  select 
the  most  dangerous  portions  of  the  road  for  the  display  of  his  skill  in  that  line. 
McClure,  Rocky  Mountains,  p.  301. 

Elnee  high  to  a  Mosquito.  A  common  hyperbolical  expression  to 
denote  diminutive  stature;  as,  "  I  knew  him  before  he  was  knee 
high  to  a  mosquito.''^  In  Maryland,  it  is  "  knee  high  to  a  grasshopper.^'' 
In  New  England,  "  knee  high  to  a  toad.^^  The  latest  expression  is 
"  knee  high  to  a  chaw  of  tobacker." 

Knicker  or  Nicker.  (Dutch,  knikker.)  A  boy's  clay  marble  ;  a  com- 
mon term  in  New  York.  It  is  also  used  in  England,  being  defined 
by  Halliwell,  "a  little  ball  of  clay  or  earth  baked  hard  and  oiled 
over,  for  boys  to  play  at  nickers.^' 

Knickerbocker.  1.  A  descendant  of  one  of  the  old  Dutch  families 
of  New  York  City. 

The  old  church  in  Nassau  Street  (New  York)  was  dedicated  in  1732.  .  .  .  The 
congregation  was  composed  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  prominent  people  of  Man- 
hattan Island,  —  the  veritable  Knickerbockers.  —  N.  Y.  Tnbune,  July  6,  1877. 

2.  A  boy's  garment. 

Knicknackery  or  Nicknackery.    A  knick-knack. 

There  is  one  branch  of  trade  which  has  not  suffered  in  common  with  other 
things,  and  that  is  the  sale  of  costly  knicknackeries,  especially  women's  superla- 
tive gear.  — Neiv  York  Tribune. 

22 


338 


KNO 


Knob.  In  Kentucky,  round  hills  or  knolls  are  called  knoha.  These 
hills  are  formed  by  the  weathering  of  the  soft  sandstones  and  shales 
composing  them.  The  approach  to  this  "  knob  formation  "  from 
the  rich  land  is  very  characteristic,  and  the  sudden  change  in  soil 
is  accompanied  by  a  corresponding  change  in  the  inhabitants.  The 
word,  however,  has  extended  its  meaning,  and  in  Kentucky,  as  well 
as  other  parts  of  the  West,  is  used  simply  for  hill.  In  Maryland 
and  Virginia,  the  term  knob  is  applied  to  the  highest  peaks  of  the 
Blue  Ridge  and  other  irregular  mountains. 

Approaching  Galena,  the  country  becomes  still  more  broken  and  rocky,  until 
at  last  a  few  short  hills,  here  called  knobs,  indicate  our  approach  to  Fever  River. 
Hoffman,  Winter  in  the  West,  p.  303. 

Knobby.    1.  Hilly.    The  prairie  of  south-western  Missouri  is  char- 
acterized by  what  are  called  knobs  or  mounds ;  they  are  somewhat 
variable  in  size  and  form,  but  usually  present  the  appearance  of  a 
truncated  cone.  — Swalloio^s  Geology  of  Missouri,  p.  204. 
2.  Fine;  capital;  "bully."    New  York.    See  IVobbij. 

Knobite.    A  dweller  in  the  "  knob  "  formation  of  Kentucky. 

Knob-Lick.  The  base  of  the  "knobs"  contains  shales,  which  fur- 
nish alum  and  other  salts,  forming  "licks,"  to  which  wild  and 
domestic  animals  resort.  One  of  these  ktiob  licks  in  Mercer  county, 
Kentucky,  is  a  very  remarkable  spot,  and  was  in  former  times  a 
favorite  resort  of  the  buffaloes.  Many  acres  are  entirely  devoid 
of  vegetation,  and  clay  banks  in  every  possible  shape  occupy  the 
surface. 

To  knock  about.  To  go  or  saunter  about.  An  English  phrase, 
though  not  in  the  dictionaries. 

A  long  course  of  solicitation,  haunting  public  offices,  and  knocking  about  town, 
had  taught  him  [General  Gates],  it  was  said,  how  to  wheedle,  and  flatter,  and 
accommodate  himself  to  the  humors  of  others.  —  Irvinrj,  Life  of  Washington, 
Vol.  I.  p.  423. 

Knock-down  and  Drag-out.    A  fight  carried  to  extremities. 

There  are  good,  quiet,  easy  people  in  the  world  who  scarcely  open  their  lips  or 
raise  their  fingers,  lest  'Dogberry  So-and-so  across  the  way  might  take  it  in  high 
duilgeon,  and  forthwith  demand  an  explanation  or  a  knock-^lown  and  drag-out. 
New  York  Spirit  of  the  Times,  Sept.  30,  1848. 

Mike  professed  to  be  considerable  of  a  tighter,  and,  in  a  regular  knock-down  and 
drag-out  row,  was  hard  to  beat.  —  Southern  Sketches,  p.  30. 

To  knock  down.  1.  To  embezzle;  to  appropriate  the  property  of 
another. 

2.  To  assign  to  a  bidder  at  an  auction  by  a  blow  on  the  coun- 
ter; as,  "The  tall  copy  of  Shakspeare  was  knocked  down  to  Mr. 
Jones." 


KNO 


339 


Knocked  into  a  Cocked  Hat.  Knocked  out  of  shape,  spoiled, 
mined.  The  allusion  or  metaphor  seems  to  be  that  of  the  hat  of 
some  unlucky  wight,  which,  by  a  violent  blow,  has  been  knocked 
into  a  sort  of  flattened,  three-cornered  shape,  resembling  an  old- 
fashioned,  cocked  hat. 

A  tall,  slatternly-looking  woman,  wearing  a  dingy  old  silk  bonnet,  which  was 
knocked  into  a  cocked  hat,  appeared  yesterday  before  the  Eecorder. — New 
Orleans  Picayune. 

-  One  of  the  omnibuses  here  run  full  tilt  against  a  cart,  and  knocked  every  thing 
into  a  kind  of  cocked  hat.  —  Major  Downinij,  May-day  in  New  York. 

At  a  Repeal  meeting  in  New  York,  Mr.  Locke  was  proceeding  to  speak  of  the 
influence  this  party  would  have,  when  he  was  interrupted  by  a  gang  o'  rowdies, 
who,  with  the  design  of  disturbing  the  meeting,  cried  out,  "  Three  cheers  for 
O'Connell  —  three  cheers  for  Repeal  —  and  three  groans  for  Slavery  !  "  The  six 
cheers  for  O'Connell  and  Repeal  were  given;  but,  by  the  time  they  came  to  the 
groans  for  Slavery,  they  found  themselves  all  knocked  into  a  cocked  hat.  —  Neio 
York  paper. 

Between  three  and  four  thousand  persons  were  assembled  at  the  Broadway 
Tabernacle  the  other  evening  to  hear  a  temperance  lecture  from  the  talented  Mr. 
Gough.  There  were  "long-robed  doctors"  enough  to  have  constituted  a  stand- 
ing army.    The  Rev.  Dr.  ,  who  opened  the  meeting  with  prayer,  got  through 

m  the  very  short  space  of  three-quarters  of  an  hour ;  but  it  was  full  long  enough 
to  knock  the  spirit  of  the  meeting  into  a  cocked  hat. — New  York  Tribune. 

Knock-kneed.  One  whose  knees  are  so  close  that  they  "  interfere  " 
in  walking.  It  is  doubtless  an  English  expression,  though  not  in 
the  dictionaries. 

Risingh,  who  succeeded  to  the  command  of  New  Sweden,  looms  largely  in 
ancient  records  as  a  gigantic  Swede,  who,  had  he  not  been  knock-kneed  and 
splay-footed,  might  have  served  for  the  model  of  a  Samson,  —  Knickerbocker, 
New  York. 

To  knock  off.    To  dock  off;  deduct.  Vulgar. 

To  knock  round.  To  go  about  carelessly;  to  wander  or  saunter 
about,  i.  e.  "  to  knock  about." 

I 'm  going  to  New  York  and  Boston,  and  all  about  thar,  and  spend  the  summer 
until  pickin'  time,  knockin'  round  in  them  big  cities,  'mong  them  people  what 's 
so  monstrous  smart,  and  religious,  and  refined,  and. see  if  I  can't  pick  un  some 
ideas  worth  rememberin'.  —  Major  Joneses  Sketches. 

The  Indian  will  lose  his  hair,  if  he  and  his  band  knock  round  here  too  often. 
Ruxton,  Lift  in  the  Far  West. 

Know-Nothings.  A  new  and  more  proscriptive  party  of  "  Xative 
Americans,"  which  originated  in  the  year  1853.  The  "  New  York 
Times  "  gives  the  following  account  of  the  origin  of  the  name:  "  The 
Know-Nothinfj  party,  it  is  X)retty  generally  known,  w^as  first  formed  by 
a  person  of  some  notoriety  in  New  York,  who  called  himself  '  Ned 
Buntline.'    'Ned'  was  once  a  midshipman  in  the  United  States 


340 


KNO— KOO 


Navy,  but  left  the  service  and  commenced  the  business  of  Ameri- 
canism on  a  large  scale,  by  founding  a  secret  political  order,  of  so 
exclusive  a  character  that  none  were  to  be  admitted  as  members 
whose  grandfathers  were  not  natives  of  the  country.  It  is  a  difficult 
matter,  in  a  countiy  like  the  United  States,  where  free  inquiry  is 
so  common,  to  keep  any  thing  secret  ;  and  Ned  instructed  his  pros- 
elytes and  acolytes  to  reply  to  all  questions  in  respect  to  the  move- 
ments of  the  new  party,  'I  don't  know.'  So  they  were  at  first 
called  '  Don't-knows,'  and  then  '  Know-Nothings^''  by  outsiders,  who 
knew  nothing  more  of  them  than  that  they  invariably  replied,  '  I 
don't  know,'  to  all  questions."  The  following  articles  of  their 
"platform"  or  set  of  principles,  according  to  the  "American 
Crusader,"  one  of  the  leading  newspapers  of  the  party,  contain  the 
gist  of  the  whole  :  — 

1.  Repeal  of  all  naturalization  laws. 

2.  None  but  native  Americans  for  office. 

3.  A  pure  American  common  school  system. 

4.  War  to  the  hilt  on  Romanism. 

These  were  the  principles  of  the  ultra  men  of  the  party.  In 
Louisiana  and  other  parts,  they  were  disposed  to  be  more  liberal 
towards  the  Roman  Catholics,  admitting  such  as  were  born  in  the 
United  States.  There  was  also  a  difference  of  opinion  regarding 
slavery,  and  upon  the  latter  issue  the  party  became  divided  into 
North  and  South  Americans.    See  also  Sam  and  Hindoos. 

Kuow-Nothingism.    The  doctrines  of  the  Know-Nothings. 

The  Know-Nothings  have  had  their  day,  and  very  soon  there  will  be  nothing 
left  of  them  but  their  name.  The  earth  hath  bubbles,  and  Knoic-Xotliinfjism 
was  one  of  them. — New  York  Times. 

Knuck.    1.  A  name  applied  to  Canadians  by  the  people  on  the 
frontier  of  Canada.    See  Connucks.    Also  same  in  Addenda. 
2.  The  generic  slang  term  for  a  thief.    ?  English  gonnoff. 

Koncks  or  Conks.  Wreckers  are  so  called,  familiarly,  at  Key 
West;  and  the  place  they  inhabit  is  called  Koncktown.    See  Conck. 

Koniacker.  A  counterfeiter.  This  word  is  undoubtedly  American, 
as  nearly  all  words  relating  to  the  issue  and  circulation  of  spuriou? 
paper  money. 

Kool  Slaa.  (Cut  cabbage.)  A  contraction  for  the  Dutch  Kool-salade, 
i.  e.  Cabbage  salad.  Many  persons  who  affect  accuracy,  but  do  not 
know  the  origin  of  the  term,  pronounce  the  first  syllable  as  if  it 
were  the  English  word  cold.  Some  even  write  it  so.  See  Hot 
Slaw. 


KOO— LAC 


341 


Kooyah  Root,  or  Kooyahs.  A  term  applied  by  the  Indians  in  Ore- 
gon to  a  root  used  by  them  in  making  a  bread  called  supale.  The 
plant  yielding  the  root  is  Valeriana  officinalis  or  V.  Edulis,  probably 
the  same  as  that  sometimes  written  Kous.  It  is  frequently  called 
Tobacco  Root.  It  should  be  baked  in  the  ground  two  days,  to  de- 
prive it  of  poisonous  properties.  The  bread  has  an  offensive  taste 
to  those  not  familiarized  to  it. 

Kriss-Kringle.  (Germ.  Christ  Kindlein.)  The  infant  Christ.  The 
German  for  child  is  kind,  of  which  the  diminutive  is  kindlein  or 
kindchen.  This,  in  some  parts  of  Germany  and  in  Pennsylvania, 
has  been  formed  into  kindel,  and  the  children  are  promised  gifts  at 
Christmas  from  "  Ckiist  kindel.^^  The  corruption  of  this  last  into 
Kriss-Kringle,  as  a  name  for  the  babe  of  Bethlehem,  is  neither 
English  nor  bad  German,  but  a  mere  jargon  or  gibberish  of  the 
vilest  kind. 

Ku-Klux,  Ku-Klux-Klan.  Originally  a  secret  political  organization 
in  some  of  the  Southern  States,  but  which  subsequently  laid  aside 
all  connection  with  politics,  and  resorted  to  murder  to  carry  out  their 
purposes. 

For  Sej'mour  understands  our  plan, 
He  '11  make  a  speech  to  the  Ku-Klux-Klan ; 
Says  he:  "  My  friends,  I'm  just  your  man, 
And  Blair  will  lead  your  army." 

Ballad,  General  Boom  of  the  C.  S.  A. 

L. 

Labrador  Tea.  {Ledum  palustre  and  L.  laiifolium.)  A  plant  used  far 
in  the  North-west  as  a  substitute  for  tea. 

There  is  a  certain  herb  lately  found  in  this  Province  [Massachusetts],  which 
begins  already  to  take  place  in  the  room  of  Green  and  Bohea  Tea,  which  is  said 
to  be  of  a  very  salutary  Nature,  as  well  as  a  more  agreeable  Flavour,  —  it  is  called 
Labrador.  —  Com.  Courant,  Nov.  16,  1767,  from  a  Boston  paper  of  Novem- 
ber 2. 

The  Hiperion  or  Labrador  Tea  is  much  esteemed,  and  by  great  numbers  vastly 
preferred  to  the  poisonous  Bohea.  —  Newport  Mercury,  Dec,  1767. 

The  Labrador  Tea  Plant  spripgs  up  among  the  rich  and  thick  moss  that  every- 
where covers  the  country  of  Labrador.  I  was  informed  that  the  fisliermeu  and 
Indians  use  it  instead  of  tea.  —  Audubon,  Ornith.  Biofj.,  Vol.  II.  p.  633. 

Lacrosse.  This  game  was  adopted  as  the  national  game  of  Canada, 
on  the  1st  of  July,  1859.  Attempts  have  been  made  to  claim  it  as 
of  Irish,  Scotch,  or  other  than  Indian  origin;  but  there  is  no  ques- 
tion that  it  is  a  game  of  the  North  American  Indians,  heiug  prac- 
tised by  the  Sacs,  Sioux,  Ojibways,  Dacotahs,  Iroquois,  Algonkins, 


342 


LAD— LAM 


Choctaws,  Cherokees,  Creeks,  &c.  It  consists  in  throwing  a  ball 
with  a  stick,  three  or  four  feet  in  length,  bent  on  one  end,  to  a  goal. 
The  ball  is  started  in  the  centre  of  the  field,  when  each  party  en- 
gaged in  the  play  endeavors  to  carry  or  throw  it  through  the  goal 
of  the  opponent. 

Charlevoix,  Catlin,  and  Basil  Hall,  who  witnessed  the  game 
among  the  Indians,  describe  it  at  length.  Twelve  players  consti- 
tute a  field  in  a  match. 

The  origin  of  the  name  lacrosse  is  attributed  to  Charlevoix,  who, 
when  ascending  the  St.  Lawrence,  at  some  point  between  Quebec 
and  Three  Rivers,  saw  the  game,  which  he  called  " jeu  de  la 
crosse,^'  played  by  the  Algonkins  with  the  present  stick.  The 
game  is  described  at  length  in  an  article  on  Canadian  sports  in 
"  Scribner's  Monthly"  for  August,  1877. 
Ladies'  Tresses.  {Naottla  tortillis.)  The  popular  name  for  an  herb, 
so  called  from  the  spiral  arrangement  of  its  flowers  resembling  curls. 

Lafayette  Fish.  (Leiostomiis  ohliquus.)  A  delicious  sea-fish,  which 
appears  in  the  summer  in  great  abundance  at  Cape  Island  on  the 
Jersey  coast,  and  is  hence  called  the  Cape  May  Goody.  The  name 
Lafayette  fish,  by  which  it  is  known  in  New  York  and  its  vicinity, 
was  given  it  on  account  of  its  appearance  one  summer  coinciding 
with  the  last  visit  of  General  Lafayette  to  America. — Professor 
S.  F.  Baird. 

Lager-Beer.  (Germ.  Lager-Bier,  i.  e.  Stock-beer.)  Sometimes  con- 
tracted into  lager.  A  kind  of  small  beer  introduced  a  few  years 
ago  into  the  American  cities  by  the  Germans,  and  now  much  in 
voglie  among  all  classes. 

Lagniappe.    Something  over  and  above.    Louisiana.    See  Brotus. 

Lagoons.  The  sounds  or  long  channels  between  the  islands  and  the 
main,  along  the  Atlantic  coast  and  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

Lake  Lawyer.  (Genus  Amia.  Linnaeus.)  The  Westem  Mud-fish. 
It  is  found  in  Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario,  where  it  is  known  by  the 
name  of  Dog-fish.  Dr.  Kirtland  says,  it  is  also  called  the  lake 
latvyer  from  its  •'  ferocious  looks  and  voracious  habits." 

To  lam.  (Belg.  lamen.)  To  beat  soundly;  to  drub.  Colloquial  in 
some  of  the  Northern  States.  It  is  provincial  in  Yorkshire,  Eng- 
land. —  Willan's  Glossary. 

If  ^lilhvood  -were  here,  dash  my  vig. 
Quoth  he,  I  would  beat  her  and  lari  her  weel.  — Rejected  Addresses. 
The  gentleman,  who  fondly  imagined  himself  a  bat,  stood  his  ground  like  a 
regular  built  chicken,  and  "  went  in  "  a  number  of  times;  but  his  adversary,  a 


LAM— LAN 


343 


stalwart  butcher,  was  too  much  used  to  "  ^am  "  to  be  vanquished,  and  his  superior 
prowess  was  soon  made  manifest  by  the  commercial  gentleman's  face. — New 
York  Spint  of  the  Times. 

Cooney  would  pitch  into  a  private  dispute,  when  he  didn't  care  a  durn  cent 
which  walloped  the  other,  and  loni  them  both.  —  Southern  Sketches,  p.  31. 

If  1  had  got  a  hold  of  him,  I 'd  a  lammed  him  worse  than  the  devil  beatin'  tan 
bark,  I  know.  —  Sum  Slick,  Human  Nature,  p.  193. 

Lamantin.    See  Manitee. 

To  lambaste.    To  beat,  thresh,  lam. 

Lambasting.    A  beating. 

Lamb-Kill.    Massachusetts.    See  Calf-Kill  and  Kill-Lamh. 

Lamb's  Quarter.  The  popular  name  of  an  herb  (Chenopodium  album ) 
at  the  South.  —  Williams^ s  Florida. 

Lame  Duck.  A  stock-jobber  who  has  failed,  or  one  unable  to  meet 
his  engagements.  A  Dead  Duck  is  one  absolutely  bankrupt.  If 
he  continues  to  operate  in  stocks,  it  is  only  as  a  curb-stone  broker 
These  terms  are  as  old  as  the  "London  Stock  Exchange." 

On  the  southern  corner  of  the  Exchange  stand  half  a  score  of  excited  faces. 
Tliese  are  the  famous  Third  Board  of  Brokers,  —  mostly  lame  clucks,  who  have 
been  disabled  for  life  in  their  passage  through  the  more  secret  operations  of  the 
regular  Board  upstairs,  and  greenhorns  who  are  very  anxious  to  come  in  and  be 
caught.  —  New  York  in  Slices,  Wall  Street. 

Land-Crab.    A  landsman. 

We  "Old  Whales"  [seamen]  are  not  supposed  by  some  land-crabs  to  have 
much  of  a  taste  for  the  feathery  tribe  "  done  up  brown  "  \i.  e.  roasted  fowls].  — 
H.  N.  Palladium,  Lett,  from  Ship  Cumberland,  1861. 

Land-Grant.  A  grant  of  land.  Such  grants  are  usually  made  by  the 
U.  S.  government  to  aid  in  the  construction  of  railways. 

Land  Office.  An  office  or  place  in  which  the  sale  and  management 
of  the  public  lands  are  conducted.  —  Worcester.  These  offices  are 
all  under  the  control  of  the  General  Land  Office  at  Washington, 
which  forms  one  of  the  bureaus  of  the  Department  of  the  Interior. 

Land  of  Steady  Habits.  A  term  often  applied  to  the  State  of  Con- 
necticut, on  account  of  the  staid  deportment  and  excellent  morals  of 
the  people. 

Landscapist,    A  drawer  of  landscapes. — N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Land  Scrip.    A  certificate  or  certificates  that  the  purchase^^inoney  for 

a  certain  portion  of  land  has  been  paid  to  the  officer  entitled  to 

receive  it.    See  Land  Warrant. 
The  surveyors  are  authorized  and  directed,  upon  the  application  of  any  holder 

of  land  scrip,  to  survej''  at  the  expense  of  tlie  government  a  sufficient  quantity  of 

vacant  land  to  satisfy  such  legal  claims  of  all  holders  of  land  scrip  sold  by  this 

government.  —  Laws  of  Texas. 


344 


LAN— LAS 


Land-Shark.  1.  One  who,  as  boarding-house  keeper,  preys  upon 
sailors. 

2.  A  note-shaver.  A  man  who  takes  advantage  of  one's  pecu- 
niary necessities,  by  charging  a  high  rate  of  interest  when  discount- 
ing notes  of  hand. 

Land's  Sake.    "  For  the  landh  sake!  "    An  expression  of  surprise. 

"  For  the  land's  sake,  Melissy,  you  don't  tell  me  Betsy 's  got  a  beau !  I  thought 
that  feller  kind  o'  hangin'  round  the  old  gal  had  a  sneaking  notion  after  her."  — 
Humorous  Tales. 

Land  Warrant.  An  instrument  or  writing  issued  by  the  Secretary  of 
tlie  General  Land  Office,  authorizing  a  person  to  locate  or  take  up  a 
tract  of  new  or  uncultivated  land. 

Lane.  In  the  Carolinas,  all  roads  with  fences  on  each  side  are  called 
lanes. 

Lap-Tea.    Where  the  guests  are  too  many  to  sit  at  table.  —  Lowell. 

Lariat.  (Span,  la  reata.)  A  rope  made  with  thongs  of  raw-hide 
twisted  or  braided,  and  sometimes  of  sea-grass,  used  for  catching 
and  picketing  wild  horses  or  cattle.  Some  writers  incorrectly  say  a 
riata.    It  is  also  called  a  lasso. 

The  greatest  display  of  skill  and  agility  of  the  arrieros  consists  in  their  dexter- 
ous use  of  the  lazo  or  lariat.  —  Gregg's  Commerce  of  the  Prairies. 

If  the  horse  manifested  the  least  restiveness,  Beatte  would  worry  him  with  the 
lariat  so  as  almost  to  throw  him  on  the  ground.  —  Irving'' s  Tour  on  the  Prairies. 

The  la7iat  [of  the  Californian  boy]  darted  from  his  hand  with  the  force  and 
precision  of  a  rifle-ball,  and  rested  on  the  neck  of  the  fugitive  horse.  —  £mory's 
New  Mexico  and  California,  p.  97. 

We  cooked  supper,  and  at  dark  picketed  the  animals  round  the  camp,  their 
lariats,  or  skin-ropes,  being  attached  to  pegs  driven  in  the  ground.  — Euxton's 
Mexico  and  Rocky  Mountains,  p.  212. 

To  lariat.  To  secure  a  horse  or  mule  with  a  lariat,  or  rope,  which  is 
fastened  to  a  stake  driven  in  the  ground,  to  the  extent  of  which 
rope  he  is  permitted  to  graze. 

Every  animal  should  be  lanated  out  for  grazing.  The  best  arrangement  is  a 
ver}'-  strong  leather  head-stall,  to  the  lower  part  of  which,  well  under  the  chin, 
is  firmly  secured  an  iron  ring.  —  Dodge,  Plains  of  the  Great  West,  p.  70. 

liasso.  (Span,  lazo,  noose.)  A  long  rope  or  cord,  often  made  of  raw- 
hide, with  a  noose,  for  the  purpose  of  catching  wild  horses  or 
buffaloes  on  the  Western  prairies.  It  is  also  used  by  the  muleteers 
for  catching  their  mules.    See  Lariat. 


LAS— LAW 


345 


To  lasso.  The  act  of  throwing  the  lasso  or  rope  on  the  head  of  a 
horse,  mule,  or  other  animal. 

And  ever  after,  on  that  fatal  day 

That  Friar  Pedro  rode  abroad  lassoing, 
A  ghostly  couple  came  and  went  away 

V\  ith  savage  whoop  and  heathenish  hallooing, 
Which  brought  discredit  on  San  Luis  Rey. 

Bret  Harte,  Friar  Pedro's  Ride. 

Last  of  Pea-Time.  To  be  hard  up.  "  To  look  like  the  last  of  pea- 
time  "  is  to  have  a  forlorn  appearance. 

Latter-Day  Saints.  Mormons;  so  styled  by  themselves.  See  Mor- 
mons. 

Joseph  Smith  and  an  associate  were  constituted  apostles  to  preach  the  gospei 
\i.  e.  the  Book  of  Mormon]  and  to  establish  among  the  nations  the  church  of 
Jesus  Christ  of  the  Latter-day  Saints.  —  Stansbury'' s  Salt  Lake  Exp.,  p.  135. 

Lathy.    Thin,  slender,  like  a  lath. 

Laurel.    See  Ivy. 

Laurelistic.    Laureate;  laurelled. 

He  took  an  active  and  honorable  part  in  that  fearful  fight,  which  will  long  be 
considered  as  one  of  the  most  laurelistic  feats  of  our  gallant  navy.  —  The  Inde~ 
pendent.,  May  1,  1862. 

Lave.  (French,  Zet;e.)  Get  up!  A  term  in  common  use  among  the 
hunters  and  mountaineers  of  the  Western  prairies  and  Rocky  Moun- 
tains. 

"Zave,  ho!  Lave!  Prairies  on  fire !  Quick, — catchup!  catchup!"  This 
startling  announcement  instantly  brought  every  man  to  his  feet.  —  Scenes  in  the 
Rocky  Mountains.^  p.  34. 

Law  Day.  The  day  on  which  a  magistrate  holds  court  at  a  country 
tavern.    Common  in  thinly  settled  districts  in  the  West. 

Lawing.  Going  to  law.  "  I  got  my  debt  of  him  by  tawing.^' 
Western. 

Laws,  Laws-a-me!    Lord  have  mercy  on  me! 

He 's  full  of  the  Old  Scratch,  but  laws-a-me!  he's  my  own  dead  sister's  boy, 
poor  thing,  and  I  ain't  got  the  heart  to  lash  him.  —  Mark  Tivain,  Torn  Sawyer, 
p.  19. 

Law  sakes.  Law  sakes  alive!  i.  e.  for  the  Lord's  sake!  an  expression 
denoting  surprise  or  astonishment. 

Law  sakes  alive,  man !  Make  a  question  between  our  nation  and  England 
about  fifty  deserters !  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature,  p.  23. 

Law  suds  !    Lord  save  us ! 

Lawyer.  1.  (Himantopus  nigricolUs.^  The  black-necked  Stilt;  a 
small  bird  which  lives  on  our  shores,  known  also  by  the  names  of 


346 


LAY 


Tilt  and  Loni^shanks.  On  the  New  Jersey  coast,  it  is  sometimes 
called  Inw}/er,  on  account  of  its  "  ]ou^  bill." 

2.  (Genus  Lota.)  A  fish  found  in  the  river  St.  Lawrence.  Mr. 
Hammond,  in  his  "  Wild  Northern  Scenes,"  thus  speaks  of  it:  — 

There  were  taken  in  the  net  pickerel^  white  fish,  bass,  and  pike  by  the  dozen; 
and,  what  was  a  stranger  to  me,  a  queer-lookin'^  specimen  of  the  piscatory  tribe, 
half  hull-h(!ad  and  half  eel,  with  across  of  the  lizard. 

"What  oil  earth  is  thatV  "  said  I  to  the  fisherman. 

"That,"  said  he,  "  is  a  species  of  lin^;  which  we  call  in  these  parts  a  lawyer.''* 
"  A  hiwyer  !  "  said  I ;  "  why,  pray  V  " 

"  I  don't  know,"  he  replied,  "  unless  it 's  because  he  ain't  of  much  use,  and  the 
slipp'riest  fish  that  swims."  —  p.  45. 

Lay.  1.  Terms  or  conditions  of  a  bargain;  price.  Ex.:  "Thought 
the  articles  at  a  good  lay ;  "  "He  bought  his  goods  on  the  same  lay 
that  I  did  mine."  A  low  word,  used  in  New  England.  —  Pickering. 
Probably  a  contraction  for  outlay,  i.  e.  expenditure. 

2.  The  word  is  also  used  colloquially  in  New  York  and  New  Eng- 
land, in  relation  to  labor  or  contracts  performed  upon  shares;  as, 
when  a  man  ships  for  a  whaling  voyage,  he  agrees  for  a  certain  lay^ 
i.  e.  a  share  of  the  proceeds  of  the  voyage. 

He  took  in  his  fish  at  such  a  lay  that  he  made  a  good  profit  on  them.  —  Peter 
Gott,  the  Fisherman. 

3.  Situation;  condition;  relative  aspect.  "  The  lay  of  the  land," 
the  situation  of  aifairs.  Common  use.  In  England,  it  would  seem, 
"  lie  "  is  employed. 

I  have  just  had  an  opportunity  of  conversing  with  a  friend  .  .  .  from  Italy  and 
from  .  .  .  opportunities  of  knowing  the  lie  of  the  land  there.  —  Letter  from 
European  Times,  London,  May.  1862. 

To  lay,  for  to  lie.  A  vulgar  error,  equally  common  in  England  and 
in  the  United  States.  Thus  we  often  hear  and  also  see  in  print  such 
phrases  as,  "  He  laid  down,"  for  he  lay  down  to  sleep;  "  That  bed 
has  been  laid  in,"  for  has  been  lain  in;  "  The  land  lays  well,"  for 
lies  well;  it  "  lays  due  north,"  for  lies,  &c. 

In  the  following  extract,  English  and  German  gi'ammar  are  both 
set  at  naught :  — 

Lager  beer  derives  its  name  from  the  long  time  it  is  alloAved  to  lay  (lar/er)  in 
vats  or  casks,  in  cool  cellars,  previous  to  consumption.  —  Wells,  Principles  and 
Applications  of  Chemistry,  p.  436. 

To  lay  on  thick.    To  flatter. 

Lay-out.  In  the  Far  West,  a  lay-out  is  any  proposed  enterprise,  from 
organizing  a  State  to  digging  out  a  prairie-dog. 

One  cannot  succeed  without  getting  additional  claims  (to  mines),  so  as  to  jus- 
tify shafts  or  tunnels ;  and  his  necessities  are  appreciated  by  the  other  owners, 


LAY— LEA 


847 


who  get  up  a  most  exponsive  lay-out  for  him. — McClure,  Rochj  Mountains^ 
p.  219. 

To  layout.  1.  To  intend  to  do  anything  or  to  go  anywhere;  as, 
"  I  lay  out  to  go  to  New  Yoi'k  to-morrow\" 

We  was  a  Imjin'  out  to  carry  them  half  a  barrel  of  pork ;  and  I  made  a  bit?  jar 
of  butter  and  sold  it,  and  got  the  money  for  it,  five  dollars.  —  Bttsij  Bobbet, 
p.  206. 

2.  "To  lay  out  "  is  the  process  to  which  deceased  persons  are 
subjected  before  burial ;  figuratively,  it  is  applied  to  persons  made 
politically  dead. 

A  Detroit  man  who  failed  to  get  a  bill  through  Congress,  alluding  to  that  body, 
says :  "  Well,  they  laid  me  out,  but  I  '11  be  even  with  them  yet.  I 've  got  a 
chattel  mortgage  on  one  of  our  country  papers,  and  I  '11  go  home  and  tell  the 
editor  he's  got  to  bust  into  that  crowd  about  four  columns  a  week,  or  I  '11  fore- 
close on  him  in  a  minit." 

Leader.  A  length  of  finely  twisted  hair,  gut,  or  grass,  for  attaching 
an  angler's  hook  to  the  line;  a  bottom.    Called  also  a  Snell. 

Lean-to.  A  pent-house;  an  addition  made  to  a  house  behind,  or  at 
the  end  of  it,  chiefly  for  domestic  offices,  of  one  story  or  more,  lower 
than  the  main  building,  and  the  roof  of  it  leaning  against  the  wall 
of  the  house.  — Forhifs  Norfolk  Glossary.  The  word  is  used  in  New 
England,  where  it  is  usually  pronounced  linter.  —  Pickering. 

Many  of  the  domestic  offices  of  the  household  were  performed  upon  the  stoop 
or  lean-to,  commonly  called  linter.  —  Brooke,  Eastford. 

Leastways.    At  least.     ^  'Tr^.^:^  ^  7^  J  ^ .  7         -  ^ 

Leather-Wood.  {Dirca  palusfris.)  A  small  shrub  with  flexible 
branches  and  a  tough,  leathery  bark,  which  grows  in  woods  in  the 
Northern  States.  It  is  also  called  Moose- wood;  and,  in  New  Eng- 
land, Wicopy. 

Wiff-hi,  stringy  bark. — Abenaki  Spellinf/-hook  (1830).  Bark- 
cord,  rather  Abn.  wighehimesi,  bois  blanc  (arbre)  ivighehi,  lien  de 
bois  blanc:  pi.  —  biar  (cf.  kankeskighebi,  lien  de  cedre.  Rafinesque 
(Med.  Flora,  T.,  158)  gives,  among  vulgar  names  of  D.  palustris, 
"rope-bark,  bois  de  plomb,  in  Canada."  "The  bark  is  very 
tough,  can  hardly  be  broken,  and,  torn  in  long  strips,  is  used  yet 
in  many  parts  for  ropes,  a  practice  borrowed  from  the  Indian  tribes," 
p.  159.  But  it  is  plain  that  the  wigebi  of  Rasles  was  made  from 
the  Bois  Blanc,  or  Bass  Wood.  See  Charlevoix^  Nouvelle  France^ 
Vol.  nr.  p.  162. 
To  leave  out  in  the  Cold.    To  shut  out;  to  neglect. 

The  "Assents"  continue  to  come  in  freely  at  the  Erie  Railroad  office;  and 
the  appearances  are  that  at  the  closing  of  the  l)ooks  .  .  .  there  will  be  few 
shares  or  bonds  left  out  in  the  cold.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  July,  1861. 


348 


LEG— LEN 


Leggings.  (Commonly  written  and  pronounced  leggins.)  Indian  wrajv 
2)ers  for  the  legs;  also  worn  by  the  wliite  hunters  and  trappers  of 
the  West,  both  on  account  of  the  mud  and  to  save  the  pantaloons 
from  the  sweat  of  the  horse.    By  some  they  are  called  Wrappei-s. 

How  piquantly  do  these  trim  and  beaded  kyyinf/s  peep  from  under  that  simple 
dress  of  black,  as  its  tall,  nut-brown  wearer  moves  through  the  graceful  mazes  of 
the  dance!  —  Hoffman,  Winter  in  the  Wed,  p.  239. 

The  wolf  springs  with  fearful  growl  towards  Stemaw,  who  slightly  wounds 
him  with  his  axe,  as  he  jumps  backwards  just  in  time  to  save  himself  from  tiie 
infuriated  animal,  which  catches  iu  its  fangs  the  flap  of  his  leytjin. — ^V.  Y. 
Spirit  of  the  Times. 

Leg  to  stand  on.  A  person  without  a  leg  to  stand  on  would,  of  course, 
have  nothing-  to  support  him  The  expression  is  applied,  figura- 
tively, to  one  without  support  in  an  argument. 

Ex-Governor  Clifford,  .  .  .  getting  all  the  points  involved,  prepared  the  evi- 
dence so  skilfully  that  the  opponents  had  not  a  ley  to  stand  on  at  the  trial.— 
Boston  Journal,  April  25,  1877. 

Leg  of  the  Law,  also  Linih  of  the  Law.    A  lawyer. 

A  prominent  saloon-keeper  was  hauled  into  court  by  a  well-known  leg  of  the 
law,  who  made  $3.00  out  of  him.  —  Bridyepart,  Conn.,  Standard. 

Legislative.  The  Legislature.  This,  like  the  term  "  executive,"  is 
used  in  America  as  a  noun;  but  it  is  by  no  means  so  common  as 
that  word.  —  Pickering 

Leg-Stretcher.  It  is  said  that  drams  are  now  called  "  leg-stretchers  " 
in  Vermont.  It  is  an  every-day  occurrence  there  for  passengers  in 
the  stage-coaches,  while  the  latter  are  waiting  for  the  mails,  to  say, 
"  I  guess  I  '11  get  out  and  stretch  my  legs,"  which  always  ends  in 
their  having  a  drink  somewhere  in  the  hotel. 

Lengthy.  Having  length,  long,  not  brief;  tiresomely  long.  Applied 
often  to  dissertations  or  discourses;  as,  "a  lengthy  oration,"  "a 
lengthy  speech. "  —  W orcester. 

This  word  was  once  very  common  among  us,  both  in  writing  and 
in  the  language  of  conversation ;  but  it  has  been  so  much  ridiculed 
by  Americans  as  well  as  Englishmen  that  in  writing  it  is  now  gen- 
erally avoided.  Mr.  Webster  has  admitted  it  into  his  Dictionary; 
but  (as  need  hardly  be  remarked)  it  is  not  in  any  of  the  English 
ones.  It  is  applied  by  us,  as  Mr.  Webster  justly  observes,  chiefly 
to  writings  or  discourses.  Thus  we  say,  a  lengthy  pamphlet,  a 
lengthy  sermon,  &c.  The  English  would  say,  a  long  or  (in  the  more 
familiar  style)  a  longish  sermon.  It  may  be  here  remarked,  by  the 
way,  that  they  make  much  more  use  of  the  termination  ish  than  we 
do;  but  this  is  only  in  the  language  of  conversation.  — Pickering. 


LEN 


849 


Mr.  Pickering  has  many  other  interesting  remarks  on  this  word, 
for  which  I  refer  the  reader  to  his  work.  The  word  has  been 
gradually  forcing  its  ,way  into  general  use  since  the  time  in  which 
he  wrote;  and  that,  too,  in  England  as  well  as  in  America.  Thus, 
Mr.  Rush,  in  relating  a  conversation  which  he  had  in  London,  ob- 
serves: "  Lord  Harrowby  spoke  of  words  that  had  obtained  a  sanc- 
tion in  the  United  States,  in  the  condemnation  of  which  he  could 
not  join;  as,  for  example,  lengthy^  which  imported,  he  said,  what 
was  tedious  as  well  as  long,  —  an  idea  that  no  other  English  word 
seemed  to  convey  as  well."  —  Residence  in  London^  p.  294. 

We  have  given  back  to  England  the  excellent  adjective  lengthy^ 
formed  honestly  like  earthy,  drouthy,  and  others,  thus  enabling  their 
journalists  to  characterize  our  President's  messages  by  a  word  civilly 
compromising  between  long  and  tedious,  so  as  not  to  endanger  the 
peace  of  the  two  countries  by  wounding  our  national  sensitiveness  to 
British  criticism  —  Lowell,  Int.  to  Biglow  Papers. 

A  writer  in  the  "  Boston  Daily  Advertiser,"  under  the  signature 
of  "W.  X.,"  says  that  he  has  met  with  the  word  lengthy  in  the 
"  London  Times,"  the  "  Liverpool  Chronicle,"  "  Blackwood's  Mag- 
azine," the  "Saturday  Magazine,"  the  "British  Critic,"  "Quar- 
terly Review,"  "Monthly  Review,"  "Eclectic  Review,"  "West- 
minster and  Foreign  Quarterly  Reviews,"  in  the  writings  of  Dr. 
Dibdin,  Bishop  Jebb,  Lord  Byron,  Coleridge,  &c.  Granby,  an 
English  author,  uses  the  word  lengthiness,  which  is  a  regularly 
formed  noun  from  lengthy.  Campbell  uses  the  adverb  lengthily. 
In  his  "Letters  from  the  South,"  he  says:  — 

I  could  discourse  lengthihj  on  the  names  of  Jugurtha,  Juba,  Syphax,  &c. 
And  again :  — 

The  hair  of  the  head  is  bound  lengthily  behind. 

Here  follow  a  few  examples  from  English  and  American  writers, 
out  of  the  many  that  present  themselves:  -- 

Murray  has  sent,  or  will  send,  a  double  copy  of  the  "  Bride"  and  "  Giaour;  "  in 
the  last  one  some  lenythy  additions ;  pray  accept  them  according  to  the  old  custom. 
Lord  Byrun's  Letter  to  Dr.  Clarke,  Dec.  13,  1813. 

All  this  excitement  was  created  by  two /en^/M?/ paragraphs  in  the  Times. — 
London  Athenceum,  July  12,  1844,  p.  697. 

This  man  had  timely  warning  from  his  God 

To  build  a  spacious  ark  of  Gopher-wood; 

He,  moved  through  fear  and  faith,  the  structure  rears, 

"Which  cost  the  arduous  task  of  six  score  years. 

Wh'ile  Noah  thus  employed  this  lenythy  space.  Sec. 

Noah's  Flood:  a  Poem  by  Jos.  Vail,  New  London,  1796. 


350 


LEX— LET 


Chalmers's  "Political  Annals,"  in  treating  of  South  Carolina,  is  by  no  means 
as  lenf/f/nj  as  Mr.  Hewitt's  History.  —  Drayton's  South  Carolina. 

I  did  not  mean  to  have  been  so  lenythy  w  hen  I  began. — Jefferson's  Wnlintjs. 

I  forget  whether  Mr.  Sibthorpe  has  mentioned,  in  any  of  his  numerous  and 
leiKjthy  epistles,  this  circumstance.  —  Mrs.  Clavers's  Forest  Life. 

Lengthily.  In  a  lengthy  manner.  Webster  credits  this  word  to 
Jefferson. 

In  the  report  of  a  convention  of  "  Spiritualists  "  at  Farmington, 
Michigan,  it  is  said  that  — 

Mr.  Simnjons  followed,  addressing  the  convention  quite  lenrjthily.  —  Spiritual 
Telegraph. 

Let-down.    A  descent;  fall;  diminution  in  price,  &c. 

Within  the  last  few  days,  there  has  been  a  shocking  let-down  among  the  fancies 
[stocks].  — JV.  r.  Herald. 

Let  her  rip,  "  let  her  went.''''  The  expression  most  likely  had  its  ori- 
gin in  steamhoating. 

Don't  fire,  says  Joe.  it  ain't  no  use. 
That 's  Deacon  Peleg's  tame  wil'-goose  ; 
Saj's  Isrel,  "  I  don't  care  a  cent. 

I  've  sighted,  an'  I  '11  let  her  went.  —  Lowell,  Biglow  Papers^. 

To  let  on.  To  mention:  to  disclose;  to  betray  a  knowledge  or  con- 
sciousness of  any  thing.  "  He  never  Jet  on,^'  i.  e.  he  never  told  me. 
This  expression  is  often  heard  among  the  illiterate,  and  is  not  con- 
fined to  a;iy  particular  section  of  the  United  States.  It  is  also  used 
in  the  north  of  England  and  in  Scotland. 

'Tis  like  I  may,  —  but  let  na  on  what 's  past 
'Tween  you  and  me,  else  fear  a  kittle  cast. 

Ramsay,  The  Gentle  Shepherd. 

The  tears  were  runnin'  out  of  my  eyes ;  but  I  didn't  want  to  let  on,  for  fear  it 
would  make  her  feel  bad.  —  Major  Jones's  Courtship,  p.  84. 

To  let  out.    To  begin  a  story  or  narrative.    A  Western  expression. 

Tom  squared  himself  for  a  yarn,  w^et  his  lips  with  a  little  corn  juice,  took  a 
small  strip  of  Missouri  weed,  and  let  out.  — Robb,  Squatter  Life. 

To  let  slide.  To  let  go;  as,  "  That  fish  you  have  hooked  is  not  fit  to 
eat:  let  him  slide. 

During  a  debate  in  Congress,  General  Banks  said,  "  Let  the  Union 
slide, a  sentiment  for  which  he  was  reproached,  ^li.  Lowell  gives 
many  examples  of  the  early  use  of  the  expression.  He  finds  "  let 
the  world  slide  "  in  Heywood's  "  Edward  IV. ;  "  and  in  Beaumont 
and  Fletcher's  '*  Wit  without  Money  "  Valentine  says,  — 

Will  you  go  drink, 
And  let  the  world  slide. 


LET— LEV 


351 


We  also  find  in  Gower  very  early  authority  for  the  same:  — 

The  highe  creator  of  thinges, 
Which  is  the  king  of  all  kinges, 
Full  many  wonder  worldes  chaunce 
Let  slide  under  his  sufferaunce, 

Confessio  Amantis  {ed.  Pauli),  Vol.  III.  p.  Gl. 
In  bad  places,  you  may  fasten  a  rope  to  the  axle  of  the  wagon,  and,  passing  the 
end  round  a  tree,  you  may  ht  her  slide.  — F.  Mai'i-yat,  CaUfornia. 

In  a  debate  in  Congress  on  a  bill  providing  for  the  establishment 
of  an  overland  mail  to  California,  the  annual  cost  of  which  was  esti- 
mated at  half  a  million  of  dollars,  Mr.  Iverson  said:  — 

If  California  was  going  to  cost  the  Union  so  much,  it  would  be  better  to  let 
California  slide. 

Sal  Stebbins  married  a  feller  blind  in  one  eye  and  deaf  in  one  ear;  so  I  thought 
if  she  was  a  mind  to  take  such  a  chap,  I 'd  better  let  her  slide.  —  Traits  of  Ameri- 
can Humor. 

*'  Come,  Sol,  let's  have  a  game  of  poker." 

"  Oh,  let  the  poker  slide,  Judge,"  replied  Sol ;  "  some  other  time  when  I  want 
a  stake,  I  '11  make  a  call."  —  A  Stray  Yankee  in  Texas,  p.  221. 

Let-up.  A  let-up  is  a  release;  a  relief ,  as  when  a  stringency  in  the 
money-market  disappears.    An  expression  borrowed  fi'om  pugilists. 

There  was  no  let-xip  in  the  stock  market  to-day,  and  the  differences  paid  on 
the  maturing  conti'acts  were  very  large.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Wherever  the  slave-traders  resort,  the  name  of  our  New  York  Marshal  is 
heartily  cursed.  He  has  been  threatened,  and  invited  to  name  the  terms  upon 
which  he  would  let  up  these  people.  His  terms  are  a  short  shrift  and  a  long 
rope.— iV^.  Y.  Tribune,  Oct.  18,  1861. 

To  let  up  is  to  release ;  to  let  go. 

Levee.  1.  (Fr.  levte.)  An  embankment  on  the  side  of  a  river,  to 
confine  it  within  its  natural  channel.  The  lower  part  of  Louisiana, 
which  has  been  formed  by  encroachments  upon  the  sea,  is  subject 
to  be  iimndated  by  the  Mississippi  and  its  various  branches,  for  a 
distance  of  more  than  three  hundred  miles.  In  order  to  protect  the 
rich  lands  on  these  rivers,  mounds  are  thrown  up,  of  clay,  cypress- 
logs,  and  green  turf,  sometimes  to  the  height  of  fifteen  feet,  with  a 
breadth  of  thirty  feet  at  the  base.  These,  in  the  language  of  that 
part  of  the  country,  are  called  levees.  They  extend  for  hundreds  of 
miles;  and,  when  the  rivers  are  full,  cultivated  fields,  covered  with 
rich  crops  and  studded  with  villages,  are  seen  lying  far  below  the 
river  courses.  — Encyclopoidia  Americana. 

The  great  feature  of  New  Orleans  is  the  Levee.  Extending  for  about  five 
miles  in  length,  and  an  average  of  two  hundred  feet  in  width,  on  the  west  bank 
of  this  river,  which  here  runs  to  the  north-cast,  it  is  made  the  great  depot,  not 
only  for  the  products  of  the  vast  country  bordering  on  the  Mississippi  and  its 


352 


LEV— LIB 


navigable  tributaries,  but  also  of  ever}'  foreign  port,  by  means  of  about  five  hun- 
dred steamboats  on  the  one  hand,  and  every  \  ariety  of  sea-craft  on  the  otlier 
which  are  at  all  times  to  be  seen  in  great  numbers  along  the  entire  length,  dis- 
charging and  receiving  their  cargoes.  —  Cor.  of  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

2.  (Ft.  lever.)  The  time  of  iisin<^  ;  the  concourse  of  persons  who 
visit  a  prince  or  great  personage  in  the  morning.  — Johnson. 

Such  as  are  troubled  with  the  disease  of  /eree-hunting,  and  are  forced  to  seek 
their  bread  every  morning  at  the  chamber  doors  of  great  men.  —  Addm/n,  Spec- 
tator, No.  547. 

This  word  has  been  curiously  perverted  by  us  from  its  original 
signification,  so  as  to  mean  an  evening  (!)  party  or  assembly  at  the 
house  of  a  great  or  wealthy  person;  as,  "  the  President's  levee.^' 
Leveeing.    Constructing  levees  on  a  river's  bank. 

If  we  cannot  protect  ourselves  from  overflow,  these  lands  will  be  almost  worth- 
less, and  the  slaves  on  them  must  find  a  tillable  soil  in  the  West,  our  iiill  lands 
being  now  fully  occupied.  How  are  Ave  to  be  protected?  By  leveeiny.  —  De 
Bow's  Review,  Oct.,  1858. 

Level.    "  Your  head 's  level ;  "  i.  e.,  your  judgment  is  good. 

Level  Best.    To  do  one's    level  best  "is  to  do  his  utmost  possible, 

to  go  to  the  full  extent  of  his  ability. 
How  comes  it  that  the  friends  of  F.  A.  Marcy  did  their  level  best  in  their  wards 

to  secure  the  defeat  of  Mr.  Francy  ?  —  Hartford  Courant,  Oct.  4,  1869. 

Lever  Wood.  A  name  given  to  the  Ostrya  Virginica  (Carpinus  osfrija, 
Lam.),  iron-wood  or  hop-hornbeam,  in  some  parts  of  New  England. 
Michaux,  N.  Am.  Sylva  (ed.  1859),  IIL  p.  28. 

Levy.  Elevenpence.  In  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and 
Virginia,  the  Spanish  real,  or  eighth  part  of  a  dollar,  or  twelve  and 
a  half  cents.  Sometimes  called  an  elevenpenny  hit.  See  Federal 
Currency  and  Bit. 

Liberty  Cap.  A  peaked  cap  placed  on  the  head  of  the  goddess  of 
Liberty  or  on  liberty  poles.  The  pilem,  a  half -egg-shaped  cap, 
became  the  badge  of  liberty,  because  it  was  given  to  a  Roman  slave 
at  his  manumission,  and  was  not  permitted  to  be  worn  except  by 
freedmen.  Livy  (24.  32)  has  the  phrase  servos  ad  pileum  vocare,^' 
"to  summon  slaves  to  freedom."  i.  e.  to  call  them  to  assume  the 
cap.  The  pileus  was  borne  aloft  on  a  staif  or  pike,  as  a  banner  or 
standard,  by  commanders  who  sought  the  aid  of  the  slaves  by  the 
promise  of  freedom.    Hence  the  liberty  pole  and  cap. 

Yes,  France  is  free !  O  glorious  France,  that  has  burst  out  so  :  into  universal 
sound  and  smoke;  and  attained  —  the  Phrygian  Cap  of  Liberty! — Carlyle's 
French  Revol ,  B.  viii.  ch.  12. 

Liberty  Pole.  A  tall  pole,  sometimes  constructed  of  several  pieces  of 
timber  like  a  ship's  mast,  and  surmounted  by  a  "liberty  cap." 


Lie— LIF 


853 


Many  of  these  poles  are  erected  in  different  parts  of  American 
cities. 

Lick  or  Salt  Lick.  A  salt  spring  is  called  a  lick,  from  the  earth  about 
it  being  furrowed  out  in  a  most  curious  manner  by  the  buffalo  and 
deer,  which  lick  the  earth  on  account  of  the  saline  particles  with 
which  it  is  impregnated.  —  Imlai/^s  Topogr.  Description  of  the  West- 
ern Territory. 

A  lick  does  not  necessarily  imply  the  presence  of  a  spring:  the 
decomposition  of  sulphurets  by  atmospheric  agency  often  makes  a 
' '  lick  ' '  on  the  face  of  a  rocky  cliff. 

Licks.  Strokes;  and  hence  efforts,  exertions.  "  To  put  in  big  licks  " 
is  to  make  great  exertions,  to  work  hard. 

Molly  war  the  most  enticin',  gizzard-ticklin',  heart-distressin'  feline  creatur 
that  ever  made  a  fellar  get  owdacious;  and  I  seed  Tom  Seller  cavertin'  round 
her,  'and  piittin'  in  the  biggest  hind  a  licks  in  the  way  of  courtin'.  —  The  Ameri- 
cans at  Home,  Vol.  I.  p.  276. 

At  length  I  went  to  mining,  put  in  my  biggest  licks, 
Went  down  upon  the  boulders  just  like  a  thousand  bricks. 

Bryant's  Comic  Songs. 

Lickety  Split.  Very  fast,  headlong ;  synonymous  with  the  equally 
elegant  phrase  "full  chisel."  "He  went  lickety  split  down  hill." 
Lickety  cut  and  lickety  liner  are  also  used. 

Lie.    A  lie  out  of  whole  cloth  is  an  utter  falsehood. 

In  the  second  place,  we  are  authorized  by  these  gentlemen  to  say  that  the  state- 
ment is  in  itself  utterly  false,  —  "a  Zie."  as  one  of  the  commissioners  wished  us 
to  say,  "oM<  of  whole  cloth.''  —  N.  Y,  Commercial  Advertiser. 

To  lie  around  Loose.  To  be  out  of  place;  to  lounge,  as  a  loafer. 
A  phrase  current  for  many  years. 

Had  I  suddenly  found  myself  lying  round  loose  in  an  unexpected  place,  I  could 
not  have  been  more  astonished.  —  The  Congregationalist,  quof.  from  Rev.  E.  P. 
Tenney. 

To  lie  down.  To  go  to  bed.  In  Tennessee,  when  a  stranger  is 
asked  if  he  will  retire  for  the  night,  the  question  is,  "  Will  you 
lie  down  ?  " 

Liefs  or  Lieves.  A  corruption  of  lief  or  lieve;  as,  "  I 'd  as  lieves  be 
seen  as  not." 

Life  Everlasting.    See  Everlasting. 

Lift.  1.  Used  by  the  farmers  in  some  parts  of  New  England  to  sig- 
nify a  sort  of  gate  without  hinges.  — Pickering^ s  Vocabulary.  This 
word  is  also  used  in  some  parts  of  England.  Mr.  Forby  calls  it  "  a 
sort  of  coarse,  rough  gate  of  sawn  wood,  not  hung,  but  driven  into 

23 


354 


LIF— LIK 


the  ground  by  pointed  stakes,  like  a  hurdle,  used  for  the  same  pur- 
poses of  subdividing  lands,  stopping  gaps  in  fences,  &c.,  and  deriv- 
ing its  name  from  the  necessity  of  lifting  it  up  for  the  purpose  of 
passing  through.  In  Suffolk,  a  ////  differs  from  a  gate,  in  having 
the  projecting  ends  of  the  back  and  lower  bar  let  into  mortise-holes 
in  the  posts,  into  and  out  of  which  it  must  be /i/i'e/'7. "  —  Norfolk 
Glossary. 

2.  A  piece  added  to  raise  a  shoe-heel. 
To  lift  one's  Hair,  in  the  figurative  language  of  the  Western  hunters, 
is  to  scalp  him.     See  7o  raise  one^s  Hair. 

I  saw  at  once  that  the  Arapahoes  were  not  after  stealing  cattle,  but  after 
lifiing  hair,  and  told  the  corporal  so.  —  Indian  Report  for  18G8. 

Lig.    A  central  shank  of  lead,  around  which  one  or  more  fish-hooks 

are  fastened.    New  England. 
Light.    AVeak.    Said  of  a  drink. 
Light  out.    To  run  off;  "  to  clear  out." 

Light  Bread.    Fermented  bread  of  wheat  flour;  so  called  to  distinguish 

it  from  corn  bread.    South  and  West. 
Light  Wood.    Pine  wood  as  opposed  to  slower  burning  wood,  not  on 

account  of  the  lightness  of  the  wood,  but  of  the  light  afforded  by  it 

in  burning,  a  matter  of  some  importance  where  candles  are  not  to 

be  had. 

Stranger,  it 's  quite  a  long  history,  and  I  '11  put  on  a  fresh  handful  of  light  wood 
before  I  begin.  —  Simins,  The  Wigwam  and  Cabin. 

The  inhabitants  pick  up  knots  of  light  wood,  which  they  burn  into  tar,  and 
then  caiTV  it  to  Norfolk  to  a  market.  —  IVestover  Papers,  p.  27. 

"Cfpsar,  fly  round  and  get  a  fire." 

"Massa!  de  light  wood  am  done  gone,  sah." 

"  Gone  too,  then,  is  all  chance  for  fire  or  food.  For  who  ever  heard  of  a  nigger 
that  could  build  a  fire  Avithout  light  woodV"  —  The  Ameriams  at  Home,  Vol.  I. 

Like.  1.  For  as.  As  in  the  phrase,  "  like  I  do,"  for  as  I  do;  *'  like 
I  did."  Common  at  the  West  and  South;  but  never  heard  in  Xew 
England.    Not  peculiar  to  America. 

Each  Indian  carried  a  great  square  piece  of  whale's  blubber,  with  a  hole  in 
the  middle,  through  which  they  put  their  heads,  like  the  Guachos  do  through 
their  cloaks.  —  Darwin'' s  Journal  of  a  Naturalist,  ch.  10. 

As  soon  as  the  post-office  was  open,  I  looked  over  the  miscellany  like  1  always 
do  afore  I  let  anybody  take  it.  — Major  Jones's  Courtshijj. 

2.  For  as  if  or  as  thour/h.    Common  at  the  South  and  West. 

The  fever  nager  got  fastened  to  me,  and  stuck  jest  like  a  Comanche  on  a  mus- 
tang: the  worse  it  jumps,  the  tighter  he  sticks,  as  if  he  was  glued  to  the  saddle, 
or  like  he  was  one  of  them  rale-  half-horse  and  half-alligator  fellows. —  New 
York  Sjjirit  of  the  Times,  Western  Tale. 


LIK— LIM 


355 


TT  e  old  fellow  drank  of  the  brandy  UJce  he  was  used  to  it.  —  Southern 
Sketches. 

Like  a  Book.  To  know  a  person  or  thing  like  a  book  means  to  have 
studied  him  or  it,  to  know  him  or  it  thoroughly. 

He  knew  the  woods  like  a  book,  and  had  got  a  pretty  cute  notion  whar  Bill 
Stone  would  bring  up.  — N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times,  Westei'n  Tale. 

Like  all  Stacia,  Like  Sam  Hill.    Indefinite  intensitives. 

Likely.  That  may  be  liked;  that  may  please;  handsome.  In  the 
United  States,  as  a  colloquial  term,  respectable;  worthy  of  esteem; 
sensible.  —  WorceMer. 

Mr.  Webster  has  the  following  remarks  on  this  word:  "  This  use 
of  likely  [i.  e.  in  the  sense  of  such  as  may  be  liked,  pleasing]  is  not 
obsolete,  nor  is  it  vulgar.  But  the  English  and  their  descendants 
differ  in  the  application.  The  English  apply  the  word  to  external 
appearance,  and  with  them  likely  is  equivalent  to  handsome,  well- 
formed ;  as,  a  likely  m2in,  a,  likely  horse.  In  America,  the  word  is 
usually  applied  to  the  endowments  of  the  mind,  or  to  pleasing  accom- 
plishments. With  us,  a  likely  man  is  a  man  of  good  character  and 
talents,  or  of  good  disposition  or  accomplishments,  that  render  him 
pleasing  or  respectable. "  • 

That  the  word,  however,  is  also  used  here  in  its  English  sense,  is 
evident  from  the  following  quotation :  — 

A  gang  of  seventeen  likely  negro  men,  owned  in  the  vicinity  of  Northampton, 
Virginia,  made  an  attempt  on  Monday  last  to  escape  to  New  York.  —  Norfolk 
(Fa.)  Herald,  Oct.  1,  1849. 

Lily-Pads.    Leaves  of  the  water-lily. 

Limb.  Leg.  This  is  one  of  the  mock-modest  expressions  of  which 
our  people  are  overfond. 

If  we  know  any  thing  of  English  conversation  or  letters,  we  speedily  find  out, 
even  if  stone  blind,  that  British  men  and  women  have  both  arms  and  legs.  Bat 
in  Canada  a  stranger  who  could  not  see  would  find  it  difiicult  -'to  discover  much 
about  our  conformation.  He  would  learn  that  both  sexes  had  limbs  of  some  sort; 
but  from  any  information  which  our  language  wouid  give  he  could  not  tell 
whether  their  limbs  were  used  to  stand  on  or  hold-  by. — Rev.  A.  C.  Geikie,  in 
Canadian  Journal,  1857. 

This  will  do  for  a  provincial  place  like  Canada;  but  the  universal 
Yankee  nation  does  not  restrict  its  application  of  the  word  to 
"humans,"  as  appears  from  the  following:  — 

Our  exchanges  bring  us  the  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Dan  Rice's  well-known 
horse  "Excelsior."  The  poor  brute,  it  would  appear,  fell  from  the  stairs  which 
he  used  to  ascend  in  the  ring,  and,  fracturing  his  limb,  his  death  was  rendered 
necessary.  —  Pittsbury  Chronicle,  June,  1858. 

Limits.  The  extent  of  the  liberties  of  a  prison.  —  Webster.  Called 
also  jail  liberties. 


356 


LTM— LTQ 


Limsy.    Weak;  flexible.    New  England.  —  Webster.  Limp. 
Lincoln  Skins.    Fractional  currency.    South  Carolina. 
Line.    The  route  of  a  stage-coach,  railroad,  packet,  or  steamer. 

To  line.  1.  To  fish  with  a  line.  So  to  seine,  i.  e.  to  fish  with  a  seine. 
I  have  never  seen  these  words  used  except  by  Dr.  J.  V.  C.  Smith, 
in  his  "  History  of  the  Fishes  of  Massachusetts;  "  and  for  so  inter- 
esting a  book  the  Doctor  is  well  entitled  to  the  privilege  of  coining 
a  phrase  or  two. 

The  squeteague  is  taken  both  by  lininf)  and  seining,  and  because  it  makes  such 
feeble  exertion  and  resistance  in  being  drawn  in  by  a  hook  it  has  received  the 
appellation  of  Weak  Fish.  — Fishes  of  Massachusetts. 

2.  To  read  line  by  line  (or  a  couplet  or  verse)  of  a  hymn.  A 
custom  in  vogue  in  old  times  in  New  England. 
To  line  Bees  is  to  track  wild  bees  to  their  homes  in  the  woods.  One 
who  follows  this  occupation  is  called  a  bee-hunter. 

At  killing  every  wild  animal  of  the  woods  or  prairies,  at  fishing,  or  at  lining 
bees,  the  best  hunters  acknowledged  his  supremacy.  —  Kendall. 

I 've  hear'n  tell  of  such  doin's,  but  never  see'd  a  bee  lined  in  all  my  life,  and 
have  a  desp'rate  fancy  for  larnin'  of  all  sorts,  from  'rithmetic  to  preachin'.  — 

Cooper,  The  Oak  Openings. 

Liner.  The  ships  belonging  to  the  regular  lines  of  London,  Liverpool, 
or  Havre  packets  are  called  liners,  to  distinguish  them  from  transient 
ships  sailing  to  the  same  ports. 

Lines.  The  reins,  or  that  part  of  the  bridle  which  extends  from  the 
horse's  head  to  the  hands  of  the  driver  or  coachman.    See  Ribbons. 

Linguister.  (Ptoti.  Unkister.)  A  seaman's  term  for  an  interpreter ;  a 
linguist.    Also,  in  New  England,  applied  to  a  talkative  person. 

It  is  a  damnable  thing  for  a  youngster,  up  here,  to  talk  French.  If  it  were  on 
the  Atlantic  now,  where  a  seafaring  man  has  occasion  sometimes  to  converse 
with  a  pilot  or  a  linguister  in  that  language,  I  should  not  think  so  much  of  it.  — 
Cooper,  The  Pathfinder,  p.  219. 

Linter.  A  place  or  thing  for  feeding  cattle.  Cow  or  ox  manger. 
Massachusetts. 

Liquor.  Many  and  very  singular  names  have  been  given  to  the  various 
compounds  or  mixtures  of  spirituous  liquors  and  wines  served  up  in 
fashionable  bar-rooms  in  the  United  States.  The  following  list  is 
taken  from  two  sources,  one  of  them  an  advertisement,  the  other  a 
book  on  mixed  liquors.    A  very  few  of  them  are  English. 

Agent.  Bald  Face.  Brandy  Flip. 

'Alfand'Alf.  Blackjack.  „  Smash. 

Apple  Jack.  Brandy  Ciamperelle.  „  Straight. 

„    Toddy.  „     Fix.  „  Toddy. 


LIQ 


357 


Bust  Head. 

Juleps,  viz. :  — 

Spiced. 

Bug  Juice. 

Arrack. 

Sherry. 

Corn  Juice. 

Brandy. 

Sauterne. 

Ching  Ching. 

Capped. 

Vanilla. 

Chain  Lightning. 

Claret. 

Seventh  Regiment. 

Citronella  Jam. 

Fancy. 

St.  Charles. 

Cobblers,  viz.:  — 

Gin. 

Whiskey. 

Arrack. 

Mixed. 

Ropee. 

Brandy, 

Peach. 

Santa  Cruz  Sour. 

Claret. 

Pine  Apple. 

Sargent. 

Champagne. 

Mint. 

Sherry  and  Egg. 

Catawba. 

Racehorse. 

,,  Bitterg. 

Hock. 

Strawberry. 

Shandy  Gaff. 

Rochelle. 

"Whiskey. 

Shambro. 

Peach. 

I  0  U. 

Silver  Top. 

Sherry. 

Jewett's  Fancy. 

Sling  Flip. 

Sauterne. 

Knickerbocker. 

Snap  Neck. 

Cocktails,  viz. :  — 

Lemonade. 

Snifter. 

Brandy. 

Mead. 

Smasher. 

Champagne. 

Moral  Suasion. 

Split  Ticket. 

Gin. 

Ne  Plus  Ultra. 

Stone  Wall. 

Japanese. 

Orgeat  Lemonade. 

Stagger  Juice. 

Jersey. 

Pine  Top. 

Switchel  Flip. 

Soda. 

Porteree. 

Tangle  Leg. 

Whiskey. 

Phlegm  Cutter. 

Tip  and  Ty. 

Deadbeat. 

Port- Wine  Sangaree. 

Tippee  na  Pecco. 

Deacon. 

„  Negus. 

Toddy. 

Exchange. 

Polk  and  Dallas. 

Tog. 

Egg  Flip. 

Pousse  Caf6. 

Tom  and  Jerry. 

„  Nog. 

Punches,  viz. :  — 

Turpentine  Whiskey. 

„  Sour. 

Arrack. 

Vox  Populi. 

Floater. 

Gin. 

Veto. 

Fiscal  Agent. 

Claret. 

Virginia  Fancy. 

Fusil  Oil. 

Brandy. 

Whiskey  Flip. 

Gin  Straight. 

Epicure's. 

„  Toddy. 

„  Fix. 

Iced. 

„  Julep. 

„  Punch. 

Milk. 

„  Fix. 

„  Sling. 

Pig  and  Whistle. 

„  Punch. 

„  Sour. 

Poor  Man's. 

„  Smash. 

Smash. 

Roman. 

„  Skin. 

„  Flip. 

Rum. 

„  Sour. 

„  Rooster-Tail. 

Soda. 

,,  Straight. 

In  "  Harper's  Magazine  "  for  December,  1876,  Mr.  Charles  Nord- 
hoff  gives  a  list  of  California  drinks,  together  with  a  "  Toddy  Time- 
Table  "  showing  the  hours  when  one  in  the  habit  of  drinking  should 
take  his  drams.  Mr.  N.  says  he  "  transcribed  it  from  a  neat,  gilt- 
edge  card,  for  the  warning  and  instruction  of  Eastern  topers." 


Toddy  Time-Table. 


6  A.  M. 

Eye-opener. 

12  M. 

Ante-Lunch. 

7  „ 

Appetizer. 

IP.  M. 

Settler. 

8 

Digester. 

2  „ 

A  la  Smythe. 

9  „ 

Big  Reposer. 

3  „ 

Cobbler. 

10  „ 

Refresher. 

4  „ 

Social  Drink. 

11  „ 

Stimulant. 

5  M 

Invigorator. 

858 


LTQ 


6  P.  M.    Solid  Straight.  9  P.  M.  Entire  Act. 

7  „       Chit-Chat.  10    „  Sparkler. 

8  Fancy  Smile.  11    ,,  Rouser. 

12  P.  M.  Night  Cap. 

Richmond,  Va.,  has  determined  to  drink  itself  out  of  debt.  In  order  to  accom- 
plish this,  it  is  necessary  to  tax  the  retail  dealers,  and  to  lev}-  a  toll  upon  every 
swig  that  the  arid  Virginian  takes  to  drive  the  thirst  out  of  his  constitution  and 
by-laws.  These  are  numerous,  and  are  there  reduced  to  a  system.  At  early 
morn,  the  typical  Richmond  man  takes  an  '"eye-opener,"  then — as  it  is  some- 
times a  little  malarial  down  there  —  he  takes  an  anti-fog -matic,"  then  he  takes 
his  regular  " bitters,"' and  so  on  during  the  day  until  the  ''settlers"  and  the 

"nightcap"  of  midnight.  The  ruling  tariff  in  Richmond  for  mixed  beverages  is 
fifteen  cents.    The  material  taken  "straight"  or  "reverend"  or  "barefooted" 

s  ten  cents.  —  Baltimore  Gazette. 

Young  Jonathan,  in  liquorin'  tastes. 

Has  long  dropped  beer  and  mocked  ale, 
For  julep,  sherry-cobbler. 

Gin-sling  and  brandy-cocktail ; 
Gum-tickler  and  chain-lightning, 

E^'e-brightener  and  leg-tangler 
And  scores  of  other  compounds  known 

To  each  'cute  bar-room  dangler. 

Until  at  last  his  liquors  he 

Has  grown  so  fond  of  mixin', 
He  scorns  the  cliarms  of  alcohol 

Without  some  artful  fixin', 
Some  sugary  aid  to  make  it  sweet, 

Some  acid  smack  to  sour  it, 
Till  each  drink  needs  two  jugs  at  least, 

And  two  smart  hands  to  pour  it. 

\_London\  Punch  for  July  26,  1862. 

In  Liquor.    Intoxicated,  drunk. 

To  liquor  or  To  liquor  up.    To  take  a  dram;  or,  as  we  more  fre- 
quently say,  to  take  a  drink. 

He  was  the  first  to  break  silence,  and,  jumping  up,  asked  all  to  liquor  before 
going  to  bed.  — Porter's  Tales  of  the  South-west,  p.  31. 

"  The  child  must  be  named  Margaret."  "No!  Mary,"  replied  the  father,  "  in 
honor  of  my  esteemed  wife.  Besides,  that 's  a  Bible  nnme,  and  we  can't  liquor 
up  OR  Margaret."  —  Maryaret,  p.  89. 

"  I  '11  drink  with  you,  and  you  drink  with  me;  an'  then  we  '11  call  it  square." 

"Agreed!  "  says  I,  "  an'  we  licTcered  round  twiste;  an'  Jo  and  I  shook  hands, 
an'  squared  off  all  old  accounts."  —  Traits  of  American  Humor,  Vol.  II.  p.  75. 

"  Liquor  up,  gentlemen."  We  bowed.  "  Let  me  introduce  you  to  some  of  the 
most  highly  esteemed  of  our  citizens."  We  bowed  again.  "  Now  then.  Mister,'* 
turning  to  the  man  at  the  bar,  "drinks  round  and  cobblers  at  that." — Notes  on 
Canada  and  the  North-western  States,  Blackwood's  Ma(j.,  Sept.,  1855. 

Come  in  here  to  the  hotel  and  let 's  liquor,  for  I  am  nation  dry.  I  have  let  off 
so  much  steam,  that  the  biler  wants  replenishin'.  —  Sam  Slick,  Wise  Saws,  p.  3i. 


LIS— LOA 


359 


To  list.    To  make  a  bed  or  raised  terrace.  Southern. 

Lister.  One  who  makes  a  list  or  roll.  —  Webster.  This  word  is  used 
in  Connecticut,  and  is  applied  to  those  who  make  out  lists  or  returns 
of  cattle  or  other  property.  I  have  never  heard  the  word  used  else- 
where. 

Listing.  Making  beds;  interchanging  beds  and  alleys  in  cotton 
culture. 

The  next  step  is  the  listing,  done  with  the  hoe,  and  making  the  bed  where  the 
alleys  were  at  the  previous  raising  of  the  crop,  and  the  alleys  being  made  where 
the  beds  were  before.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  United  States  Government  Report  from 
South  Carolina,  Feb.,  1861. 

Little  End  of  the  Horn.  "  To  come  out  at  the  little  end  of  the  Jiorn,^^ 
is  said  when  a  ridiculously  small  effect  has  been  produced  after 
great  effort  and  much  boasting,  and  when  a  person  or  thing  makes 
a  failure. 

Live  forever.  The  name  of  a  fanatical  sect  in  Kentucky  whose  prin 
cipal  article  of  faith  was  that  those  who  had  "  faith  "  would  never 
die.  Whenever  a  member  died,  the  answer  to  this  very  striking 
argumentum  ad  hominem  was  that  he  had  not  the  "faith."  The 
number,  never  very  large,  was  reduced  in  1850  to  two,  and  one  of 
these  had  left  the  sect,  leaving  but  one  "  live  forever.'''' 

Live  Horse.  In  printers'  parlance,  work  done  over  and  above  that 
included  in  the  week's  bill.    See  Dead  Horse. 

Living-Room.  The  sitting  or  common  family  room.  In  New  Eng- 
land called  the  keeping-room^  which  see. 

The  cabin  was  furnished  with  two  entrance  doors.  I  rapped  at  one,  and  in  a 
m'  nient  it  opened,  and  Joe  ushered  me  into  the  living-room.  —  Gilmore,  My 
Southern  Friends,  p.  149. 

To  live  out.    To  be  out  at  service ;  to  be  a  servant.    New  England. 
She  came  to  this  city,  and  lived  out  as  a  cook.  — N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Llano.  (Spanish.)  The  plains  or  prairies  of  Texas,  New  Mexico, 
and  other  States  and  Territories  bordering  on  Mexico,  are  so  called 
by  the  people  residing  there. 

Lo  A  term  of  recent  origin,  applied  to  an  Indian,  from  the  well- 
known  lines  of  Pope's  "  Essay  on  Man." 

Lo,  the  poor  Indian  !  whose  untutored  mind 
Sees  God  in  clouds,  or  hears  him  in  the  wind. 

To  load.    To  load  one^s  self  with  stock  is  to  buy  heavily.    A  Wall 

Street  phrase. — Medbery. 
Loafer.    A  vagabond;  an  idle  lounger.    This  peculiarly  American 

word  came  to  the  United  States  probably  from  Mexico  or  Texas, 


360 


LOA 


and  has  been  gradually  growing  into  extensive  use  during  the  last 
thirty  years.  It  is  the  Span,  (jnllofero,  gallofo^  and  was  applied  in 
the  first  place  to  the  vagrants  of  our  large  towns,  in  which  sense  it 
is  equivalent  to  the  lazzarone.  of  Naples  or  the  lepero  of  Mexico.  It 
is  now,  however,  frequently  applied  in  conversation  and  in  the 
newspapers  to  idlers  in  general,  and  seems  to  have  lost  somewhat  of 
its  original  vulgarity.  The  Philadelphia  "  Vade  Mecum  "  has  the 
following  remarks  upon  it:  — 

"  This  is  a  new  word,  and,  as  yet,  being  but  a  colt  or  a  chrysalis, 
is  regarded  as  a  slang  epithet.  It  is,  however,  a  good  word,  one 
much  needed  in  the  language,  and  will,  in  time,  establish  itself  in 
the  most  refined  dictionaries.  It  wall  mount  into  good  society,  and 
be  uttered  by  aristocratic  lips;  for  it  is  the  only  word  designating 
the  most  important  species  of  the  genus  idler,  — the  most  important, 
because  the  most  annoying  branch  of  that  family. 

"  The  loafer  is  not  exclusively,  as  some  suppose  him,  a  ragged 
step-and-corner  lounger,  who  sleeps  in  the  sun,  and  '  hooks  '  sugar 
on  the  wharf.  On  the  contrary,  the  propensity  to  loaf  is  confined 
to  no  rank  in  life;  all  conditions  are,  more  or  less,  troubled  with  it. 
Like  squinting,  the  king  and  the  beggar  may  be  equally  afflicted 
with  the  imperfection.  There  be  your  well-dressed,  moneyed /oa/er, 
as  well  as  your  loafer  who  is  nightly  taken  by  the  watch. 

"  He  is  that  kind  of  a  man,  who,  having  nothing  to  do,  or  being 
unwilling  to  do  any  thing,  cannot  keep  his  tediousness  to  himself, 
and  therefore  bestows  it  all  upon  others,  not  when  they  are  at  leisure 
for  conversational  recreation,  but  when  business  presses,  and  they 
would  look  black  upon  the  intrusion  of  a  sweetheart  or  a  three-day 
w'ife.  He  is  the  drag-chain  upon  industry,  and  yet  so  far  different 
from  the  drag-chain  that  he  hitches  to  the  wheel  w^hen  the  pull  is 
up  hill.  Loving  the  excitement  of  busy  scenes,  yet  too  lazy  to  be 
an  actor  in  them,  where  men  are  busiest,  there  too  is  to  be  found 
the  pure,  unadulterated  loafer,  spraw^ling  about  as  the  hound  sprawls 
before  the  fire  in  everybody's  way,  and  tripping  up  everybody's 
heels.  In  the  store,  he  sits  upon  the  counter,  swinging  his  useless 
legs,  and  gaping  vacantly  at  the  movements  around  him.  In  the 
office,  he  effectually  checks  necessary  conversation  among  those  who 
do  not  wish  their  business  bruited  to  the  world,  turns  over  papers 
•which  he  has  no  right  to  touch,  and  squints  at  contents  which  he 
has  no  right  to  know\  In  the  counting-house,  he  perches  on  a  stool, 
interrupts  difficult  calculations  with  chat  as  idle  as  himself,  follows 
the  bustling  clerk  to  the  storehouse,  pouches  the  genuine  Havana, 


LOA 


361 


quaffs  nectar  from  proof -glasses,  and  makes  himself  free  of  the 
good  thmgs  which  belong  to  others." 

The  origin  of  this  woi'd  is  altogether  uncertain.  Two  etymologies 
have  been  suggested  for  it;  namely,  the  German  Zaw/er,  a  runner 
(comp.  the  Dutch  leeglooper  and  landlooper,  a  vagrant) ;  and  the 
Spanish  gallofero,  abbreviated  gallofo,  an  idle,  lazy  vagabond 
(whence  the  Italian  gagloffo),  a  wandering  mendicant,  a  vagabond. 
The  Span,  gallofa  means  what  was  given  to  the  galloferos^  alms, 
vegetables,  and  what  characterized  this  people  as  a  lazy,  wandering 
set.  A  writer  in  "  Notes  and  Queries  "  tells  the  following  story  of 
its  origin,  which  certainly,  si  non  e  vero,  e  ben  trovato :  — 

An  old  Dutchman  settled  at  New  York,  and  acquired  ^considerable  fortune.  He 
had  an  only  daughter,  and  a  young  American  fell  in  love  with  her  or  her  dollars, 
or  both.  The  old  father  forbade  him  his  house,  but  the  daughter  encouraged 
him.  Whenever  the  old  merchant  saw  the  lover  about  the  premises,  he  used  to 
exclaim  to  his  daughter,  "There  is  that  '  lofer '  [lover]  of  yours,  the  idle  good- 
for-nothing,"  &c. ;  and  so  an  idle  man,  hanging  about,  came  to  be  called  a 
"  loafer/'' 

The  following  illustration  of  the  use  of  the  word  is  now  "  going 
the  rounds  ' '  of  the  newspapers :  — 

*'  You  're  a  loafer,  —  a  man  without  a  calling,"  said  a  judge  to  a  person  arrested 
as  a  vagrant.  "I  beg  your  pardon,  your  honor,  I  have  a  vocation."  "  What  is 
it  V  "    "  I  smoke  glass  for  eclipses ;  but  just  now  it  is  our  dull  season." 

Henry  W.  Shaw  thus  describes  the  individual :  — 

The  loafer  is  a  thing  who  is  willing  to  be  despised  for  the  privilege  of  abusing 
others.  He  occupies  all  grades  in  society,  from  the  judge  on  the  bench  clear  down 
to  the  ragged  creature  who  leans  against  lamp-posts,  and  fights  tlies  in  August. 
He  has  no  pride  that  is  worthy,  and  no  delicacy  that  anybody  can  hurt.  During 
his  boyhood,  he  kills  cats  and  robs  birds'  nests.  During  middle  life,  he  begs  all 
the  tobacco  he  uses,  and  drinks  all  the  cheap  whiskey  he  can  at  somebody  else's 
expense.  —  Josh  B'dlinys's  Alminax  for  1877. 

To  loafer  or  loaf.    To  lounge;  to  idle  away  one's  time.    The  verb 
is  of  more  recent  origin  than  the  noun. 

We  arrived  at  the  town  of  Tincenn ;  the  sun  being  exceedingly  hot,  we  waited 
till  evening.  The  Casa  Real  in  this  as  in  other  towns  of  the  province  was  the 
loafering  place  of  the  Indians.  —  Norman'' s  Yucatan,  p.  88. 

The  Senate  has  loafed  away  the  week  in  very  gentlemanly  style.  —  New  York 
Commerchd  Advertiser,  Dec,  1845. 

The  street  [in  Hangtown,  California]  was  crowded  all  day  with  miners  loafing 
about  from  store  to  store,  making  their  purchases  and  asking  each  other  to  drink. 
Borthivick's  California,  p.  118. 

Loaferishness.    The  "  New  York  Tribune,"  of  Oct.  9,  1877,  in  notic- 
ing a  new  volume  of  Mr.  Bailey,  of  the  "  Danbury  News,"  entitled 
They  All  Do  It,"  thus  writes:  — 


362 


LOA— LOB 


If  "  They  All  Do  it  "  in  Danbury  «is  they  are  represented  to  do  in  these  stories, 
that  town  may  rejoice  in  a  population  which,  for  grotesque  stupidity,  comical  or 
stale  vulgarity,  and  general  loaf erishness  of  man,  woman,  and  child,  has  never 
been  equalled  or  even  imagined. 

To  loan.  To  lend,  Thi.s  verb  is  inserted  by  Todd  on  the  authority 
of  Iluloet  (1552)  and  Lanf^ley  (1004),  and  noted  "  not  now  in  use." 
It  is,  however,  much  used  in  this  country,  though  rarely  in  England. 
Worcester. 

The  "  Westminster  Review,"  speaking  of  the  "  Chronicles  of  Wol- 
fert's  Roost  an(^ other  Papers,"  lately  published  by  AVashington 
Irving,  says :  — 

"  He  has  the  finish  of  our  best  English  critics  ;  he  has  the  equability  and  gentle 
humor  of  Addison  and  Goldsmith.  It  is  very  rarely  that  we  come  upon  an 
Americanism;  he  is  not,  however,  wholly  guiltless;  he  makes  use  of  the  expres- 
sion to  '■'■loan  a  few  pounds." 

In  England,  when  one  man  accommodates  another  with  the  use  of  money  for  a 
time,  he  lends  it.  The  sum  is  called  a  loan ;  but  he  who  provides  it  is  said  to 
lend  or  to  have  lent.  Here,  however,  it  is  becoming  usual  to  speak  of  having 
leaned  to  another.  Webster  says  that  to  loan  is  rarely  used  in  England,  and  I 
may  say  that  I  never  heard  it  there.  What  advantage,  then,  does  it  possess  over 
the  more  familiar  form  of  the  verb  that  it  should  supersede  it  here  ?  Surely,  the 
phrase,  "  mone}'^  to  lend,"  is  sufficiently  intelligible.  To  talk  of  loan'mfj  money 
would  suggest  to  an  unsophisticated  Englishman  the  idea  of  some  unknown 
process  at  the  mint.  —  Geikie,  in  Canadian  Journril^  Sept.,  1857. 

Loan-OflBce.  A  public  office  in  which  loans  of  money  are  negotiated 
for  the  public,  or  in  which  the  accounts  of  loans  are  kept  and  the 
interest  paid  to  the  lenders.  —  Webster. 

Loan-Officer.  A  public  officer  empowered  to  superintend  and  transact 
the  business  of  a  loan  office. —  Webster. 

Loaves  and  Fishes.    The  spoils  of  politicians. 

Lobbered.  Lobbered  milk.  Milk  that  is  curdled.  The  proper  term 
is  loppered,  from  the  Teut.  lab,  Swedish  lopa,  to  run  together,  to 
coagulate;  and  is  provincial  in  various  parts  of  England. 

Lobby.  The  persons  who  frequent  the  lobby  of  a  house  of  legislature. 
The  special  correspondent  of  the  "London  Times,"  in  writing 
from  Washington,  thus  speaks  of  the  Congressional  "  Lobby  "  and 
its  influence :  — 

The  Lobby  of  Washington  has  of  late  years  grown  to  be  an  appreciable  influ- 
ence, and  much  indignation  is  expressed  by  political  purists  at  its  existence. 
But  probably  there  never  was  a  legislative  body  in  the  world  without  something 
of  the  kind.  In  the  old  Parliament  of  Ireland,  there  were  regular  "  undertakers 
of  the  king's  business,"  who  did  not  necessarily  have  seats  among  the  men  they 
influenced;  and  the  House  of  Commons  has  recognized  parliamentary  agents. 
The  business  of  the  American  Lobby  is  something  of  the  same  kind,  but  it  has 
not  yet  obtained  a  formal  organization.    It  is  at  present  an  outside  pressure  ex- 


LOB— LOG 


363 


ercised  by  a  miscellaneous  crowd  of  persons,  whose  influence  may  be  social  or 
political  or  local,  or  a  combination  of  an}'-  of  those  elements ;  they  are  often 
agents  of  other  parties,  simply  remunerated  for  their  exertions,  or  they  are  both 
agents  or  principals,  having  themselv^es  a  large  joint  share  in  the  undertaking  at 
issue.  Many  are  ex-members  of  Congress,  who  have  the  privilege  of  admission 
to  the  lobby. 

To  lobby.  To  attempt  to  exert  an  influence  on  the  members  of  a 
legislative  body,  by  besieging  them  in  the  lobbies  of  the  house 
where  they  meet.  So  necessary  has  this  business  of  lohhy'mg  now 
become  that,  when  a  petition  is  sent  to  a  legislature,  particularly 
for  an  act  of  incorporation,  it  is  very  common  for  one  or  more 
individuals  to  take  it  in  charge  for  the  purpose  of  '■'•lohhy'mg  it 
through." 

There  is  a  quarrel  in  Philadelphia  about  Mr.  W  's  appointments.    Some  of 

the  Loco-focos  have  come  out  to  lobby  against  him.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

A  committee  has  gone  to  Albany  to  lobby  for  a  new  bank  charter.  — New  York 
Courier  and  Enquirer. 

Lobbyists.    Lobby  members  and  their  constituency. — N.  Y.  Trihune. 

Lobby  Member.  A  person  who  frequents  the  lobby  of  a  house  of 
legislation.  —  Worcester. 

Loblolly  Bay.  (Gordonia  lasyanthus.)  An  elegant  ornamental  tree 
of  the  maritime  parts  of  the  Southern  States,  called  also  Holly  Bay, 
Its  bark  is  useful  for  tanning,  but  its  wood  of  but  little  value. 

The  bay-galls  are  properly  watercourses,  covered  with  a  spongy  earth  mixed 
with  matted  vegetable  tibres ;  .  .  .  their  natural  produce  is  a  stately  tree  called 
Loblolly  Bay.  — Romans' s  Nat.  Hist,  of  Florida^  1776,  p.  32. 

Loblolly  Pine.  (Pinus  tceda,  Linn.)  Sometimes  called,  in  the 
Southern  States,  "  Old-field  Pine  ;  "  and  in  Southern  Virginia, 
"White  Pine."  Much  used  for  building,  in  lower  Virginia. 
Common  from  Virginia  to  Florida.  See  Micliaux^s  N.  A.  Sylva^ 
Vol.  III.  p.  123. 

The  fish-crows  returned  to  their  fishing-grounds,  .  .  .  when  thejMnade  for  the 
interior,  often  proceeding  thirty  or  forty  miles,  to  roost  together  in  the  trees  of 
the  Loblolly  Pine.  — Audubon,  Ornithological  Bioy.,  Vol.  II.  p.  269. 

Lobster  Cart.  "  To  upset  one's  lohster-cart "  is  to  knock  him  down. 
The  more  common  expression  now  is  to  upset  one^s  apple-cart. 

Ready  up  to  take  his  part, 

I  'd  soon  upset  his  lobster-cart ; 

Make  his  bones  ache,  and  blubber  smart. 

Slack's  Cal-fiyht  (N.  Y.  1824),  p.  153. 

To  localize.    To  prepare  for  publication  local  items. 

An  unfortunate  scribe  recently  consented  to  do  the  localizing  for  the  "  Dubuque 
Herald  "  during  the  absence  of  the  regular  city  editor.  —N.  Y.  Tribune,  Dec.  6, 
1861. 


864 


LOG 


To  locate.    1.  To  place;  to  set  in  a  particular  spot  or  position.  — 

Pickering^  Webster.  This  word  is  comparatively  modern  in  Eng- 
land, and  is  not  found  in  any  of  the  dictionaries  previous  to  Todd's. 
It  is  used  among  us  much  more  frequently  and  in  a  greater  variety 
of  senses  than  in  England. 

Under  this  roof,  the  biocjrapher  of  .Johnson  passed  many  jovial,  joyous  hours; 
here  he  has  located  some  of  the  liveliest  scenes,  and  most  brilliant  passages,  in 
his  entertaining  anecdotes  of  his  friend  Samuel  Johnson,  —  Cuinberlart'/,  Memoirs 
of  Himself. 

The  Asega-bok,  the  book  of  the  judge,  contains  the  laws  of  the  Rustringian  Frie- 
sians  located  around  the  gulf  of  the  Jade.  —  Bosworth,  Preface  to  Anf/lo-Sccxon 
Dictionary,  p.  61. 

The  archbishops  and  bishops  of  England  can  neither  locate  and  limit  dioceses 
in  America,  nor  ordain  bishops  in  any  part  of  the  dominions  of  Great  Britain, 
out  of  the  realm,  by  any  liw  of  the  kingdom,  or  any  law  of  the  colonies,  or  by 
any  canon  law  acknowledged  by  either.  — John  Adams,  Letter  to  Dr.  Morse. 

A  number  of  courts  properly  located  will  keep  the  business  of  any  country  in 
such  condition  as  but  few  suits  will  be  instituted.  —  Debates  on  the  Jtuliciary, 
p.  51. 

As  we  don't  know  exactly  where  our  own  souls  reside,  what  harm  is  there  to 
pursue  such  an  investigation  as  to  our  black  brethren  '?  My  private  opinion  is, 
if  a  nigger  has  one,  it  is  located  in  his  head.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature,  p.  172. 

So,  too,  a  tov^n,  a  village,  and  even  a  piece  of  ground,  is  said  to  be 
located,  i.  e.  placed,  situated,  in  a  particular  position. 

Baber  refers  to  villages  formerly  located,  as  at  the  present  day,  on  the  plains, 
6^c.  — Masson's  Travels  in  Afjhanistan,  Vol.  III.  p.  193. 

When  Port  Essington  was  located,  all  these  difficulties  had  to  be  suffered  over 
again.  —  Stokes's  Australia,  Vol.  I  p.  401. 

A  lot  of  earth  so  singularly  located  as  marks  it  out  by  Providence  to  be  the 
emporium  of  plenty  and  the  asylum  of  peace.  —  [London]  Observer. 

And  hence  arise  the  following  American  uses  of  the  word :  — 

2.  To  select,  survey,  and  settle  the  bounds  of  a  particular  tract  of 
land,  or  to  designate  a  portion  of  land  by  limits;  as,  to  locate  a  tract 
of  a  hundred  acres  in  a  particular  township.  —  Webster. 

In  December,  1768,  Arthur  Lee  presented  a  petition  to  the  king 
in  council,  praying:  — 

That  your  Majesty  would  grant  to  his  petitioners,  to  be  fifty  in  number,  by  the 
name  of  the  Mississippi  Company,  2,500,000  acres  of  land,  in  one  or  more  sur- 
veys, to  be  located  between  the  thirty-eighth  and  forty-second  degree  of  north 
latitude,  <&c.,  &c.  —  Plain  Facts,  Phil.  1781,  p.  68. 

Mistakes  in  locating  land  were  often  very  serious,  —  the  purchaser  finding  only 
swamp  or  grave!,  when  he  had  purchased  fine  farming  laud.  —  Mrs.  Clavers's 
Weste7-n  Clearings. 

This  is  also  coming  into  use  in  the  old  country,  as  will  be  seen  by 
the  following  example :  — 


LOG 


365 


The  banks  of  these  rivers  [the  Macquarrie,  &c.,  in  New  South  Wales]  are  fast 
filling  with  settlements ;  those  of  the  hunter,  the  nearest  to  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment, being,  we  understand,  entirely  located.  —  Edinhurcjh  Review. 

3.  Applied  to  persons,  it  means:  — 

a.  To  place  in  a  permanent  residence,  to  settle. 

A  lady  from  Maine,  who  has  been  located  on  the  hill  west  of  us  for  a  week  or 
two,  calls  to  say  she  has  concluded  to  leave  Kansas.  —  Mrs.  Robinson's  Kansas, 
p.  50. 

b.  To  place  in  a  particular  position. 

The  mate,  having  located  himself  opposite  to  me  [at  the  tab^e],  began  to  ex- 
postulate upon  the  mode  of  sea  travelling.  —  GiUiam,  Travels  in  Mexico. 

c.  As  a  technical  term  used  by  the  Methodists,  to  cease  to  be 
itinerant,  and  settle  permanently  as  a  preacher.  The  word  is 
needed  by  them,  because  they  have  many  itinerant  preachers,  who 
are  not  located. 

Mr.  Parsons,  like  most  located  and  permanent  pastors  of  a  wooden  country, 
receiA'^ed  almost  nothing  for  his  services.  —  Carlton,  New  Purchase. 

d.  To  take  up  one's  residence  in  a  place,  to  settle. 

The  most  unhealthy  points  are  in  the  vicinity  of  mill-dams  and  of  marshes, 
near  both  of  which  the  settlers  take  particular  pains  to  locate.  —  Hoffman's  Win- 
ter in  the  West,  Vol.  I. 

From  the  following  extract,  it  appears  that  the  word  is  used  with 
the  same  latitude  of  signification  in  Canada:  — 

A  man  in  Britain  buys  a  house  or  farm,  and  it  is  said  to  be  in,  or  more  pre- 
cisely situated,  in  such  a  street,  or  district,  or  county.  Here  nobody  or  thing  is 
situated  anywhere,  all  are  located.  Our  farms,  our  houses,  our  congregations, 
our  constituencies,  all  are  located.  We  admire  a  mansion  occupying  a  healthy 
or  commanding  site,  and  we  are  told  that  "  the  location  is  good  ;  "  a  clergyman 
is  congratulated  on  his  incumbency,  which  is  styled  a  comfortable  location;  and 
so  on  ad  infinitum.  To  locate  is  a  purely  technical  term,  belonging  to  land  sur- 
veyors and  their  profession;  and  it  is  difficult  to  perceive  any  gain  to  the  lan- 
guage by  its  application  being  extended  beyond  its  original  technical  signifi- 
cance. —  Rev.  A.  C.  Geikie,  in  Canadian  Journal,  Sept.,  1857. 

Location,  n.  That  M^hich  is  located;  a  tract  of  land  designated  in 
place.  —  Wehiiter.  This  application  of  the  word  is  peculiar  to  the 
United  States.    In  civil  engineering,  it  is  applied  to  railroads. 

Locative  Calls.  Calls  for  the  purpose  of  location.  Those  calls  are  in 
entries  of  lands,  the  object  of  which  is  to  ascertain  and  identify 
the  land  for  the  purpose  of  location.  References  in  entries  and 
grants  of  land  to  certain  particular  physical  objects  (as  trees, 
streams,  &c.)  which  exactly  describe  the  land  to  be  located.  —  Chief 
Justice  Marshal,  Wheaton^s  Reports,  Vol.  II.  p.  206,  211. 

Locator.  In  American  land  law,  one  who  locates  land,  or  intends  or 
is  entitled  to  locate.  —  BurrilVs  Law  Dictionary. 


36G 


LOG 


Lock,  Stock,  and  Barrel.  The  whole.  A  figurative  expression  bor- 
rowed from  sportsmen,  and  having  reference  to  a  gun;  sometimes 
we  hear  "horse,  foot,  and  artillery,"  used  in  the  same  sense. 

Look  at  [this  carriage]  all  through  the  piece;  take  it  by  and  large,  lock,  stocky 
and  bniTel,  and  it 's  the  dandy.  —  Sam  Slick  in  England,  ch.  19. 

Loco-Foco.  1.  A  self-igniting  cigar  or  match.  It  is  remarkable  that 
the  origin  of  this  word  has  never  been  given. 

In  1834,  John  Marck  opened  a  store  in  Park  Row,  New  York, 
and  drew  public  attention  to  two  novelties.  One  was  champagne 
wine  drawn  like  soda  water  from  a  "  fountain  ;  "  the  other  was  a 
self-lighting  cigar,  with  a  match  composition  on  the  end.  These 
he  called  "  Z(3co-/oco  "  cigars.  The  mode  of  getting  at  the  name 
is  obvious.  The  word  "loco-motive"  was  then  rather  new  as 
applied  to  an  engine  on  a  railroad,  and  the  common  notion  was 
that  it  meant  self-mooing ;  hence,  as  these  cigars  were  self-firing, 
this  queer  name  was  coined.  So  Mr.  John  Marck  has  the  honor  of 
inventing  the  name.  His  patent  for  "  self-igniting  cigars  "  bears 
date  April  16,  1834.  This  term  does  not  occur  in  the  notice  of  his 
patent  in  the  "  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute,"  but  was  used  in 
his  advertisements,  and  can  probably  be  found  in  the  newspapers 
of  that  day. 

The  term  as  applied  to  a  match  is  therefore  an  Americanism;  but 
as  no  other  kind  of  match  is  now  known,  as  a  distinct  appellation, 
it  is  going  out  of  use.  The  very  use  of  these  matches  is  of  Ameri- 
can origin,  and  at  an  early  date  the  manufacture  reached  to  an 
extent  almost  incredible.  Not  long  after  the  date  of  the  naming 
of  the  party,  one  manufacturer  alone  had  invested  -$100,000  in 
making  these  matches  and  boxes. 

2.  The  name  by  which  the  Democratic  party  is  extensively  distin- 
guished throughout  the  United  States.  This  name  originated  in 
the  year  1835,  when  a  division  arose  in  the  party,  in  consequence 
of  the  nomination  of  Gideon  Lee  as  the  Democratic  candidate  for 
Congress,  by  the  committee  chosen  for  that  purpose.  This  nomina- 
tion, as  was  customary,  had  to  be  confirmed  at  a  general  meeting 
of  Democrats  held  at  Tammany  Hall.  His  friends  anticipated 
opposition,  and  assembled  in  large  numbers  to  support  him.  •'  The 
first  question  which  arose,"  says  ]Mr.  Hammond,  "and  which 
would  test  the  strength  of  the  parties,  was  the  selection  of  chair- 
man. The  friends  of  Mr.  Lee,  whom  we  will  call  Tammany  men, 
supported  Mr.  Yarian ;  and  the  anti-monopolists,  Mr.  Curtis.  The 
Tammanies  entered  the  hall  as  soon  as  the  doors  were  opened,  by 
means  of  back  stairs;  while  at  the  same  time  the  Equal  Kight3 


LOG— LOG 


367 


party  rushed  into  the  long  room  up  the  front  stairs.  Both  parties 
were  loud  and  boisterous;  the  one  declaring  that  Mr.  Varian  was 
chosen  chairman,  and  the  other  that  Mr.  Curtis  was  duly  elected 
the  presiding  officer.  A  very  tumultuous  and  confused  scene  en- 
sued, during  which  the  gas-lights,  with  which  the  hall  was  illumi- 
nated, \vere  extinguished.  The  Equal  Rights  party,  either  having 
witnessed  similar  occurrences,  or  having  received  some  intimations 
that  such  would  be  the  course  of  their  opponents,  had  provided 
themselves  with  loco-foco  matches  and  candles,  and  the  room  was 
re-lighted  in  a  moment.  The  '  Courier  and  Enquirer  '  newspaper 
dubbed  the  anti-monopolists,  who  used  the  matches,  with  the  name 
of  Loco-foco :  which  was  soon  after  given  to  the  Democratic  party, 
and  which  they  have  since  retained."  —  Hammond's  Political  History 
of  New  York,  Vol.  II.  p.  491. 

Locust.    A  name  given  in  America  to  several  species  of  Cicada. 

Locu?t-Tree.  (Robinia  pseudacacia.)  A  tree  much  cultivated  both 
for  ornament  and  for  its  exceedingly  durable  timber. 

Lodge.  A  term  now  applied  to  a  family  of  Indians  occupying  one 
wigwam.    See  Tepees. 

Log  Cabin.  A  house  such  as  is  constructed  by  the  early  settlers  with 
unhewn  logs,  roughly  notched  together  at  the  corners,  and  the  in- 
terstices filled  with  clay.    Also  called  Log  Hut  and  Log  House. 

Log  Canoe.    See  Dug-out. 

Logger.  A  term  applied  to  men  engaged  in  the  forests  in  cutting 
down  trees  and  sawing  them  into  logs  for  market;  a  lumberman. 

The  lofjfjers  are  obliged  to  take  good  care  of  their  feet;  one  of  them  often  wears 
three  or  four  pair  of  socks,  with  a  pair  of  moccasins  over  them,  to  prevent  their 
freezing.  —  Putnam's  Mag.,  July,  1857. 

Loggerhead.  A  long  piece  of  iron  clubbed  at  the  end.  A  poker  used 
hot  for  heating  beer,  cider,  &c.    New  England. 

Loggerhead  Terrapin.    The  large  fresh  and  salt  water  tortoise. 

Logging.  The  business  of  felling  trees  and  preparing  timber  for 
transportation . 

Once  more  at  work,  he  emploj'ed  his  leisure  time  in  the  heavy  and  dangerous 
business  of  Zoy^rin//.  —  Mrs.  Clavers's  Western  Clearings. 

If  I  haven't  missed  my  blaze,  it  was  hereabouts  that  I  was  prospecting.  .  .  . 
Dan  Smith  was  along,  and  a  smarter  chap  at  loyyiny  never  swung  axe. — 
Harpers  Mag.,  March,  18U0,  p  440. 

Logging-Bee.  When  the  neighbors  of  a  new  settler  unite  with  their 
oxen  and  horses  to  aid  him  in  gathering  together  the  logs  and  fallen 


368 


LOG 


trees  preparatoiy  to  burning,  it  is  called  a  Joggmg-hee.  Spirituous 
liquors  are  often  served  on  these  occasions. 

I  was  never  at  a  lo(j(/intj-hee  where  wliiskey  was  used,  where  so  much  was  done 
by  so  few  hands,  and  in  such  double  quick  time.  —  Jronthorjje,  p.  219. 

Logging  Swamp.    In  Maine,  the  place  where  pine  timber  is  cut. 
Logic-Chopper.    A  person  who  uses  subtle  distinctions;  a  keen  meta- 
physician; a  sophist. 

A  sharper  lofjic-chopper  and  shrewder  schoolman  than  ever  Thomas  Aquinas 
or  Abelard.  — v.  Y.  Tribune,  Nov.  2-3,  1861. 

To  logicize.    To  reason. 

And  I  give  the  preliminary  view  of  the  reason ;  because,  since  this  is  the  faculty 
which  reasons  or  loyicizes,  &c.  —  Tappixn's  Elements  of  Lofjic,  Preface,  p.  5. 

Logies.    In  codfishinc^,  the  poor  and  thin  fish  are  so  called. 

Log-Rolling.  1.  In  the  lumber  regions  of  Maine,  it  is  customary  for 
men  of  different  logging  camps  to  appoint  days  for  helping  each 
other  in  rolling  the  logs  to  the  river,  after  they  are  felled  and 
trimmed,  —  this  rolling  being  about  the  hardest  work  incident  to 
the  business.  Thus  the  men  of  three  or  four  camps  will  unite,  say 
on  Monday,  to  roll  for  camp  No.  1,  —  on  Tuesday,  for  camp  Xo  2, 
—  on  Wednesday,  for  camp  No.  3,  —  and  so  on,  through  the  whole 
number  of  camps  within  convenient  distance  of  each  other. 

I  know  how  to  hate  an  Indian  or  love  a  gall  as  well  as  any  one.  I  fell  in  love 
with  three  galls  at  once  at  a  log-rolling  ;  and,  as  for  tea-squalls,  my  heart  never 
shut  pan  a  minute  at  a  time.  —  Crockett's  Aclventtires. 

We  were  compelled,  for  electioneering  objects,  to  attend  this  summer  several 
log-rollings.  —  Carlton,  The  New  Purchase,  Vol.  I.  p.  237. 

2.  The  term  has  been  adopted  in  legislation  to  signify  a  like  sys- 
tem of  mutual  co-operation.  For  instance,  a  member  from  St.  Law- 
rence has  a  pet  bill  for  a  plank  road  which  he  wants  pushed  through ; 
he  accordingly  makes  a  bargain  with  a  member  from  Onondaga, 
w^ho  is  coaxing  along  a  charter  for  a  bank,  by  w^hich  St.  Lawrence 
agi'ees  to  vote  for  Onondaga's  bank,  provided  Onondaga  will  vote  in 
turn  for  St.  Lawrence's  plank  road. 

This  is  legislative  log-rolling ;  and  there  is  abundance  of  it  car- 
ried on  at  Albany  every  winter. 

Generally  speaking,  the  subject  of  the  log-rolling  is  some  merely 
local  project,  interesting  only  to  the  people  of  a  certain  district;  but 
sometimes  there  is  party  log-rolling,  where  the  AYhigs,  for  instance, 
will  come  to  an  understanding  with  the  Democrats,  that  the  former 
shall  not  oppose  a  certain  Democratic  measure  merely  on  party 
grounds,  provided  the  Democrats  will  be  equally  tender  to  some 
Whig  measure  in  return. 


LOG— LON 


369 


In  the  "  Draft  of  a  Penal  Code  for  the  State  of  New  York,"  pre- 
pared by  the  commissioners  (1864),  in  a  note  to  section  121  (p.  37), 
making  punishable  the  receiving  of  bribes  by  members  of  the 
legislature,  the  commissioners  say:  — 

This  section  is  extended  to  embrace  what  is  known  as  "  log-rolling,''''  or  agree- 
ments to  exchange  votes  for  or  against  measures  pending  before  the  Legislature. 

Another  evil  of  our  banking  system  arises  from  the  very  foolish  rule  that  a 
single  director  may  reject  any  paper  offered  for  discount,  instead  of  making  the 
fate  of  every  application  depend  upon  the  decision  of  a  majority  of  the  board. 
This  gives  a  power  to  individuals  at  variance  with  the  interests  of  the  community. 
It  produces  what  is  termed  log-rolling  in  legislation,  and  makes  good  and  liberal- 
minded  men  responsible  for  the  conduct  of  individuals  who  look  solely  to  self.  — 
N.  Y.  Courier  and  Enquirer. 

Mr.  Davis  has  the  best  prospect  for  speaker,  without  the  fetters  of  a  caucus. 
But,  with  such  a  system  of  log-rolling,  the  one  whose  prospects  are  worse,  or 
rather  who  has  no  prospects  at  all,  has  the  best  chance  to  come  out  successful.  — 
N.  Y.  Tiibune. 

Mr.  Ballou  did  not  see  the  object  of  a  postponement.  If  the  delay  was  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  information  for  the  House,  he  had  no  objections;  if  log-roll- 
ing was  the  motive,  he  opposed  the  postponement.  —  Providence  Journal. 

If  the  idea  becomes  prevalent  that  the  legislation  of  Congress  is  controlled  by 
a  system  of  combinations  and  log-rolling,  those  who  can  fabricate  the  most  unjust 
claims  will  be  found  coming  forward  to  crowd  the  halls  of  Congress  and  specu- 
late upon  the  public  treasur}'.  —  Washington  Union,  Feb.  10,  1855. 

Logy.  (Dutch,  log.)  Heavy,  slow,  stupid.  He 's  a  logg  man,  i.  e.  a 
slow-moving,  heavy  man.  "  He  is  a  ^^7^ preacher,"  i.  e.  dull.  The 
Dutch  say,  Een  log  verstand,  a  dull  wit.  Mr.  J.  R.  Lowell  says  it 
is  exactly  the  Italian  lurgo.  Dante  calls  the  Germans  "  I  Tedeschi 
Lurghi,"  and  the  Italians  love  to  quote  the  line. 

Loma.  (Spanish.)  A  hill,  or  ridge  of  hills,  with  a  flat  summit.  A 
term  in  general  use  on  the  Mexican  frontier.  The  diminutive 
Lomita  is  also  sometimes  employed. 

Lone  Star.  The  State  of  Texas,  whose  flag  bears  a  single  star  in  its 
centre. 

Let  us  not  forget  the  Cynosure  of  Independence  \i.  e.  Massachusetts] ;  but  bid 
her  a  kind  farewell  for  her  pilotage  through  the  breakers  of  the  Revolution,  —  blot 
her  out  from  the  galaxy  that  encircles  the  Eagle's  crest,  —  put  the  Lone  Star  in 
its  place,  &c.  —  A  Voice  from  the  South,  p.  53. 

Hurrah  for  the  Lone  Star! 

Up,  up  to  the  mast. 
With  the  honored  old  bunting, 

And  nail  it  there  fast. 
The  ship  is  in  danger, 

And  Texans  will  fight, 
'Neath  the  flag  of  the  Lone  Star, 
For  God  and  their  right. 

Mason,  Southern  Poems  of  the  War,  p.  95. 
24 


870 


LON 


Long  and  Short.  1.  Broker's  terms.  "  Long  "  means  when  a  man 
has  bouglit  stock  on  time,  which  he  can  call  for  at  any  day  he 
chooses.    He  is  also  said  to  be  "  /orx;,"  when  he  holds  a  good  deal. 

Short  means  when  a  broker  sells  stocks,  to  be  delivered  at  a  future  day.  If  he 
owns  the  stock  he  sells  or  aj^rees  to  deliver,  he  is  both  lontj  and  short  at  the  same 
time.  The  effect  of  one  contract  neutralizes  or  blocks  the  other,  and  in  reality  he 
is  neither  lontj  nor  short.  If  he  does  not  own  the  stock,  —  which  is  the  case  nine 
times  in  ten,  —  he  is  short,  or,  what  is  the  same  thing,  a  '  btitr  ;  "  and  it  is  for  his 
interest  to  f>:et  the  price  down,  so  as  to  be  able  to  buy  the  stock  to  deliver  at  a 
less  price  than  he  sold.  — New  York  Day-book. 

2.  The  whole;  as,  "  The  long  and  short  of  it  is." 

Long  Chalk.    Not  hy  a  long  chalk,  not  by  a  great  deal. 

Women  commonly  are  critters  of  a  niixed  character,  in  gineral  more  good  than 
bad  about  them,  by  a  long  chalk,  but  spoiled  like  filleys  in  trainin'.  —  Sdin  Slick, 
Wise  Saw. 9. 

Long  Knives  or  Big  Knives.  A  term  applied  by  the  North  Amer- 
ican Indians  to  the  white  residents  of  the  United  States.  It  signi- 
fies wearers  of  swords. 

Long  Moss.  (Tiliandsia  usneoides.)  This  parasitic  and  singular  veg- 
etation is  first  seen  in  company  with  the  palmetto,  about  latitude 
33°.  It  hangs  down  in  festoons,  like  the  twiny  stems  of  weeping- 
willow.  It  attaches  itself  of  choice  to  the  cypress,  and.  after  that, 
to  the  acacia.  These  pendent  wreaths  often  conceal  the  body  of  the 
tree,  when  bare  of  foliage,  to  such  a  degree  that  little  is  seen  but  a 
mass  of  moss.  Waving  in  the  wind,  they  attach  themselves  to  the 
branches  of  other  trees,  and  thus  sometimes  form  curtains  of  moss, 
that  darken  the  leafless  forests  of  winter.  —  Flint,  Mi.^.^issippi  Valley. 

Long  Sauce.  Beets,  carrots,  and  parsnips  are  long  .sauce.  Potatoes, 
turnips,  onions,  pumpkins,  &c.,  are  .^hoj't  sauce.    See  Sauce. 

The  Yankee  farmer  takes  unto  himself  for  a  wife  some  buxom  country  heiress, 
deeply  skilled  in  the  mysterv  of  making  apple  sweetmeats,  long  sauce,  and  pump- 
kin pie.  —  Irving,  Knickerbocker,  p  186. 

Miss  Ramsay,  in  her  "  Poetical  Picture  of  America,"  in  sj^eaking 
of  the  vegetables  brought  to  Virginia,  says:  — 

New  England  boats  in  numbers  bring 
Notions,  and  many  a  wooden  thing. 
Their  long-sauce,  and  their  short-sauce  too, 
About  their  boats  are  laid  in  view.  —  p.  76. 

Longshanks.    See  Lawyer,  No.  1. 

Longshoreman,  for  along.<horeman.  A  man  employed  to  load  and 
unload  vessels;  a  stevedore.    New  York. 

A  meeting  of  the  longshoremen  was  held  last  evening  to  take  into  consideration 
the  difficulty  between  themselves  and  the  merchants.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 


LON— LQO 


371 


The  strike  among  the  ?on_ys^07'eme».  caulkers,  laborers,  &c.,  has  become  quite 
general,  and  the  work  of  repairing,  loading,  and  unloading  of  vessels  is  almost 
suspended.  —  New  York  Express. 

Oh !  I  am  a  simple,  laboring  man, 

I  work  along  the  shore. 
To  keep  the  hungry  wolves  away 
From  the  poor  longshoreman's  door. 

Song,  by  Harrigan. 

Long  Short.  A  gown  somewhat  shorter  than  a  petticoat,  worn  by 
women  when  doing  household  work. 

Long  Sugar.  Molasses ;  so  called  formerly  in  North  Carolina  from  the 
ropiness  of  it,  and  serving  all  the  purposes  of  sugar  both  in  eating 
and  drinking.  — Byrd^  Westover  Papers,  p.  28. 

Long  Sweetening.    Molasses;  so  called  formerly  in  New  England. 

Long  Tom.  1.  An  apparatus  used  by  the  Californians  for  washing 
gold  from  the  earth  or  gravel  in  which  it  is  found.  It  consists  of  a 
wooden  trough  from  twelve  to  twenty-five  feet  long  and  about  a  foot 
wide.  At  its  lower  end  it  widens,  and  its  floor  there  is  of  sheet-iron 
pierced  with  holes  half  an  inch  in  diameter,  under  which  is  placed 
a  flat  box  a  couple  of  inches  deep.  The  long  tom  is  set  at  a  slight 
inclination  over  the  place  which  is  to  be  worked,  and  a  stream  of 
water  is  kept  running  through  it  by  means  of  a  hose ;  and,  while 
8ome  of  the  party  shovel  the  dirt  into  the  tom,  one  man  stands  at  the 
low^er  end  stirring  up  the  earth  as  it  is  washed  down,  and  separating 
the  stones,  while  the  earth  and  small  gravel  fall  through  the  sieve 
into  another  box,  where  it  undergoes  another  process  of  sifting. 

When  the  miners  extricate  themselves  from  the  temples  of  pleasure  [in  the 
city],  they  return  to  their  camps  and  long-toms,  and  soothe  their  racking  head- 
aches by  the  discovery  of  chunks  of  gold.  — Marryat,  Mountains  and  Molehills, 
p.  236. ' 

2.  A  cannon  of  large  size  and  of  special  length. 

Gunboats  are  having  their  armaments  increased  by  the  addition  of  Long-Toms, 
longer  and  larger  than  were  ever  heard  of  in  days  when  guns  of  that  cognomen 
were  a  terror. — New  York  Tribune,  Dec.  30,  1861. 

3.  (From  a  not  wholly  fanciful  resemblance  to  a  cannon.)  A 
long  cigar, — usually  of  a  quality  inversely  proportioned.  New 
England. 

Looed.  Defeated.  A  term  borrowed  from  the  game  called  loo ;  as, 
"  Santa  Anna  was  looed  at  San  Jacinto."  South-west.  Comp. 
Euclired. 

Loon.  {Colymhm  glacialis.')  The  common  name  for  the  Northern 
Divoi .    As  straight  as  a  loon^s  leg  is  a  common  simile. 


372 


LOO— LOS 


Looney.  (Scot.  Zown,  lown^  a  worthless  fellow.)  A  foolish  fellow. 
Jainieson  defines  the  word  as  above,  from  which  looney  may  be 
derived. 

Loosely  around.  To  lay  loosely  around  is  to  lounge  about  with  noth- 
ing to  do;  to  "  hang  round." 

Entering  a  cloud  of  tobacco  smoke,  and  t^ropini;  our  way  over  p^oups  of  drunken 
chivalry,  who  Imj  loosely  around^  we  api)roached  the  counter.  —  Gilmore,  My 
Southern  Friends,  p.  59. 

A  district  schoolmaster,  who  does  a  square  job,  and  takes  his  codfish-balls 
reverently,  is  a  better  man  to-day  to  have  lyiny  round  loose  than  Solomon  would 
be  arrayed  in  all  his  glory.  —  Josh  BilUn;^,  Works,  p.  325. 

[The  Chicago  and  North-western  Kailroad]  was  flung  down  on  the  prairie  at 
the  rate  of  two  miles  a  day,  and  while  the  bed  remained  frozen  it  did  very  well ; 
but,  when  the  thaw  and  spring  floods  came,  it  imitated  the  Dutchman's  milk  in 
lyiny  round  loose  generally.  —  McClure,  Tour  throuyh  Rochy  Mountains,  p.  29. 

Looseness.  Unrestraint,  freedom.  A  Western  vulgarism,  now  be- 
coming common  at  the  East;  as,  "He  goes  it  with  a  looseness,^* 
i.  e.  acts  without  restraint.  Still  more  vigorous  is  the  expression, 
perfect  looseness. 

Ah !  my  Christian  friends,  the  devil  is  amongst  us,  going  forward  to  injure 
and  destroy.    He  is  going  it  with  the  looseness  of  an  antediluvian  relax;  and,  as 

Deacon  B  would  say,  we  mustn't  allow  him  to  come  the  Japan  flummux 

over  us  much  longer.  —  Dow's  Sermons,  Vol.  III.  p.  214. 

ThQ  perfect  looseness  v{\i\i  \f\\\ch.  books  not  on  the  invoice  were  sold  [at  auc- 
tion] was  illustrated  by  the  sale  of  a  volume  of  Anthon's  series,  which  went  off 
in  lots  of  a  hundred,  &c.  —  N.  Y.  Express.  Sept.,  1855. 

Let  them  go  it  with  a  perfect  looseness,  till  they  burst  their  brittle  strings  of 
life's  corsets,  and  fall  to  pieces  in  the  cold  embrace  of  death.  —Dow^s  Sermons, 
Vol.  I.  p.  198. 

Lope.  (Dutch,  loopen,  to  leap,  to  run.)  A  common  term  for  gallop, 
of  which  it  may  be  a  contraction. 

An  English  provincialism  for  "  to  stride."  — Wright.  "  To  lop," 
used  in  Kent,  for  "to  lounge."  —  Id.  Bailey  gives  "to  lope,  to 
run  or  slip  away,"  from  Low  Saxon,  loopen. 

A  sulky  ox  refuses  to  move  in  the  proper  direction ;  off  starts  a  rider,  who, 
catching  the  stubborn  animal  by  the  tail,  it  at  once  becomes  frightened  into  a 
lope  ;  advantage  is  taken  of  the  unwieldy  body  by  the  hunter,  as  it  rests  on  the 
■   fore  feet,  to  jerk  it  to  the  ground.  —  Thorpe's  Backwoods,  p  15. 

The  mustang  goes  rollicking  ahead,  with  the  eternal  lope,  such  as  an  amorous 
deer  assumes  Avhen  it  moves  beside  its  half  galloping  mate,  a  mixture  of  two  or 
three  gaits,  as  easy  as  the  motions  of  a  cradle.  —  Jbid.,  p.  13. 

Lose-laid.  Loose-laid  ;  a  weaver's  term,  and  probably  English.  Weak- 
willed.  —  Loivell. 

Lost  Cause.  The  late  pro-slavery  rebellion,  with  its  occasion,  ad- 
juncts, results;  the  Southern  Confederacy. 


LOT— LUC 


373 


"  The  politicians  of  the  South  adore  the  heroes  of  the  Confederacy ;  they  glorify 
the  Lost  Cause.'''' 

The  "N.  Y.  Tribune,"  of  Sept.  8,  1877,  in  speaking  of  the 
attempted  reunion  of  Federal  and  Confederate  soldiers  at  Marietta, 
Ohio,  says:  — 

This  was  such  an  excellent  opportunity  of  evidencing,  in  a  striking  way,  the 
return  of  national  good-will,  that  it  seems  unfortunate  that  the  distinguished 
representatives  of  the  Lost  Cause,  whose  presence  was  looked  for,  could  not  have 
come  to  shake  hands  with  their  old  foes. 

Lot.  In  the  United  States,  a  piece  or  division  of  land;  perhaps  origi- 
nally assigned  by  drawing  lots,  but  now^  any  portion,  piece,  or  divi- 
sion.—  Webster.  This  application  of  the  word  is  peculiar  to  this 
country,  and  is  universally  used  of  a  parcel  of  land,  whether  in 
town  or  countiy.  Thus,  we  have  city  lots^  town  lots,  house  lots, 
meadow  lots,  water  lots,  building  lots,  &c.  "  I  have  a  fine  lot  of 
cleared  land,  with  a  wood  lot  adjoining;  "  meaning  a  portion  of  the 
forest  on  which  the  trees  are  left  for  fuel  as  required.  "  In  going 
to  town,  I  left  the  road,  and  went  across  lots,  to  shorten  the  dis- 
tance," i.  e.  across  the  open  fields  or  meadows.  "  In  the  first  set- 
tlement of  this  country,"  says  Mr.  Pickering,  "  a  certain  portion  or 
share  of  land  was  allotted  to  each  inhabitant  of  the  town ;  and  this 
was  called  his  lot.    Both  lot  and  allotment  occur  in  our  early  laws." 

Lots.    "  Lots  of  people;  "  i.  e.,  a  large  number. 

To  lot  upon.    To  allot;  to  anticipate;  to  expect,  desire,  regard  as 

sure.    New  England.    See  Allot. 
Loud.    Any  thing  showy  or  flashy.    "  She  wore  a  loud  bonnet." 

Common  in  England.  —  Hotten. 
To  love,  for  to  like.    "Do  you  love  pumpkin  pie?"    "I'd  love  to 

have  that  bonnet !  "    Used  also  as  a  noun.    "A  perfect  love  of  a 

bonnet." 

Low-belia.  The  quacks  who  use  the  Lobelia  inflata,  or  "Indian 
tobacco,"  suppose  the  name  to  be  Loicbelia,  and  it  is  so  written  in 
the  description  of  a  patent.  The  other  species,  which  towers  high 
above  its  humble  relative,  is  accordingly  dubbed  High-belia. 

Low  Blackberry.  The  name,  in  New  England,  for  the  fruit  of  the 
Rubus  trivialis.    See  Dewberry. 

Low  Grounds.    Bottom  lands  are  so  called  in  Virginia. 

Lower  House.    A  House  of  Representatives.    See  Upper  House. 

Lucifer  Match.  Matches  which  ignite  by  friction,  also  called  Loco- 
foco  matches.  Both  these  expressions,  however,  are  now  being 
supplanted  by  other  terms. 


874 


LUC— LUM 


No  rubbing  will  kindle  your  luciftr  mutch, 
If  the  liz  does  not  follow  the  primitive  scratch. 

0.  W.  Holmes's  Poems,  p.  77. 

Lucivee.    The  lynx,  or  Loup  Cervier  of  the  French. 

Lucivee  is  rather  an  odd  name,  isn't  it?  "  asked  Will. 
"Yes,  that's  what  the  French  called  the  animal  when  they  first  settled  in 
Canada,  and  saw  it  there.  They  spell  it  out  Loup  Cervier,  which  means  wolf- 
stag,  or  rather  stag-wolf.  They  called  it  the  stag-wolf,  because  they  used  to  see 
it  catch  moose  and  deer.  But,  if  you  want  to  look  it  up  in  your  natural  history, 
you  must  find  the  word  '  Lynx.'  The  Lucivee  is  the  Lynx  Canadensis  of  the 
books.  —  C.  A.  Stevens,  in  Our  Youny  Folks,  for  Feb.,  1871,  p.  99. 

The  word  lucern  will  be  found  in  Chapman'.s  "  Homer,"  where 
it  undoubtedly  refers  to  the  same  animal. 

As  when  a  den  of  bloody  lucerne  cling. 
About  a  goodly-palmed  hart,  hurt  with  a  hunter's  bow. 

Jliad,  Book  XI.  p.  417. 

We  have  it  again  in  Chapman's  "  Bussy  D'Ambois:  "  — 

Let  me  have 
My  lucerns  too,  or  dogs  inured  to  hunt 
Beasts  of  most  rapine.  —  Act  iii.  Anc.  Dr.  in.  280. 

Wright  describes  it  as  a  lynx ;  and  Nares  as  a  sort  of  hunting  dog. 
Mr.  Hooper,  in  a  note  on  the  word,  in  his  edition  of  Chapman's 
"Homer's  Illiad,"  Vol.  I.  p.  240,  says:  "The  etymology  seems 
uncertain."  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  all  refer  to  the  old  French 
leucerve,  of  which  it  is  a  corruption. 

Lucks.  Small  portions  of  wool  twisted  on  the  finger  of  a  spinner  at 
the  wheel  or  distaff.  The  same  word  as  lock  when  applied  to  the 
hair,  &c.  —  Forhy^s  Norfolk  Glossary.  In  New  England,  this  word 
is  still  in  use. 

Miss  Gisborne's  flannel  is  promised  the  last  of  the  week.  There  is  a  bunch  of 
luchs  down  cellar;  bring  them  up.  —  Maryaret,  p.  6. 

LuddyMussy!  "  Lud-a-massy. "  A  corrupt  pronunciation  of  Zor</ 
have  mercy!  An  exclamation  of  surprise,  common  in  the  interior 
parts  of  New  England. 

Luddy  mussy  !  can  you  read  ?   Where  do  you  live  ?  —  Margaret,  p.  52. 

Lugs.    Ground  leaves  of  tobacco  when  prepared  for  market. 

Lumber.  Timber  sawed  or  split  for  use;  as,  beams,  joists,  boards, 
planks,  sta,ves,  hoops,  and  the  like.  —  Webster.  The  word  in  this 
sense,  and  the  following  ones  derived  from  it,  are  peculiar  to 
America. 

Lumberer,  Lumberman.  A  person  employed  in  cutting  timber  and 
in  getting  out  lumber  from  the  forest.    A  lumberman's  crew 


LUM— LYN 


375 


consists  of  from  twenty  to  thirty  men,  in  charge  of  the  "  boss,"  of 
whom  two  are  experienced  choppers,  two  barkers  and  sled-tenders, 
eight  swampers  to  clear  the  roads  through  the  forest  for  the  sleds, 
two  landing  sawyers  to  saw  the  trunks  into  logs  of  suitable  length 
and  mark  them,  teamsters,  cook,  &c.  —  Harper^  Alag.,  March,  1860. 
Lumber-Merchant.    One  who  deals  in  lumber. 

Lumbering.  1.  The  business  or  occupation  of  getting  out  various 
kinds  of  lumber,  such  as  beams,  boards,  staves,  &c.  "To  go  a 
lumbering  "  is  the  phrase  used  by  those  who  embark  in  it. 

2.  Strolling,  lounging,  walking  leisurely.    A  vulgarism  used  in 
New  York. 

As  I  was  lumbering  down  the  street,  down  the  street, 
A  yaller  gal  I  chanc'd  to  meet,  &c. 

Net/ro  Melodies,  The  Buffalo  Gal. 

Lumber- Wagon.  A  wagon  with  a  plain  box  upon  it,  used  by  farm- 
ers for  carrying  their  produce  to  market.  It  is  sometimes  so 
arranged  that  a  spring  seat  may  be  put  in  it,  when  it  is  very  com- 
fortable for  riding  in. 

Lumber- Yard.  A  yard  where  lumber  of  all  kinds  is  kept  for  sale. 
They  are  sometimes  very  extensive,  covering  acres.  On  the  banks 
of  the  Hudson,  near  Albany,  are  some  of  the  most  extensive  lum- 
ber-yards in  the  country.    At  Quebec,  they  are  also  extensive. 

Lummox.    A  heavy,  stupid  fellow.  Used  also  in  the  east  of  England. 

To  lump  it.  To  mind  one's  own  business;  to  dislike  a  thing;  as, 
"  You  may  like  it,  or  lump  it." 

Lunk-Head.    A  heavy,  stupid  fellow. 

Lyceum.  A  house  or  apartment  appropriated  to  instruction  by  lec- 
tures or  disquisitions.  An  association  of  men  for  literary  purposes. 
W  ebster. 

In  New  England,  almost  every  town  and  village  of  importance 
has  its  lyceum,  where  a  library  is  formed,  natural  and  artificial 
curiosities  collected,  and  before  which  public  lectures  are  given. 
They  have  done  a  vast  deal  towards  the  dissemination  of  knowl- 
edge, particularly  among  those  classes  which  have  not  had  the 
advantages  of  a  good  education. 
To  lynch.  To  condemn  and  execute  in  obedience  to  the  decree  of  a 
multitude  or  mob,  without  a  legal  trial;  sometimes  practised  in  tlie 
new  settlements  in  the  south-west  of  the  United  States.  —  Worcester. 

Such  is  too  often  the  administration  of  law  on  the  frontier.  Lynch' s  law,  as  it 
is  technically  termed,  in  which  the  plaintiff  is  npt  to  be  witness,  jury.  judi;e, 
and  executioner,  and  the  defendant  convicted  and  punished  on  mere  presump- 
tion.—  Ircinfj,  Tour  on  the  Prairies,  p.  35. 


876 


LYN 


People  at  last  [in  1850]  began  to  talk  among  themselves  of  the  urgent  neces- 
sity of  again  adopting  Lynch  law,  since  tiie  tedious  and  uncertain  measures  of 
the  authorities  did  not  seem  to  have  the  effect  of  terrifying  and  putting  down 
the  disturbers  of  the  public  peace.  —  Annals  of  San  Francisco,  p.  310. 

Lyncher.  One  who  hjnches.  "Georgia  lynchers.''^  —  N.  Y.  Inde- 
pendent, Jan.  30,  1862. 

Lynch  Law.  An  irregular  and  revengeful  species  of  justice,  admin- 
istered by  the  populace  or  a  mob,  without  any  legal  authority  or 
trial.  —  Worcester. 

C.  A.  Bristed,  in  an  essay  on  the  English  language  in  America, 
says  of  Lynch  law,  —  for  summary  and  informal  justice,  —  "It  is 
usually  explained  as  having  been  derived  from  the  emphatic  prac- 
tice of  a  certain  Judge  Lynch,  who  lived  somewhere  in  the  '  Far 
West.'  But  no  authentic  or  consistent  account  of  this  functionary 
exists,  no  tangible  grounds  for  supposing  him  to  be  any  thing  more 
than  a  mythical  personage,  while  a  very  probable  solution  of  the 
phrase  presents  itself  in  the  parent  tongue.  Linch,  in  several  of 
the  northern  county  dialects,  means  to  beat  or  maltreat.  Lynch  law, 
then,  would  be  simply  equivalent  to  club-law,  &c." 

A  writer  in  the  "  N.  Y.  Evening  Post"  ("  Claverhouse "),  for 
June  2,  1864,  says,  per  contra:  — 

"  In  America,  the  term  '  Lynch  law  '  was  first  used  in  Piedmont, 
on  the  western  frontier  of  Virginia.  There  was  no  court  within 
the  district,  and  all  controversies  were  referred  to  the  arbitrament 
of  prominent  citizens.  Among  these  was  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Lynch,  whose  decisions  were  so  impartial  that  he  was  known  as 
Judge  Lynch,  and  the  system  was  called  '  Lynch  law,'  and  adopted 
in  our  pioneer  settlements  as  an  inexpensive  and  speedy  method  of 
obtaining  justice,"  &c.  But  the  same  writer  adds:  "The  origin 
of  the  expression  is  British,  and  dates  from  the  early  part  of  the 
15th  century,"  —  and  cites  Prince  Puckler  Muskau's  tour  in  Eng- 
land, for  an  account  of  the  "  Galway  tragedy,"  —  when  James 
Lynch,  Mayor  of  Galway,  condemned  his  son  to  death  for  murder, 
and  to  prevent  a  rescue  by  the  mob  executed  him  with  his  own 
hands. 

The  following  extract  from  the  Historical  Collections  of  Virginia, 
by  Henry  Howe,  published  in  1845,  seems  to  settle  the  question  as 
to  the  origin  of  the  term  as  used  in  the  United  States :  — 

Colonel  Charles  Lynch,  a  brother  of  the  founder  of  Lynchburg,  was  an  officer 
of  the  American  revolution.  His  residence  was  on  the  Staunton,  in  Campbell 
county,  now  the  seat  of  his  grandson,  Charles  Lynch,  Esq.  At  that  time,  the 
country  was  thinly  settled,  and  infested  by  a  lawless  band  of  tories  and  despe- 
radoes.   The  necessity  of  the  case  involved  desperate  measures,  and  Colonel 


MAA— MAD 


377 


Lynch,  then  a  leading  Whig,  apprehended  and  had  them  punished  without  an}' 
superfluous  legal  ceremony.  Hence  the  origin  of  the  phrase  "Lynch  law." 
This  practice  of  lynching  continued  years  after  the  war,  an^l  was  applied  to 
many  cases  of  mere  suspicion  of  guilt  which  could  not  be  regularly  proved. 
In  1792,  says  Wirt's  "  Life  of  Patrick  Henr}',"  there  were  many  suits  on  the 
south  side  of  James  River  for  inflicting  Lynch  law. 

M. 

Ma'am.    A  mother.    Sir  and  Ma^ain,  parents.    See  Sir. 

Ma'am  SchooL    A  school  kept  by  a  woman ;  called  in  England,  and 

formerly  in  parts  of  Connecticut,  a  "  dame  school." 

Mr.  Goodrich,  when  he  returned  to  his  native  village  after  many 

years'  absence,  says:  — 

I  found  a  girl  some  eighteen  years  old  keeping  a  ma'am  school  for  about 
twenty'  scholars.  —  Reminiscences,  Vol.  1.  p.  39. 

Machine.  1.  The  name  for  a  fire-engine  among  the  New  York 
"  b'hoys." 

You'll  like 'em  [the  engine  men],  they  're  perfect  bricks  ;  and,  as  for  the  ma- 
chine, why,  she  's  a  pearl  of  the  East,  none  of  your  old-fashioned  tubs,  but  a 
real  tip-top,  out-and-out  double-decker.  Yes,  sirree,  there  ain't  many  crabs  what 
can  take  down  No.  62  and  her  bully  rooster  crew.  —  Yankee  Notions. 

2.  A  locomotive  steam-engine  is  so  called  by  the  railroad  engi- 
neers and  conductors. 

Mackerel  GulL  (^Sterna  Jiirundo.)  The  common  tern,  so  called  from 
its  being  supposed  to  announce  the  arrival  of  mackerel  in  its  sum- 
mer quarters.  —  Storer. 

Mackinaw  Blanket,  or  simply  Mackinaw.  A  heavy  blanket  origi- 
nally used  in  the  Indian  trade,  the  chief  post  for  which  was  foi-merly 
at  Mackinac  (pron.  Mackinarv),  and  hence  the  first  material  for 
overcoats  in  the  West.    See  Blanket-Coat. 

Outside  of  the  wagons,  the  travellers  spread  their  beds,  which  consist  for  the 
most  part  of  buffalo-rugs  and  blankets.  Many  content  themselves  with  a  single 
Mackinaw ;  but  a  pair  constitutes  the  most  regular  pallet,  and  he  that  is  pro- 
vided with  a  buffalo-rug,  into  the  bargain,  is  deemed  luxuriousl}'-  supplied.  — 
Grefifj,  Com.  of  Prairies,  Vol.  I.  p.  62. 

Mad.  Inflamed  with  anger;  very  angry;  vexed.  "  I  was  quite  mad 
at  him;"  "he  made  me  mad.''''  In  these  instances,  mad  is  only  a 
metaphor  for  angry.  This  is  perhaps  an  English  vulgarism,  but  it 
is  not  found  in  any  accurate  writer,  nor  used  by  any  good  speaker, 
unless  when  poets  or  orators  use  it  as  a  strong  figure,  and,  to 
heighten  the  expression,  say,  "  He  was  mad  with  rage."  —  Wither' 
spoon,  Druid,  No.  5. 


378 


MAD— MAG 


Mad,  in  the  sense  of  arniry,  is  considered  as  a  low  word  in  this 
countiy,  and  at  the  present  day  is  never  used  except  in  very  familiar 
conversation.  —  Pickering. 

This  use  of  the  word  is  provincial  in  various  parts  of  England. 
See  flaUiwell,  Grose,  &c. 

Indeed,  my  dear,  you  make  me  mad  sometimes,  you  do.  —  Spectator. 

The  General  began  to  get  in  a  passion;  and  says  he,  "Major,  I 'm  gettin' 
mad!''  "  Very  well,"  says  I,  "  General,  then  I  '11  keep  cool  accordin'  to  agree- 
ment." —  Major  Downiny's  Letters,  p.  20. 

Upstairs  I  went  with  them,  as  mad  as  thunder,  I  tell  you,  at  being  thought  a 
humbug. — Field,  Westei'n  Tales. 

Jeeniiny.  fellows,  I  was  so  enormous  mad  that  the  new  silk  handkercher 
round  my  neck  lost  its  color!  —  Robb,  Squatter  Life. 

Madam.  1.  In  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  and  in  some  neighboring 
places,  it  has  been  and  still  is  the  pi-actice  to  prefix  to  the  name  of 
a  deceased  female  of  some  consideration,  as  the  parson's,  the  dea- 
con's, or  the  doctor's  wife,  the  title  of  Madam.  — KendaWs  Travela, 
Vol.  II.  p.  44.  "  This  practice,"  says  Mr.  Pickering,  "like  that 
of  giving  magistrates  the  title  of  'squire,  prevails  in  most  of  the 
country  towns  of  New  England,  but  is  scarcely  known  in  the  sea- 
port towns."  —  Vocabulary. 

2.  Sir  Chas.  Lyell  says:  The  title  of  Madam  is  sometimes  given 
here  [in  Boston],  and  generally  in  Charleston  and  in  the  South,  to 
a  mother  whose  son  has  married,  and  the  daughter-in-law  is  then 
called  "  Mrs."  By  this  means,  they  avoid  the  inelegant  phraseology 
of  "  old  Mrs.  A.,"  or  the  Scotch  "  Mrs.  A.,  senior."  —  Second  Visits 
Chap.  IX. 

In  Maryland,  as  well  as  in  the  States  farther  south,  the  term  is 
applied  to  dowager  ladies.  It  was  also  common  among  the  Xegroes 
for  their  master's  wife,  whom  they  almost  invariably  spoke  of  as 
The  Madam.  "  I  'se  gwine  up  to  de  house  to  see  de  Madam,  an'  git 
some  doctor's  stuff  for  dis  misery  in  my  chest." 

3.  Respectful  designation  of  a  mother.    Eastern  Massachusetts. 

Mad  Dog.  Skullcap.  (Scutellaria  laterijlora.)  A  once  much  re- 
nowned quack  remedy  for  hydrophobia,  the  utter  worthlessness  of 
which  has  long  since  been  established. 

Made  his  Jack.   Carried  his  point;  was  fortunate  in  his  undertaking. 

Maguey.  {Agave  Americana.')  A  genus  of  American  tropical  plants 
commonly  called  Aloes  or  Century  plants.  They  are  found  in 
Texas,  New  Mexico,  and  California.  The  different  species  furnish 
pulque,  sisal,  hemp,  aguardiente,  bagging,  &c. 


MAII— MAI 


379 


Mahala.  A  vulgar  name  for  an  Indian  squaw;  a  corruption  of  the 
Spanish  muger  (pron.  mulier)  a  woman.  California. 

Mahogany.  (Swietenia  mahogani.)  A  beautiful  tree  found  in  South 
America,  Honduras,  and  Southern  Florida,  whose  compact  reddish- 
brown  wood,  susceptible  of  a  high  polish,  is  well  known  as  a  mate- 
rial for  elegant  articles  of  furniture. 

To  mahoganize.    To  paint  wood  in  imitation  of  mahogany. 

Maidenland.  Land  that  a  man  gets  with  his  wife,  and  which  he  loses 
at  her  death.  Virginia. 

Mail.  This  word,  which  properly  means  the  bag  in  which  letters  and 
papers  are  carried  from  one  post-office  to  another,  is  often  used  by 
us  instead  of  the  term  "  post  "  Thus  we  mail  our  letters,  or  send 
them  by  mai'Z.  The  English  7?o.5/ them,  or  send  them  by  posL  Used 
also  for  the  contents  of  the  mail-bag. 

2.  What  is  sent  to  or  received  from  the  post-office. 

Mailable.  That  may  be  mailed  or  carried  in  the  mail.  —  Worcester. 
In  a  suit  brought  by  the  government  against  Adams  &  Co.'s  Ex- 
press for  carrying  letters  and  papers,  to  the  injury  of  the  post-office, 
Judge  Betts  stated  in  his  charge  to  the  jury  that  "any  written 
communication  between  one  individual  and  another  comes  within 
the  term  mailable  matter;  and,  no  matter  in  what  shape  it  is  put,  it 
is  liable  to  postage  as  if  can-ied  by  mail." 

Mail- Rider.  One  who  carries  the  mail.  In  England,  called  a  post- 
man or  post-boy.    Post-rider  in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut. 

Mail  Stage.  The  stage  or  coach  which  carries  the  mail.  In  England 
called  a  "  mail-coach." 

Maine  Law.  A  law  first  enacted  in  the  State  of  Maine,  about  1844, 
forbidding  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks  except  by  an  agent 
specially  and  authoritatively  empowered  by  the  local  magistrate 
or  by  municipal  authority. 

Maine  Lawite.    One  who  favors  a  Maine  Liquor  Law. 

All  excellent,  even  the  whiskey,  with  the  "prophylactic  doses     therein;  but 
what  will  the  Maine  Lawites  say. — N.  Y.  Ex^jress,  April  15,  18G2. 

Maize.  (W.  Ind.,  maiz,  mahiz.)  Indian  corn.  The  name  of  the 
great  staple  of  native  American  agriculture,  adopted  from  the  Carib 
language  by  the  Spaniards,  and  thus  imported  into  the  languages  of 
Europe.  The  earliest  dictionary  in  which  I  find  the  word  is  Florio's 
Worlde  of  Wordes  (1598):  the  article  there  is  Maiz,  a  kind  of 
grain  or  wheat  whereof  they  make  bread  in  India."  Its  native 
country  is  not  fully  determined,  although  it  is  believed  to  be  Amer- 


380 


MAK 


ica.  Bernal  Diaz  speaks  of  it  in  Mexico  in  1517;  and  Acosta,  in 
1570,  when  treating  of  the  plants  "  peculiar  to  the  Indies,"  says 
that  "  the  most  common  grain  found  in  the  New  World  is  mays, 
which  is  found  in  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  West  Indies,  Peru,  New 
Spain,  Guatemala,  and  Chili."  He  adds  that  in  Castile  they  call 
it  Indian  wheat;  and  in  Italy,  Turkey  grain,  which  seems  to  imply 
that  the  plant  was  also  known  in  those  countries.  The  word  is 
never  used  in  common  language  in  the  United  States.  Indeed,  few 
would  understand  it. 

The  bread  which  the\'  eate  in  the  land  of  Florida,  is  of  Maiz,  which  is  like 
coarse  millet.  And  this  Maiz  is  common  in  all  the  Islands  and  West  Indies 
from  the  Antiles  forward.  —  Ilakluyt,  Virginia  Richly  Valued  (1G09),  p.  178. 

To  make  a  Move.  To  move;  to  remove;  to  take  initiatory  steps; 
to  endeavor. 

I  think  now  that  we  must  mnhe  a  move  to  secure  a  lot  on  which  to  build  a  little 
house  of  worship.  —  The  Home  Missionary,  April,  1877. 

To  make  a  Raise.    See  Raise. 

To  make  Fish.  To  cure  and  prepare  fish  for  commerce.  A  New 
England  phrase. 

To  make  the  Fur  fly.  To  claw,  scratch,  wound  severely;  and,  figura- 
tively, to  make  a  great  commotion ;  to  breed  a  disturbance ;  to  get 
angry  or  excited. 

Senator  Hannegan  was  greatly  excited,  which  proved  most  conclusively  that 
he  had  made  the  fur  fly  among  the  five  thousand  four  hundred  and  forty  men. 
[In  allusion  to  Oregon  boundary  line  ]  — N.  Y.  Tribune. 

The  deliberations  were  conducted  with  moderation  until  the  question  of  union 
with  the  Northern  [General]  Assembly  came  up,  and  then  the  fur  flew.  —  Texas 
Cor.  Chicago  Times. 

To  make  Land.    To  fill  up  a  water-lot,  a  marsh,  and  the  like. 

To  make  Meat,  on  the  great  western  prairies,  consists  in  cutting  into 
thin  slices  the  boneless  parts  of  buffalo  or  other  meat,  and  drying 
them  in  the  wdnd  or  sun.  Meat  thus  prepared  may  be  preserved 
for  years  without  salt. 

To  make  one's  Manners.  To  make  a  bow  or  salute,  on  meeting  a 
friend  or  stranger.  The  term  is  applied  only  to  children.  Formerly, 
in  New  England,  the  custom  w^as  universal  among  juveniles.  Mr. 
Goodrich,  in  his  Reminiscences,"  says,  "  A  child  who  did  not 
make  his  manners  to  a  stranger  on  the  high  road  was  deemed  a  low 
fellow."  — Vol.  I.  p.  128. 

To  make  one's  Mark.  To  make  an  impression;  to  leave  a  lasting 
reminiscence  of  one's  self;  to  distinguish  one's  seK.  It  is  in  all 
probability  an  English  expression. 


MAK— MAM 


381 


The  most  remarkable  men  are  usually  those  who  have  lived  at  some  marked 
epoch  in  the  world,  and  who,  in  Providence,  were  then  called  out  to  make  and  to 
leave  their  mark  upon  the  world.  —  Chalmers. 

Hugh  Miller  is  a  man  of  genius,  and  would  have  made  his  mark  in  whatever 
circumstances  he  had  been  placed.  —  Providence  Journal. 

There  was  a  time  when  Jacob  Barker  made  his  mark  upon  the  stock-jobbers  and 
money-changers  of  Wall  Street.  — Harjjer's  Mafjazine,  Sept.,  1854. 

The  following  is  the  close  of  some  beautiful  lines  relating  to  Miss 
Nightingale,  taken  from  a  newspaper  :  — 

Among  the  world's  great  women  thou  hast  made  thy  glorious  mark; 
Men  will  hereafter  mention  make  of  thee  with  Joan  of  Arc ; 
And  fathers  who  relate  the  Maid  of  Saragossa's  tale 
Will  tell  their  little  children,  too,  of  Florence  Nightingale. 

To  make  one's  File.  To  become  rich.  A  California  phrase.   See  Pile. 

The  Treasury  is  bankrupt  by  continual  demands  for  refits  [of  soldiers'  clothes, 
&c.]  ;  but  the  jobber  has  made  his  pile ^  and  what  does  he  care?  —  N.  Y.  Tribune, 
Dec,  1861. 

While  the  carpet-baggers  in  the  executive  offices  and  the  legislature,  assi.sted 
by  Federal  agents,  were  making  enonnous  piles  and  plotting  for  more,  petty  lar- 
ceny ruled  supreme  in  the  rural  parishes.  — Judge  Black  on  the  Electoral  Con- 
spiracy, North  Am.  Rev.,  July,  1877,  p.  8. 

To  make  one's  self  Scarce.    To  depart,  decamp,  be  off. 
To  make  Tracks.    To  go;  to  run.     A  figurative  exjDression  of 
Western  origin.    Comp.  To  pull  Foot. 

He  came  plaguey  near  not  seein'  of  me,  says  I ;  for  I  had  just  commenced  mak- 
ing tracks  as  you  came  in.  —  Sam  Slick  in  England,  ch.  20. 

Lieutenant  Gilliss,  giving  an  account  of  a  skirmish  at  Coquimbo, 
says : — 

Some  fifty  were  killed,  a  like  number  fell  wounded  or  were  taken  prisoners, 
and  the  remainder  made  tracks  for  the  city.  —  GlUiss's  Chili,  Vol.  I.  p.  334. 

Malahack.  To  cut  up  hastily  or  awkwardly;  to  mangle.  Also  used 
in  England.  —  Wright. 

Mammee  Apple.  (Mammea  Americana.)  A  large  round  fruit,  some- 
times the  size  of  a  man's  head.  The  skin  is  of  a  dull  russet  color, 
and  rough.  The  flesh  is  yellow,  and  the  seeds  are  from  one  to  four 
large  ones,  with  a  rough  shell.    AVest  Indies. 

Mammee-Sapota.  (Lucuma  mammosa.)  A  heart-shape-fiuit,  not  so 
large  as  the  last,  with  reddish  flesh  and  one  large,  polished  seed. 
See  Sapote. 

Mammy.  The  term  of  endearment  used  by  white  children  to  their 
negro  nurses  and  to  old  family  servants. 

"  How  ith  your  ma,  honey  V  "  questioned  the  old  woman,  rubbing  the  biscuit 
dou^h  from  her  fingers. 


382 


MAN 


"  Better,  thank  vou,  mammy.  She  seems  quite  bright  to-dav."  —  The  Hidden 
Path. 

Manada.    (Span.)    A  herd  of  cattle  or  drove  of  horses.    In  Cali- 
fornia, it  is  especially  applied  to  breeding  rnares. 
Mananoiay.    See  C/am,  No.  2. 
Man-Eater.    See  Water-Dog. 
Man  of  the  Earth.    See  Mechoacan. 

Manatee  or  Lamantin.  An  herbivorous  cetacean,  the  sea-cow.  It 
inhabits  the  mouths  of  the  rivers  opening  on  the  north  and  north- 
east of  South  America  and  the  coast  of  Mexico ;  it  measures  six  or 
seven  feet  in  length;  and  its  paddles  exhibit  rudiments  of  nails,  by 
the  aid  of  which  the  animal  sometimes  drags  its  unwieldy  body  on 
shore,  and  crawls  up  the  banks,  either  to  bask  in  the  sun  or  to  seek 
for  terrestrial  vegetables.  —  Carpenter's  Zoology,  I.  339.  Also  found 
on  the  Florida  coast. 

Mango.  We  apply  this  name  to  a  green  niusk-melon  stuffed  with 
horse-radish,  mustard  seed,  mace,  nutmeg,  ginger,  &c.,  and  then 
pickled.    The  true  mango  is  also  pickled. 

Mangosteen.  In  Barbadoes,  this  name  is  given  to  the  Jujube  (Zizi- 
phus  Jujube). 

Manioc,  Manihoc,  Manihot.    See  Tapioca. 

Manitou.  (Algonkin  manitu  or  manifo,  a  spirit,  a  ghost.)  A  spirit, 
god,  or  devil  of  the  American  Indians. 

The  pride  of  the  Indians  is  to  paint  their  faces  strangely  with  red  or  black  lead  ; 
so  that  they  look  h'ke  tiends.  The}"  are  then  valiant;  yea,  they  say  they  are  man- 
ette,  the  devil  himself.  —  De  Vries's  Voyage  to  America,  1655. 

Every  one  of  the  chiefs  has  his  peculiar  god,  whom  they  call  Manitoa.  It  is 
sometimes  a  bird,  a  stone,  a  serpent,  or  any  thing  else  they  dream  of  in  their 
sleep;  for  they  think  this  Manitoa.  will  prosper  their  wants,  as  fishing,  hunting, 
and  other  enterprises.  —  Marquette. 

Praying  for  good,  we  to  Cawtant'-wit  bow, 

And,  shunning  evil,  we  to  Chepian  cry ; 
To  other  J\ranitf(ins  we  offerings  owe,   

Dwell  they  in  mountain,  flood,  or  lofty  sky. 

Durfee,  Whatcheer,  Cant.  ll. 
As  when  the  evil  Manitou,  that  dries 

The  Ohio  woods,  consumes  them  in  his  ire, 
In  vain  the  desolated  panther  flies, 

And  howls  amid  his  wilderness  of  fire. 

Campbell,  Gertrude  of  Wyoming,  xvii. 

As  the  Arapaho  braves  pass  by  the  mysterious  (boiling)  springs,  .  .  .  they 
never  fail  to  bestow  their  votive  offerings  upon  the  water  sprite,  in  order  to  pro- 
pitiate the  Jfanitou  of  the  fountain,  and  insure  a  fortunate  issue  to  their  path  of 
war.  — Ruxton's  Rocky  Mountains,  p.  243. 


MAN— MAR 


383 


When  the  Mnnitou  made  his  children,  he  gave  them  buffalo  to  eat,  and  the 
pure  water  of  the  fountain  to  quench  their  thirst.  —  Speech  of  an  Indian  Chiefs 
jRuxton. 

Manor.  In  the  United  States,  a  tract  of  land  occupied  by  tenants 
who  pay  a  fee-farm  rent  to  the  proprietor,  sometimes  in  kind,  and 
sometimes  perform  certain  stipulated  services.  — BurrUVs  Law  Dic- 
tionary. 

Manufacture  Oil.    To  boil  it,  after  reaching  pert,  in  the  whale-ship. 

Xew  Bedford,  Mass. 
Maple  Honey.    A  name  in  British  North  America  for  the  imcrystal- 

lizable  portion  of  the  sap  of  the  sugar-maple,  which  is  consumed  in 

the  form  of  molasses. 

Maple-Molas.ses.    Molasses  made  from  the  sap  of  the  sugar-maple. 

I  wish  you  would  have  some  griddle-cakes  for  supper,  with  some  maple-molasses 
on  them.  —  Betsy  Bobbet,  p.  256. 

Maple -Sugar.  A  sort  of  domestic  sugar  obtained  from  the  Sugar- 
Maple  (which  see).  At  the  commencement  of  spring,  in  the  North- 
ern States  and  Canada,  the  sugar-maple  trees  are  tapped  near 
the  ground  by  numerous  apertures,  and  the  sap  is  collected  in 
wooden  troughs,  two  hundred  pounds  of  which  afford,  by  evapora- 
tion, fifteen  pounds  of  a  brownish  sugar,  which  is  capable  of  being 
refined  in  the  same  manner  as  the  sugar  from  the  cane  and  the  beet. 
Encyd.  Am.ericaiia. 

Maple-Syrup.    A  syrup  made  from  the  sap  of  the  sugar-maple. 

"  Wall,"  says  he,  "I  guess  I  '11  have  another  griddle-cake,"  and,  as  he  took  it, 
he  poured  the  maple-syrup  over  it.  — Betsy  Bobbet. 

Marabou.    The  variety  of  Negro  which  springs  from  a  mulatto  and  a- 

griffe.    For  other  varieties,  see  Negro. 
To  marble  or  marvel.    To  move  off;  as,  "  If  you  do  that  again,  you 

must  wrtrWe,"  i.  e.  be  off  immediately.    Used  in  Pennsylvania.  — 

HurfVs  Gram.  Corrector. 

The  dandy  run,  and  the  gals  snickered  out,  and  the  fellers  hawhawed  till  they 
was  e'cuaniost  dead,  to  see  hnn  marvell  down  the  road.  —  HiWs  Yankee  Stoiies. 

Marblehead  Turkeys  and  Cape  Cod  Turkeys.  Codfish.  So  called 
in  Massachusetts.  So  Taunton  Turkeys,  Digby  Chickens  (with 
Herrings),  Albany  Beef,  and  Welsh  Rabbit,  which  some  are  ab- 
surdly trying  now  to  spell  Rarebit!  Mutton  stewed  in  a  peculiar 
way  is  Welsh  Venison  in  England. 

Margin.  Among  stock-brokers,  a  sum  of  money  deposited  by  a  person 
speculating  in  stocks  with  a  broker,  to  secure  the  latter  against  loss 
on  funds  advanced  by  him  to  assist  his  customer  in  his  speculations. 


384 


MAR 


Customers  [of  stocks]  invariably  buy  or  sell  on  marfjtns.  If  the  fornner,  they 
are  apt  to  desire  to  hav'o  their  stock  carried.  Hence  it  is  necessary  to  be  assured 
that,  when  further  marfjin  is  re(juired,  the  money  will  be  forthcoming.  —  Med' 
hery,  Men  and  Mydeiies  of  Wall  Street,  p.  123. 

Market  Truck.    Vegetables  cultivated  for  market.    See  Truck. 

Marm.    A  corruption  of  the  word  mamma,  often  used  in  the  interior  of 
New  England  for  mother.    See  Ma^am. 
Has  your  marm  got  that  done  V  —  Marynret,  p.  39. 

Maroon.  The  name  given  to  revolted  Negroes  in  the  West  Indies 
and  in  some  parts  of  South  America.  The  appellation  is  supposed 
to  be  derived  from  Marony,  a  river  separating  Dutch  and  Fieuch 
Guiana,  where  large  numbers  of  these  fugitives  resided.  In  many 
cases,  by  taking  to  the  forests  and  mountains,  they  have  rendered 
themselves  formidable  to  the  colonies,  and  sustained  a  long  and  brave 
resistance  against  the  whites.  When  Jamaica  was  conquered  by  the 
English  in  1655,  about  fifteen  hundred  slaves  retreated  to  the  moun- 
tains, and  were  called  Maroons.  They  continued  to  harass  the 
island  till  the  end  of  the  last  century,  when  they  were  reduced  by 
the  aid  of  blood-hounds.  — Encycl.  Americana. 

Marooner.    A  runaway  slave;  a  maroon. 

We  were  told  that  on  the  South  Shore  [in  Virginia]  dwelt  a  marooner,  that 
modestly  called  himself  a  hermit.  — Byrd,  Westover  Papers,  p.  13. 

Marooning.  To  go  marooning  is  an  expression  used  in  the  Southern 
States.  It  means  to  go  on  a  picnic.  The  difference  between  a 
marooning  party  and  a  picnic  is  that  the  foraier  is  a  party  made  up 
to  pass  several  days  on  the  shore  or  in  the  country,  the  latter  is  a 
party  for  a  day.  The  expression  is  of  course  derived  from  the  pre- 
ceding noun. 

Well,  now,  Clayton,  how  considerate  of  them  to  go  off  on  that  marooning 
party.  —  Mrs.  Stowe,  Dred,  Vol  I.  p.  20. 

Marsh-Hen.  (Rallus  Virginianus.)  The  Virginia  Rail ;  the  mud-hen. 
The  name  is  also  applied  to  the  Clapper  Rail,  a  salt-water  bird 
found  on  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.    See  Mud- Hen. 

Jupiter  [the  negro  slave],  grinning  from  ear  to  ear,  bustled  about  to  prepare 
some  marsh-hens  for  supper.  — Poe,  The  Gold  Bug. 

Marshal.  The  ministerial  officer  of  the  courts  of  the  United  States, 
with  duties  similar  to  those  of  sheriff  in  the  State  courts.  — Kent's 
Commentaries,  Vol.  I.  p.  309. 

Marvel.  A  mispronunciation  of  marble,  common  in  the  mouths  of 
illiterate  people. 

To  marvel.    See  To  marble. 


MAR— MAS 


385 


Maryland  End.  Said  of  the  hock  of  the  ham.  The  other  is  the  Vir- 
ginia end.    Maryland  and  Virginia. 

Mash.  A  vulgar  corruption  of  the  word  "marsh,"  also  heard  in 
England. 

To  mash.  In  machinery,  one  wheel  is  said  to  mash  into  or  with 
another,  i.  e.  to  "  engage  "  with  it.  This  is,  apparently,  a  corrup- 
tion from  mesh^  which  is  sometimes  used  in  the  same  sense. 

Mashtrap.    A  trap  that  mashes  and  kills  the  animal  caught  in  it. 

There  is  not  the  least  danger  that  their  precious  carcasses  will  be  caught  under 
a  mashtrap.  —  Richmond  Examiner^  May,  1862. 

Maskinonge  or  Muskelunge.  (Algonkin  Ind.)  An  immense  fish  of 
the  pike  species  (Esox  estor),  caught  in  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the 
great  lakes.  I  have  seen  a  specimen  taken  at  Kingston  upwards  of 
four  feet  in  length.  Dr.  Richardson,  in  his  "  Fauna  Borealis  Amer- 
icana," says  that  he  found  none  in  the  rivers  which  empty  into 
Hudson's  Bay  or  the  Polar  Sea. 

The  masquinonje  is  to  all  appearance  a  large  species  of  pike,  and  possesses  the 
ravenous  propensities  of  that  fish.  —  Backwoods  of  Canada,  p.  101. 

I  was  born  on  the  sea-shore  in  the  Bay  State,  and  here  I  am  up  among  the 
fresh-water  lakes,  as  much  naturalized  as  any  muskelunge  that  was  ever  caught 
in  Lake  Huron. —  Cooper^  The  Oak  Openings. 

Mason  and  Dixon's  Line.  The  boundary  line  separating  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania  from  the  States  of  Maryland  and  Virginia  surveyed  by 
Charles  Mason  and  Jeremiah  Dixon,  two  English  surveyors  between 
the  years  1763  and  1767.  During  the  excited  debate  in  Congress, 
in  1820,  on  the  question  of  excluding  slavery  from  Missouri,  John 
Randolph  made  great  use  of  the  phrase,  which  was  echoed  through- 
out the  country.  It  is  still  referred  to  as  the  line  which  formerly 
divided  the  slave  from  the  free  States. 

Freedom's  Keystone  is  Slavery,  thet  ther's  no  doubt  on, 
It's  suthin'  thet's  —  wha'  d'ye  call  it?  — divine,  — 
An'  the  slaves  thet  we  oilers  make  the  most  on 
Air  them  north  o'  Mason  an''  Dixon's  Line. 

Lowell^  The  Biglow  Papers. 
Massa,  Mass.  Master.  A  term  formerly  in  use  among  slaves. 
Mass  Meeting.  A  large  or  general  meeting  called  for  some  specific 
purpose.  The  word  mass  is  prefixed  with  a  sort  of  ad  captandum 
intent,  as  O'Connell  called  his  large  meetings  of  Irishmen  "  mon- 
ster meetings."  Mass  meetinf/s  were  first  talked  of  in  the  politi- 
cal campaign  of  1840,  when  Harrison  was  elected  president.  The 
term  is  now  applied  to  any  large  meeting  without  distinction  of 
party 

26 


386 


MAT— MEA 


Match.  To  apply  a  match  to;  to  light  by  applying  a  lighted  match 
to.  Connecticut. 

Mate  or  Match.  Used  sometimes  instead  of  "fellow,"  in  such  ex- 
pressions as,  "  I  can't  find  the  mate  (or  match)  to  this  shoe." 

To  maul.  To  prepare;  to  make.  I  always  have  two  hundred  rails 
mauled  in  a  day.    Southern  States. 

Maverick.  In  the  great  cattle-growing  region  of  Texas,  an  unbranded 
yearling  is  called  a  "  Macerick.^'  In  Texas,  the  ownership  of  cattle 
can  only  be  proved  by  their  being  branded  with  the  owner's  name. 
Many  years  ago,  a  large  cattle-owner  named  Maverick  neglected  to 
brand  his  yearlings,  whence  they  were  called  "  Macericks.''^  Other 
persons,  the  owners  of  cattle,  put  their  own  brands  upon  them,  and 
thus  became  their  owners.  The  term  Maverick  for  unbranded  year- 
lings is  still  preserved  throughout  the  State. 

Max.  At  the  U.  S.  Military  Academy,  West  Point,  "  to  max  "  is  to 
make  a  good  recitation,  i.  e.  the  maximum. 

May- Apple.  1.  A  name  applied  to  the  remarkable  excrescence  caused 
apparently  by  the  puncture  of  insects,  on  the  immature  flowers  of 
the  Swamp  Honeysuckle  (Azalea  nudijlora).  This  grows  to  a  great 
size,  as  large  as  an  ordinary  apple,  is  of  a  very  irregular  form,  cov- 
ered with  a  fine  bloom,  and  is  even  eaten.  Its  irregular  form  and 
want  of  seeds  should  indicate  that  it  is  no  fruit,  apart  from  the  fact 
that  it  is  found  before  the  flowers  expand.  It  is  nevertheless  con- 
sidered as  the  fruit  of  the  plant. 

2.  The  term  is  also  applied  to  the  Swamp  Honeysuckle  itself,  and 
to  the  fruit  of  the  wild  mandrake    (Podophyllum  peltatum). 

May-Bird.    See  Bobolink. 

May-Blob.    Cowslips.    New  England. 

May-Pop.    A  Southern  name  for  the  Passion  Flower. 

Meadow.  1.  In  the  United  States  often  applied  to  mowing  lands 
which  are  marshy  or  too  wet  to  be  ploughed,  and  producing  a  coarse 
kind  of  hay,  which  is  called  "  meadow  hay,"  in  distinction  from 
that  which  grows  on  uplands,  which  is  called  "English  hay."  — 
Worcester. 

2.  In  Western  Connecticut,  any  land  appropriated  to  grass  for 
hay-making. 
Meadow  Bird.    See  BohoUnk. 
Meadow  Hay.    See  Meadow. 

Mean,  for  Means.  Many  American  writers,  following  Scottish  moa- 
els,  make  use  of  mean  instead  of  means  in  the  singular.    But  the 


MEA— MED 


387 


established  practice  among  English  writers,  from  the  time  of  Addi- 
son to  the  present  day,  has  been  to  use  means  for  both  numbers. 

It  was  the  best  mean  of  bringing  the  negotiation  to  a  happy  issue.  —  MarsJuilPs 
Washington,  Vol.  V.  p.  546. 

Mean.  Poor,  bad,  worthless;  as,  "  A  mean  pair  of  shoes  ;  "  "A  mean 
horse  ;  "  "A  mean  fellow." 

He'll  cut  the  same  capei-s  there  as  here.    He's  a  monstrous  mean  horse. — 
Georgia  Scenes,  p.  27. 

Mean  Whites.    See  Poor  White  Folks.  Southern. 

Meat-Biscuit.  The  concentrated  juice  of  beef,  mixed  with  flour  and 
baked.    It  is  chiefly  used  to  make  soup  for  travellers,  soldiers,  &c. 

Meat-Cart.  A  butcher's  cart,  from  which  meat  is  sold  in  the  streets 
in  towns  and  villages. 

Meat-Chamber.  An  apartment  recently  introduced  between  decks 
in  the  ocean  steamships,  with  a  huge  tank  in  the  middle,  capable  of 
holding  thirty  or  forty  tons  of  ice,  for  the  purpose  of  transporting 
fresh  meat  to  Europe.    A  gigantic  floating  refrigerator. 

Mebbe.    "  May  be."    Quite  common. 

Mecate.  (Mexican.)  A  rope  of  hair  or  of  the  fibre  of  the  maguey, 
the  American  agave.  A  term  in  use  in  the  States  bordering  on 
Mexico. 

Mechoacan.  {Convolvulus  panduratus.)  A  plant  growing  in  sandy 
fields  and  on  dry  banks  from  Connecticut  to  Illinois  and  south- 
wards. The  large  root  is  also  used  for  medical  purposes.  It  is  also 
called  Man  of  the  Earth  and  Wild  Potato  Vine.  The  name  prop- 
erly belongs  to  the  C.  Mechoacan,  so  named  from  Mechoacan  in 
Mexico,  where  it  was  first  obtained.  Rafinesque  gives  JSIechameck 
as  the  Indian  name  of  the  pseudo-Mechoacan  or  Wild  Potato.  — 
Medical  Flora,  Vol.  I.  p.  125. 

Medicine.  This  word  is  used  in  translating  certain  terms  in  the 
languages  of  the  American  aborigines  which  denote  not  only  "  medi- 
cine "  proper,  but  any  thing  the  operation  of  which  they  do  not  com- 
prehend; that  is,  any  thing  mysterious,  supernatural,  sacred.  Hence 
we  have  the  terms  medicine  man,  the  doctor  and  conjurer  of  the 
American  Indians;  medicine  hag,  the  bag  in  which  his  remedies  and 
charms  are  contained;  medicine  feast,  a  sort  of  religious  festival, 
consisting  of  feasting,  singing,  dancing,  &c.,  attended  by  males 
only;  medicine  hut,  the  hut  in  which  these  feasts  are  held;  ynedicine 
pipe,  the  ornamented  pipe  smoked  on  these  occasions. 


388 


MED— MEE 


Medium.  A  person  who  professes  to  be  a  medium  of  communication 
between  moi  tals  and  disembodied  spirits.  There  are  rapping,  tip- 
ping, healing,  speaking,  writing,  and  trance  mediums. 

Meeching  or  Miching.  Skulking,  mean.  This  old  Shaksperian  word 
is  still  occasionally  heard  in  New  York  and  New  England. 

0  brethren !  I  warn  you  not  to  make  too  sure  of  success,  for  you  may  be  disap- 
pointed. When  you  fall  short  of  the  object  for  which  you  jump,  you  go  metchin 
off,  like  a  cat  that  has  missed  her  mouse.  — Dow's  Sermons,  Vol.  I.  p.  203. 

But  I  ain't  o'  the  meechin'  kind,  that  sets  an'  thinks  for  weeks, 
The  bottom 's  out  o'  th'  univarse  coz  their  own  gill  pot  leaks. 

Lowell,  The  Blfjlow  Pcipvrs. 

Richardson  defines  to  meecTi,  to  take  small  things,  to  pilfer;  and 
consequently  to  lay  in  wait,  to  lurk. 

For  no  man  of  his  counsaile  knoweth 
What  he  maie  gette  of  his  michynye. 

Gower,  Conf.  Amnntis,  A.  b  v. 
Sure  she  has  some  meeching  rascal  in  her  house,  some  hind  that  she  hath  seen 
(like  another  Milo)  quarters  of  malt  upon  his  back  and  sing  with't.  —  Beaumont 
cf  FL,  The  Scornful  Lady,  Act  iv.  Sc.  1. 

Meeting.  A  religious  assembly,  congregation.  Among  Methodists, 
Baptists,  Congregationalists,  and  Quakers,  it  is  usual  to  say,  "  We 
are  going  to  meeting, when  speaking  of  going  to  their  church  or 
place  of  worship. 

Meeting-House.  A  place  of  worship  of  Methodists,  Quakers,  &c. 
The  following  passage  in  Elliott's  recent  "History  of  New  Eng- 
land" seems  to  show  that  the  term  originated  with  the  Puritans: 
"  The  religious  services  of  the  Plymouth  church  were  held  in  the 
fort,  upon  the  roof  or  deck  of  which  were  mounted  the  gieat  guns; 
and  it  was  in  1648  that  a  meeting-house  was  built  They  held  that 
a  church  was  a  body  of  Christians,  and  the  place  where  they  met  was 
a  ^  meeting-house ;  \sa\d  so  they  called  it  by  that  name."  —  Vol.  I. 
p.  131. 

Refined  and  illiterate,  negro  and  white,  the  old  meeting-home  united  us  all  on  one 
day  of  the  week,  and  its  solemn  services  formed  an  insensible  but  strong  bond  of 
neighborhood  charity.  —  Mrs.  Sfoice,  Oldiown  Folks,  ch.  v. 

1  despise  the  idee  of  folks  bein'  so  sot  on  their  own  meetin'  housen.  .  .  .  Some- 
how, Josiah  seems  to  be  more  sot  onto  his  own  meetin' -house  than  I  do.  —  Betsy 
Bobbet,  p.  69. 

Meetin'  Seed.  Caraway  seed  used  to  drive  away  drowsiness  in 
church. 

She  munched  a  sprig  of  meetin''  seed, 

And  read  her  spelling-book.  —  St.  Nicholas,  Jan.,  1877. 

To  meet  up  with.    To  catch  up  with ;  to  overtake.  Georgia. 


MEL— MER 


389 


Melon  Fruit.  (^Carica papaya.)  The  West  India  Papaw ;  called  also 
Tree-melon. 

Melt.    1.  The  milt  or  roe  of  fishes. 

2.  The  milt  or  spleen.  In  popular  use;  also  given  in  Dungli- 
son's  Med.  Die. 

3.  Of  hogs,  the  mesentery.  New  England.  Each  of  these  words 
"melt"  has  its  own  etymon.    The  last  is  clearly  from  the  verb 

to  melt." 

Memorandum  Check.  A  check  intended  not  to  be  presented  imme- 
diately for  payment ;  such  an  understanding  being  denoted  by  the 
word  "  mem."  written  on  it.  It  has  been  held  that  the  making  of 
a  check  in  this  way  does  not  affect  its  negotiability,  or  the  right  of 
the  holder  to  present  it  to  the  bank  and  demand  payment  imme- 
diately. 

Memorial  Day.  Particularly  "Decoration  Day,"  in  memory  of  the 
soldiers  and  sailors  who  fell  in  the  late  civil  war. 

Menhad3n.  {Alosa  menhaden.)  A  fish  of  the  herring  kind,  abound- 
ing in  the  waters  of  New  England,  and  as  far  south  as  Chesapeake 
Bay.  It  is  also  known  by  the  names  of  Bony-fish,  White-fish, 
Hardhead,  Moss-bunker,  and  Pauhagen.  In  Massachusetts  and 
Rhode  Island,  they  are  called  Menhaden;  in  New  York,  Moss- 
bunkers  and  Skippaugs.  They  are  caught  in  immense  quantities, 
and  used  as  manure,  chiefly  for  Indian  corn.  Dr.  DeKay,  in  his 
report  on  the  fishes  of  New  York,  states  that  he  has  known  of 
an  instance  when  "eighty-four  w^agon-loads,  or,  in  other  words, 
168,000  of  these  fish  were  taken  at  a  single  haul"  of  the  seine. 

These  voracious  fellows  [the  blue-fish]  get  into  a  school  of  menhaden,  which 
are  too  large  to  swallow  whole,  and  they  bite  them  to  pieces  to  suit  their  tastes. 
Daniel  Webster,  Private  Cor.,  Vol.  II.  p.  333. 

To  merchandise.  In  the  West,  they  say  a  man  is  merchandising  who 
is  in  trade,  keeping  a  store,  selling  goods,  &c. 

Merchant.  A  term  often  applied  in  the  United  States  to  any  dealer 
in  merchandise,  whether  at  wholesale  or  retail;  and  hence  some- 
times equivalent  to  "  shopkeeper." 

Mercy  sakes  alive!  A  common  exclamation  of  surprise,  especially 
with  old  women,  who  would  probably  find  some  difficulty  in  pars- 
ing it. 

Massy  snkes  alive,  a  o\\n\  where  have  you  been  all  the  morning?  What!  a  lady 
drownded  ?  Lord-a-massy !  What!  and  a  dear  drownded  baby  too!  Oh,  dear! 
Brooke,  EaMford,  p.  60. 


390 


MES 


Mesa.  (Span.,  table.)  Throughout  the  whole  region  bordering  on 
Mexico,  this  Spanish  word  is  used  for  a  high  plain  or  table-land. 

All  the  so-called  raesa  formations  and  jornadas  of  this  district  belonj^  to  a  dis- 
tinct system  of  basin  deposits,  tertiary  or  post-tertiary  in  ajje.  .  .  .  The  mesn,  or 
table-land  character,  is  exhibited  only  along  the  line  of  river  valleys,  as  hi^di 
bliift's,  the  result  of  denuding  forces,  subsequent  to  the  original  basin  depositions. 
Reports  on  the  Pacific  Railroad,  Vol.  I.  p.  84. 

The  travelling  upon  the  mtsas  was  hard  and  firm,  whilst  that  in  the  bottom 
was  generally  heavy.  —  Lieutenant  Park's  Report,  Pacific  Railroad  Purvey, 

Vol.  ir. 

Westward  sweeps  the  wide  valley  of  the  river,  and  at  a  distance  of  a  league  ij 
seen  the  pueblo  of  Zuni.  Towards  the  south,  a  lofty  mesa  with  precipitous  cliffs. 
.  .  .  Scrub  cedars  and  pifions  upon  the  mesa  slopes  have  furnished  fuel.  —  Cap- 
tain Whipple's  Explorations,  R.  R.  Survey,  p.  66. 

Mesilla.    (Span.  dim.  of  mesa.)    A  small  table-land. 

Mesquit  or  Muskeet.  (Span,  mezguite.  AUjaroUa  glandulosa.)  An 
important  tree  of  the  Locust  family,  found  in  Texas,  New  Mexico, 
California,  &c.  It  bears  a  long  and  narrow  pod,  filled  with  beans, 
which  are  eagerly  eaten  by  horses  and  cattle.  It  is  also  valuable 
for  fuel.  On  the  arid  plains,  it  is  reduced  to  a  mere  shrub,  when  its 
roots  greatly  expand,  and  are  much  sought  for  firewood.  The  Pima 
Indians  on  the  Gila  grind  the  mesquit  beans,  and  mix  the  flour  with 
that  of  wheat,  which  adds  much  to  its  sweetness.  This  tree  pro- 
duces in  large  quantity  a  gum  in  almost  every  respect  equal  to 
gum  arable. 

Mesquit  Grass.  (Stipa  spata.  Algonkin,  maskeht,  maskit,  grass.)  A 
fine,  short  grass,  called  also  Lewis  Grass,  which  grows  with  great 
vigor  and  beauty  on  the  western  prairies.  It  is  usually  found  in 
very  thick  tufts  and  patches,  interspersed  with  other  gi-asses.  It  is 
very  nutritious  and  palatable  to  cattle,  horses,  and  sheep;  and  has 
the  great  advantage  of  preserving  its  sweetness,  to  a  certain  degree, 
through  the  winter.  Sometimes  called  Muskeet  and  Musketo,  which 
see.    See  same  word  in  Addenda. 

The  mesquit  grass  gives  the  prairies  of  Western  Texas  their  great  superiority 
as  a  pasture  ground,  and  mark  it  as  for  ever  a  pastoral  country,  whatever  in  other 
respects  be  its  future.  —  Olmsted's  Texas,  p.  136. 

Mess.  A  quantity  of  any  thing,  especially  of  milk  obtained  at  a 
single  milking. 

Message.  In  the  United  States,  an  address  or  communication  of  a 
president  or  a  governor,  on  public  affairs,  to  the  legislature.  — W'^'ces- 
ter.  Thus  we  have  the  President's  Inaugural  Message,  A"  mal 
Message,  Veto  Message,  &c. 


MES— MID 


391 


Mestee  or  Mustee.  In  the  West  Indies,  the  child  of  a  white  person 
and  a  quadroon.    See  Metice,  MetiJ\  Metis,  Span.  Mestizo. 

Metate.  (Mex.  metatl.)  A  hollowed,  oblong  stone,  in  the  form  of  an 
inclined  plane,  used  by  the  Mexicans  (both  Indians  and  whites),  for 
grinding  Indian  corn  or  wheat  for  tortillas,  or  cocoa  for  chocolate. 

For  miles  around  the  Casas  Grandes  [on  the  Gila]  the  plain  is  strewed  with 
broken  pottery  and  metrites,  or  corn-grinders.  — BartletVs  New  Mexico. 

A  woman  was  kneeling  upon  the  ground,  under  a  fig-tree,  rubbing  the  metate, 
and  a  pretty  girl  of  fifteen  was  slapping  a  tortilla  between  her  hands.  —  Olmsted's 
Texas,  p.  349. 

Within  the  last  two  daj's,  we  have  seen  but  slight  traces  of  Indians.  Upon  the 
banks  of  streams,  we  occasionally  come  across  a  inetate.  Some  appear  to  have 
been  recently  used.  —  Captain  Whipple's  Explorations  to  the  Pacijic,  p.  96. 

Methy.  The  Burbot  {Lota  maculosa),  La  Loche  of  the  Canadians. 
This  fish  has  given  a  name  to  a  lake  and  portage  in  British  North 
America  (Cree).  —  ^<V /.  Richardson,  Arctic  Searching  Exp.,  Vol.  I. 
p.  109. 

Metis.    (Span.  Mestizo,  Eng.  Mustee.)    The  offspring  of  a  white 

person  and  a  quarteron  or  quadroon.    See  Negro. 
Middling  Interest.    The  middle  class  of  people. 

Men  of  the  middliny  interest  class  are  now  the  best  off.  Men  who  have  done  a 
safe  and  small  business  are  now  the  richest  .  .  .  They  have  felt  they  belonged  to 
the  iniddliny  interest,  and  have  resolved  to  stay  there,  and  not  cope  with  the  rich 
Connecticut  Cournnt. 

A  few  years  since  there  was  a  bank  in  Boston  called  the  Bank  of 
the  '■''Middle  Interest.^^ 

Middlings.  1.  A  coarse  flour  intermediate  between  the  fine  flour 
and  the  inferior  quality;  hardly  known  now,  when  the  inferior 
flour  is  called  "superfine." 

2.  A  term  used  in  the  West  for  pork,  meaning  the  portion  of  the 
animal  between  the  hams  and  shoulders.  Thus  the  "Price  Cur- 
rent "  quotes  hams,  shoulders,  and  middlings. 

Middling  Well  is  a  common  expression  for  tolerably  well.  "  How  are 
you  to-day  ?  "  "  Wall,  I 'm  pretty  middling  jest  so  as  to  be  knockin' 
around."  According  to  Brockett,  it  is  used  in  the  same  sense  in 
the  north  of  England. 

Then  it  was,  "  Mr.  Sawin,  sir,  you  're  middlin*  well,  now,  be  ye  V  Step  up  an' 
take  a  nipper,  sir.  I 'm  dreffel  glad  to  see  ye."  —  Biylow  Papers. 

A  lady  told  me  that,  on  inquiring  after  the  wife  of  one  of  her 
neighbors,  he  said,  "  Thank  you,  marm,  she 's  middlin''  smart, 
nothin'  alarmin'."  In  Virginia,  to  express  the  same  condition  of 
a  person's  health,  the  reply  would  be,  "  She 's  barely  tolerable." 


392 


MID— MIL 


Midget.    The  sand-fly;  so  called  in  Canada. 

Might,  used  for  "may;  "  "as  might  we,"  &c.,  in  cases  where  not 
doubt,  uncertainty,  is  implied,  but  where  simply  ability  is  mentally 
referred  to,  and,  as  to  intent,  is  expressed.    New  England. 

Mighty.  Exceedingly,  \ery.  Colloquial  in  I^ngland  and  the  United 
States,  particularly  at  the  South  and  West. 

To  the  king's  house;  Kuipp  took  us  in,  and  brought  us  to  Nelly  [Gwynn],  a 
most  pretty  woman.  I  kissed  her,  and  so  did  my  wife;  and  a  mif/hfy  pretty  soul 
she  is.  — Pepys's  Diary^  Vol.  II.  p.  8. 

She  untied  her  hair,  then  began  to  twirl  the  ringlets  round  her  fingers  and 
play  with  them  in  a  coquettish  manner,  which  she  seemed  to  think  miyhty  kill- 
ing, for  she  smiled  in  evident  self-conceit.  —  London  Zoist. 

The  Doctor's  was  a  niujhty  fine  house,  fronting  the  sea.  —  Dickens,  Domhey 
and  Sun,  ch.  xi. 

On  my  asking  him  the  next  morning  how  he  found  himself,  he  answered, 
miyhty  weak.  —  Chastellux's  Travels  in  North  Am.  (1780),  Vol.  II.  p.  14. 

Mighty  little,  miyhty  few,  miyhty  weak,  &c.,  are  favorite  expressions  in  Amer- 
ica.—  Ibid.,  note  by  Translator. 

His  face  is  mighty  little  for  his  body.  —  Georyia  Scenes,  p.  184. 
fityf^L^'  •^^■'^Jf'  What  7ni(/hty  hard  land  it  is  on  this  road !    The  whole  face  of  the  earth  is  cov- 

^01,1    ^  ■  g^.^^  with,  stones,  as  thick  as  Kentucky  land-titles.  —  Crockett,  Tour  down  East, 

p.  57. 

You  "11  be  miyhty  apt  to  get  wet,  said  a  thorough-bred  Texan,  who  stood  watch- 
ing our  movements.  —  KendalVs  Santa  Fe  Expedition,  Vol.  I.  p.  32. 

A  girl  belonging  to  the  hotel  was  shouting  to  the  boys,  who  had  been  de- 
spatched to  the  barn  for  eggs,  to  "quit  suckin'  them  thar  eggs,  or  the  candi- 
dates would  stand  a  miyhty  small  chance  for  thar  dinner."  —  Eobb,  Squatter  Life, 
p.  80. 

Mile.  Often  in  the  singular  with  a  numei-al,  instead  of  the  plural 
miles.  Mr.  Hartshorne,  in  his  Glossary,  says  its  use  is  universal  in 
England,  where  the  vulgar  never  give  it  a  plural.  "  The  custom," 
he  adds,  "  seems  to  receive  countenance  from  some  of  our  early 
English  poets  "  —  Salopia  Antiqua. 

Start  the  horses  together  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  mile.  —  Georgia  Scenes. 

Mileage  is  a  very  large  and  even  extravagant  allowance  made  to  mem- 
bers of  Congress,  and  some  others  of  the  favored,  for  travelling 
expenses,  eight  dollars  for  every  twenty  miles. 

Consiructice  Mileage  is  the  same  allowance  for  supposititious 
journeys  from  and  to  the  seat  of  government.  The  allowance 
enures  to  members  of  the  United  States  Senate  once  in  every  four 
years.  When  a  new  president  comes  into  office.  Congress  adjourns, 
of  course,  on  the  3d  of  March,  the  new  president  being  inaugurated 
on  the  4th.    But  the  Senate  is  immediatelv  called  again  into  ses- 


MIL 


393 


sion,  to  act  on  the  nominations  of  the  new  president;  and,  though 
not  a  man  of  them  leaves  Washington,  each  is  supposed  to  go  home 
and  come  back  again,  in  the  course  of  the  ten  or  twelve  hours  inter- 
vening between  the  adjournment  and  the  reassembling.  For  this, 
imaginary  journey  the  senators  are  allowed  their  mileage ;  the  sum 
being,  in  the  case  of  senators  from  distant  States,  from  $1,000  to 
^1,500. 

Many  of  the  senators,  in  1845,  when  Mr.  Polk  was  inaugui-ated, 
refused  to  pocket  their  constructive  mileage^  holding  it  to  be  an  impo- 
sition on  the  public. 

Constructive  mileage  is  allowed  when  an  extra  session  of  Congress 
is  called,  whether  the  senators  and  members  have  actually  gone  to 
their  homes  or  not,  after  the  regular  session. 

The  mileage  is  a  still  less  excusable  abomination.  Texas  sends  hither  two 
senators  and  two  representatives,  who  receive,  in  addition  to  their  pay,  some 
$2,500  each  every  session  for  merely  coming  here  and  going  away  again  (I  would 
sooner  pay  them  twice  the  money  to  stay  away),  —  $10,000  in  all  for  travelling 
expenses,  which  are  not  actually  $1,000.  Arkansas  will  take  $6,000  out  of  the 
treasury,  this  3'ear,  merely  for  the  travel  of  her  senators.  When  we  come  to 
have  senators  and  representatives  from  Oregon  and  California,  we  shall  have  to 
negotiate  a  loan  expressly  to  pay  the  mileage  of  their  members.  —  Letter  from 
H.  Greeley,  N.  Y.  Tribune,  May  2,  1848. 

Military  Lauds.    Lands  granted  to  soldiers  for  military  services. 

Milk-Sickness.    A  fatal  spasmodic  disease,  peculiar  to  the  Western 

States;  now  said  to  be  owing  to  astringent  salts  contained  in  the 

soil  and  waters  of  these  regions  (see  Owen's  Geology  of  Kentucky). 

It  first  attacks  the  cattle,  and  then  those  who  eat  beef  or  drink 

milk. 

A  few  miles  below  Alton,  on  the  Mississippi,  I  passed  a  deserted  village,  the 
whole  population  of  which  had  been  destroyed  by  the  milk-sickness.  —  Hoffman, 
Winter  in  the  West,  Let.  2. 

Milking  the  Street.  The  act  of  cliques  or  great  operators,  who  hold 
stocks  so  well  in  hand  that  they  cause  any  fluctuations  they  please. 
By  alternately  lifting  and  depressing  shares,  they  take  all  the  float- 
ing money  in  the  market.  —  Medberg. 

There  is  a  distinction  between  the  cliques  and  brokers.  .  .  .  Great  operators  rob 
the  brokers  by  destroying  their  customers.  To  use  the  slang  of  the  financial 
quarter,  they  milk  the  street.  —  Medbery,  Men  and  Mysteries  of  Wall  Street, 
p  336. 

The  majority  of  stocks  are  still  blocked,  and  the  market,  so  far  as  possible, 
worked  entire!}'  upon  the  milkim/ process.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Sept.,  1876. 

Mill.  1.  An  expression  commonly  applied  to  one  who  has  experience 
of  the  world  is,  "  He  has  been  through  the  mill;  "  a  phrase  equiva- 
lent to  "  He  has  seen  the  elephant." 


294 


MIL 


2.  An  imaginary  American  coin,  the  thousandth  part  of  a  dollar 
or  tenth  part  of  a  cent. 
To  mill.    To  cockle,  used  of  cloth. 

Mill  Privilege.  A  water  privilege.  The  advantage  of  a  water-fall, 
sufficient,  when  a  dam  is  erected,  to  furnish  power  to  operate  a  mill. 
See  Wale?'  Privilege. 

Miller.  To  drown  the  miller  is  to  put  too  much  water  to  the  flour  in 
making  bread.  It  is,  doubtless,  an  English  expression.  At  all 
events,  Wright  says  that  putting  the  miller'' s  eye  out  is  a  phrase  used 
when  too  much  liquid  is  put  to  any  dry  or  powdery  substance.  The 
latter  is  also  used  in  New  England. 

Millerism.    The  doctrines  taught  by  the  followers  of  William  Miller. 

When  Alillerism  was  makin'  such  a  noise,  the  Wiggletown  folks  raly  thought 

ther  was  something  in  it.    Old  Miss  G  gave  u[)  all  business,  and  didn't  do 

nothin'  but  traipse  round  from  house  to  house  a  takin'  on  about  the  eend  of  the 
Avorld.  —  Widow  Btdott  Papers,  p.  123. 

Millerites.  The  name  of  a  religious  sect,  from  its  founder,  William 
Miller. 

The  distinguishing  doctrines  of  this  sect  are :  a  belief  in  the  reap- 
pearance of  Jesus  Christ  on  earth,  "  with  all  his  saints  and  angels; 
that  he  will  raise  the  dead  bodies  of  all  his  saints,  and  change  the 
bodies  of  all  that  are  alive  on  the  earth  that  are  his ;  and  that  both 
these  living  and  raised  saints  will  be  caught  up  to  meet  the  Lord 
in  the  air.  There  the  saints  will  be  judged.  While  this  is  being 
done  in  the  air,  the  earth  will  be  cleansed  by  fire ;  the  bodies  of  the 
wicked  will  be  burned ;  the  devil  and  evil  spirits  will  be  banished 
from  the  earth,  shut  up  in  a  pit,  and  will  not  be  permitted  to  visit 
the  earth  again  until  a  thousand  years.  This  is  the  first  resurrection 
and  first  judgment.  Then  Christ  and  his  people  will  come  down  froin 
the  heavens,  and  live  wdth  his  saints  on  the  new  earth."  After  a 
thousand  years,  a  second  death,  resurrection,  and  judgment  take 
place;  when  the  righteous  will  possess  the  earth  for  ever.  "  The 
judgment  day  will  be  a  thousand  years  in  duration.  The  righteous 
will  be  raised  and  judged  in  the  commencement,  the  wicked  at  the 
end  of  that  day.  The  millennium  is  between  the  two  resurrections 
and  the  two  judgments."  —  Evans's  Hist.  Religions. 

Believing  in  the  literal  fulfilment  of  the  prophecies,  the  Millerites 
first  asserted  that,  according  to  their  calculations,  the  first  judg- 
ment would  take  place  about  the  year  1843.  Subsequently,  other 
periods  were  named ;  and  so  firm  was  the  faith  of  many  that  the 
Saviour  would  descend  from  the  heavens  and  take  his  followers  up 


MIL— MTN 


395 


into  the  air  that  they  disposed  of  all  their  worldly  treasures,  pro- 
vided themselves  with  "  ascension  robes,"  and  waited  with  great 
anxiety  for  the  sounding  of  the  last  trumpet,  the  signal  for  their 
aerial  voyage.  Many  persons  became  insane  in  consequence  of  the 
excitement  aiid  fear  attending  this  delusion.  Others  have  come  to 
their  senses,  owing  to  their  repeated  disappointments  in  not  being- 
elevated  according  to  Father  Miller's  promise;  and  at  the  present 
time  the  sect  has  happily  dwindled  down  to  an  insignificant 
number. 

At  the  Franconia  hotel,  I  first  heard  of  the  recent  fanatical  movement  of  the 
Millerites,  or  followers  of  one  Miller,  who  taught  that  the  millennium,  or  final 
destruction  of  tlie  world,  would  come  to  pass  last  year,  or  on  the  23d  day  of 
October,  1844.  —  LyeWs  Second  Visit,  chap.  v. 

Million.  A  vulgar  corruption  of  the  word  jnelon ;  as,  "  wiiteY-?nUlions,^^ 
water-melons;  "  mush-wiV/ions,"  musk-melons.  The  term  seems  to 
have  been  so  used  by  the  early  settlers. 

In  orchards  are  all  sorts  of  Apple-Trees;  .  .  .  with  Colworts,  Musmillions, 
Cuccumbers,  Watermillions,  &c.  —  True  Relation  of  Virginia  and  Maryland 
(1669).  p.  5. 

Millish.    Militia.  Southern. 

The  city  millish,'^  embracing  some  of  our  very  best  citizens,  have  gone  into 
camp  at  the  fair-grounds.  —  Charleston  Mercury,  April,  1862. 

To  mind.  1.  To  recollect;  remember.  A  common  phrase  at  the 
South  is,  "i  mind  we,"  for  "I  remember."  It  is  also  used  in 
Scotland.  o^.^^      —  c^^^-^.^  ^U-^ i^«t^;'  &W:cX/ ^:r^4i^ ,  Vy-  2 

I  was  invited  to  dine  out  in  Boston  ;  but,  if  I  can  mind  the  gentleman's  name, 
I  wish  I  may  be  shot.  —  Crockett,  Tour,  p.  82. 

I  mind  once,  a  good  many  years  ago,  Cross  and  I  was  over  to  St.  Regis,  on  a 
cruise  after  marten  and  sable.  —  Hammond,  Wild  Northern  Scenes,  p.  331. 

2.  To  watch,  take  care  of.  An  English  use  of  the  word,  although 
not  in  the  dictionaries. 

As  soon  as  girls  are  old  enough  to  be  turned  to  any  account,  they  are  sent  out 
to  mind  the  baby.  This  mindincj  the  baby  is,  in  reality,  sauntering  about  the 
streets,  and  sitting  down  on  door-steps,  and  gossiping  with  other  baby-minders. 
North  British  Review,  May,  1856. 

Yes,  said  Margaret,  I  will  keep  Obed.  I  '11  mind  the  beds  when  the  birds  are 
about.  —  Margaret,  p.  20. 

3.  To  remind;  to  notice.  "/  didn^t  mind  that."  lie  minded 
me  of  my  promise."     S^*^  sLj<^^^  . 

Mingo.  (Creek  Ind.)  A  native  king  among  the  Creeks,  Choctaws, 
&c. 

Minister.    1.  A  caf/ish. 

2.  A  sculpin.  Massachusetts. 


333 


MIN— MIS 


Ministerial.  1.  Kind,  generous,  appreciative,  in  respect  to  miiii.s- 
t;M  s  of  religion. 

2.  Furnishing,  producing  ministers. 

There  are  persons  in  Mansfield  who  have  listened  to  the  prearhin^^  of  the  four 
f^enerations  of  this  ministerial  faniilj". — Rev.  R.  C.  Learned,  in  Cony.  Quar- 
ierlij,  July,  1861. 

Mink,  Minx.  {Putorius  vison.)  A  quadruped  of  the  weasel  kind, 
that  burrows  in  the  earth  near  water.  It  is  generally  to  be  found 
on  the  banks  of  streams,  especially  near  farm-houses  and  mills.  It 
swims  and  dives  well,  and  can  remain  under  water  for  a  considerable 
time.  It  preys  upon  small  fish,  muscles,  &c.,  but  also  commits 
depredations  on  the  poultry-yard,  and  will  devour  rats,  mice,  &c. 

Mint-Julep.  A  drink  made  of  brandy  and  sugar,  flavored  with  mint, 
to  which  pounded  ice  is  added.    See  Julep. 

Maryland,  anciently  written  Merryland;  so  called  because  the  inhabitants,  not 
having  the  fear  of  the  Lord  before  their  eyes,  were  prone  to  make  merry  and  get 
fuddled  with  7/ti'w<-/M^e/>s  and  apple-toddy. —  W.  Irving,  Knickerbocker. 

Mint-Stick.  Candy  flavored  with  peppermint  and  made  into  sticks 
(pieces) . 

The  soldiers  hunger  for  dates,  figs,  mint-stick,  ginger-cake,  preserves,  and  other 
sweet  stuff  that  the  sutler  keeps  for  sale.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Letter  from  North 
Carolina,  June  13,  1862. 

Miscegenation.  The  mingling  of  the  black  and  white  races  by  mar- 
riage. 

Misery.  Pain;  as,  "  They  say  John  Soaker  never  gets  drunk;  but  he 
often  has  a  misery  in  his  head."  The  word  is  universal  among  the 
Negroes  at  the  South. 

Miss.  Often  used  instead  of  "  Mrs.,"  by  uneducated  people,  in  ad- 
dressing or  speaking  of  married  women,  especially  in  the  West. 

To  miss  a  Figure  is  to  commit  a  vital  error. 

Miss-Lick.  When  an  axe  or  knife  cuts  out  of  line,  it  is  called  in  the 
West  a  miss-lick. 

To  mis-recollect.    To  forget.    "  If  I  do  not  mis-recollect."  HitcJi- 

cocJvS  Religion  of  Geology. 

The  Senate,  if  we  do  not  inis-recollect,  has  twice  passed  a  bill  abolishing  the 
franking  privilege.  —  iV^.  Y.  Tribune,  March  21,  18G2. 

Misremember.  To  forget.  "I  misremember ;  "  i.  e.,  if  I  am  not 
mistaken.    See  Disreyiiemher. 

I  think  you  understand  that  beautiful  figure  of  speech,  Mr.  Slick,  for,  if  I  don't 
misremember,  you  are  a  dab  at  paintin"  in  lies  yourself,  ain't  you  ?  —  Sam  Slick, 
Wise  Saws,  30. 


MIS 


397 


Misrepresentative.  A  representative  who  misrepresents  his  con- 
stituents. 

The  Senate  listened  to-day  to  a  philippic  from  Mr.  Sumner  against  Mr.  Bright, 
and  to  a  bitter  reply  from  that  misrepresentative  of  Indiana.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune, 
Jan.  2G,  1862 

Missing.  To  be  among  the  missing  is  to  be  absent,  to  leave,  to  run 
away. 

There  comes  old  David  for  my  militia  fine.  I  don't  want  to  see  him,  and  think 
I  will  be  among  the  missing.  —  Sketches  of  New  York. 

Mission  Schools.    The  American  term  for  what  the  English  denote 

by  ragged  schools. 
Missionarying.    The  doing  missionary  work.    "  The  Independent," 
April  2i,  1862,  in  a  sketch  of  the  Rev.  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  says:  — 
He  was  always  fond  of  missionarying. 
To  missionate.    To  act  as  a  missionary.    Not  well  authorized.  — 
Webster.    To  sustain  missions,  as  for  propagandism. 

Mr.  Pickering  notices  this  absurd  word,  which  he  found  in  the 
"  Missionary  Herald." 

The  Romish  Church  missionated  for  civil  rule,  for  a  secular  and  supreme  sway. 
And  so  she  sends  for  her  priests  as  spiritual  politicians  of  the  lowest  type.  —  The 
Congregationalist,  Serm  of  J.  E.  Withrow,  D.D, 

Missouri  Compromise.  A  name  popularly  given  to  an  act  of  Con- 
gress which  was  passed  in  1820,  and  was  intended  to  reconcile  the 
two  great  sections  that  were  struggling,  the  one  to  promote,  the 
other  to  hinder,  the  extension  of  slavery.  By  this  act,  it  was  deter- 
mined that  Missouri  should  be  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a  slave- 
holding  State,  but  that  slavery  should  never  be  established  in  any 
State,  to  be  formed  in  the  future,  lying  north  of  lat.  36°  30'.  — 
Wheelers  Dictionary. 

Missouri-isms.  The  Missourians  have  quite  a  penchant  for  curious 
characterization.  The  members  of  the  Legislature  are  divided  into 
Charcoals,  Clay-banks,  White-legs,  and  Snow-flakes.  The  first  and 
last  are  the  extremes  of  both  parties.  The  "  Charcoal  "  believes 
slavery  a  moral  enormity,  "  the  sum  of  all  villanies,"  as  well  as  an 
impediment  to  the  prosperity  of  the  State.  The  "  Clay-bank  "  says 
nothing  about  its  moral  character,  and  some  of  them  absolutely 
believe  it  free  from  moral  taint,  but  a  curse  to  the  material  interests  of 
the  State.  The  "  White-leg  "  is  the  strong  Union  Democrat,  who  is 
not  considered  quite  reliable  by  the  more  ultra,  who  are  the  "  Snow- 
flakes."  The  "  White-legs  "  would  support  gradual  emancipation. 
Then  they  have  two  words  to  express  the  idfaof  underhand  plotting; 
to  wit,  "  skullduggery  "  and  "  chenanigan."  — Exchange  Paper. 


KS 


MIS— MOC 


Mistake.    The  phrase,  "  and  no  mistake, is  used  — 

1.  As  an  equivalent  for  certainly,  positively;  as,  "I  will  soon 
pay  you  a  visit,  and  no  mistake.^''  It  is  now  being  replaced  by  sure. 
And  — 

2.  For  decided,  positively  known,  thorough,  as:  — 

Let  the  President  call  on  the  no-mistake  Unionists  of  the  South, — those  who 
have  never  been  traitors  for  an  instant,  &c.  — N.  V.  Trilmne.  Nov.  26,  18  j1. 

Mitten.  When  a  gentleman  is  jilted  by  a  lady,  or  is  discarded  by 
one  to  whom  he  has  been  paying  his  addresses,  he  is  said  to  have 
got  the  mitten. 

Young  gentlemen  that  have  got  the  mitten,  or  young  gentlemen  wlio  think  they 
are  going  to  yet  the  mitten,  alwaj's  sigh.  It  makes  them  feel  bad. — Neal'a 
Sketches. 

There  is  a  young  lady  I  have  set  my  heart  on ;  though  whether  she  is  a-goin' 
to  give  me  hern,  or  (/ice  me  the  mitten.,  I  ain't  quite  satisfied.  But  I  rather 
kinder  sorter  guess  so,  than  kinder  sorter  not  so.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature, 
p.  90. 

To  mitten.    To  reject  a  lover. 

Once,  when  I  was  3'oung  as  you,  and  not  so  smart,  perhaps, 
For  me  she  mittened  a  lawyer,  and  several  other  chaps. 

Carlton,  Farm  B  illads,  p.  19. 

Mixed.    Short  for  mixed  with  uncertainty,  doubtful. 

Mixed  up.    Confused,  promiscuous. 

Ses  I,  "Gentlemen,  you  hear  this  critter  compar  me,  a  free  Amarakin,  to  his 
darned  heathen  dumb  brute  of  Afriky."  And  with  that  I  fetched  the  monkey  a 
sling  that  sent  him  a  whirlin'  about  sixty-five  yards,  over  a  brick  wall ;  and  the 
next  minit  the  Dutchman  and  his  boy  was  the  most  viixed-up  pile  of  rags  and 
splinters  that  you  ever  see,  in  one  mud-hole.  —  Widoio  B'.tcjly's  Husbatul. 

Mizzy.    Pain  in  the  bowels.  Louisiana. 

Mobee.  A  fermented  liquor  made  by  the  Xegroes  in  the  "West  Indies, 
prepared  with  sugar,  ginger,  and  snake-root.  It  is  sold  by  them  in 
the  markets.  —  CarmichaeV s  West  Indies.    Mobhy.  — Bailey'' s  Die. 

Mobocracy.    The  sway  of  the  mob. 

Mobtown.  A  name  given  long  ago  to  the  city  of  Baltimore,  and 
w^hich  the  lawless  character  of  a  portion  of  the  inhabitants  renders 
a  not  unfitting  appellation  at  the  present  day. 

Moccason  or  Moccasin.  (Algonkin  Ind.)  An  Indian  shoe,  made  of 
soft  leather  without  a  stiif  sole,  and  commonly  ornamented  round 
the  ankle  —  Worcester. 

Moccasoned.    Intoxicated.    South  Carolina. 

Moccason  Fish.    The  sun-fish  of  Maryland. 


MOC— MOL 


399 


Moccason  Snake.    A  snake  of  bright  color,  reputed  poisonous,  of 

which  there  are  several  varieties. 
Mock  Auction.    A  pretended  auction  sale  used  to  entrap  people  from 

the  country.    New  York. 

Mock  Auctioneer.    A  man  engaged  in  a  mock  auction  establishment. 

Every  person  who  obtains  an^^  money  or  property  from  another,  ...  by  any 
of  the  practices  known  as  mock  auctions,  is  punishable  by  imprisonment,  &c. — 
Duift  of  Penal  Code  for  the  State  of  Neio  Fork,  1864,  §  627. 

Mocker-Nut.  (Juglans  tomentosa.)  White-heart  hickory. 

Mock  Orange.  {Primus  Carolinlana  )  A  small  evergreen  tree  growing 

southward  from  North  Carolina.    It  resembles  the  cherry  laurel  of 

Europe,  and  is  a  beautiful  tree  for  cultivation. 

Mocking  Bird.  1.  (Turdus  polyglottus.')  This  capricious  little  mimic 
is  of  a  cinereous  color,  paler  beneath.  It  inhabits  America  from 
New  England  to  Brazil,  but  is  rare  and  migratory  in  the  Northern 
States,  whilst  it  is  common  and  resident  in  the  Southern.  This 
bird,  although  it  cannot  vie  with  most  of  the  American  species  in 
brilliancy  of  plumage,  is  much  sought  for  on  account  of  its  wonder- 
ful faculty  of  imitating  the  tone  of  every  inhabitant  of  the  woods, 
from  the  twitter  of  the  humming-bird  to  the  scream  of  the  eagle.  — 
Encycl.  Americana. 
2.  See  Nine-Killer. 

Mocuck.  (Cliippeway,  makak  or  mokiik.)  A  term  applied  to  the  box 
of  birch-bark  in  which  sugar  is  kept  by  the  Chippeway  Indians. 

Molasses.  Used  as  a  plural  in  the  West;  as,  "  Will  you  give  me  some 
of  those  molasses?"  When  England  condescends  to  use  this  word 
instead  of  treacle,  she  generally  makes  it  plural. 

Molly  Cotton-Tail.    A  rabbit. 

MoUygasher.  A  negro  from  Madagascar.  The  original  corruption 
was  Makujasy,  from  which  came  MoUygasher. 

Molly  Maguires.  A  society  in  Pennsylvania,  in  character  similar 
to  the  Ribbon  Societies  of  Ireland,  so  far  as  they  dealt  with  local 
agrarian  troubles. 

"  The  Molly  Maguires  of  the  coal  regions  were  composed  almost 
entirely  of  Irishmen,  and  they  kept  the  forms  and  practices  of  the 
secret  societies  of  the  old  country.  They  combined  against  mine- 
owners  and  overseers  as  they  had  combined  against  landlords  and 
agents,  and  from  their  combination  came  assassinations  likewise, 
although  with  less  excuse,  if  there  can  be  any  excuse  for  assassina- 
tion, for  they  were  not  starved  or  evicted.    Their  crimes  were  worse, 


400 


MOM— MON 


as  their  excuse  was  less ;  and  the  cruelty  was  as  ferocious  as  the 
offence  that  caused  it  petty.  In  committing  the  murders,  the  societj' 
took  the  course  common  in  Ireland,  and  had  it  done  by  persons 
unknown  in  the  section  where  the  victims  lived,  and  returns  of 
courtesies  were  arranged  by  which  murders  were  exchanged.  They 
also  pursued  the  same  course  in  regard  to  terrorism  of  witnesses  and 
to  subornation  of  perjury,  and  consequently  for  a  long  time  made 
trials  a  farce." 

Murders  were  committed,  and  great  quantities  of  coal  and  other 
property  destroyed  by  incendiarism.  In  1875,  they  terrorized  over 
the  whole  country,  threatened  whole  towns,  and  compelled  the 
ordering  out  of  the  militia.  On  the  withdrawal  of  the  troops,  a 
series  of  the  most  cruel  murders  was  committed,  until  at  length,  by 
strategy,  ten  of  the  members  of  the  society  were  arrested  for  the 
crime.  Notwithstanding  the  efforts  made  by  the  members,  who 
appeared  to  swear  to  an  alibi,  but  who  were  advised  by  counsel  to 
go  home  and  not  be  prosecuted  for  perjury,  all  were  convicted 
of  murder,  and  on  the  20th  June,  1877,  executed. — Providence 
Journal. 

Mommick.  To  cut  any  thing  awkwardly.  Provincial  in  various  parts 
of  England.  —  Halliwell,  Wright.  A  word  used  in  the  South  and  in 
western  New  York  and  Pennsylvania;  in  the  latter  pronounced 
mommuxed.  It  may  be  the  same  as  the  M'ord  which  follows,  although 
used  in  a  different  sense. 

In  the  Congression  Reports  on  the  Hamburg  massacre  of  the  late 
war,  a  negro  witness  thus  testified  in  relation  to  a  man  who  was 
shockingly  mangled  and  left  to  die :  — 

*'He  was  so  bloody  I  couldn't  exactly  see  how  he  was  shot,  but  I  noticed  a 
place  on  his  hip  that  looked  like  he  was  chopped  Avith  an  axe  or  hatchet.  It  was 
cut  in  a  sort  of  laying  over.  He  was  the  worst  mommlcked  up  man  I  'most  ever 
seen.  —  Senate  Rept.  Miss.  JDocm.,  No.  48,  4iih  Conrj.  1st  Session. 

Mommock.  To  handle.  "  Don't  mommock  these  things,"  i.  e.  don't 
handle  or  disarrange  them.  A  term  in  use  at  Old  Plymouth.  Mass. 
Wright  notices  the  word  mummick,  to  maul,  as  common  in  various 
English  dialects,  which  may  be  the  same  word. 

Money.  Among  the  many  names  for  money  are  Brads;  Dimes; 
Dooterumus,  shortened  to  Doot ;  Hardscales;  Hardstuff;  Mopusses; 
Rags;  Rocks;  Scads;  Shinplasters ;  Sj^elter;  Stamps;  Stuff;  Shot; 
Spoons;  Sugar;  Tin;  and  the  universal  one  of  Greenbacks. 

Monitor.  The  name  given  by  Captain  Ericsson,  a  distinguished 
naval  engineer,  to  the  first  iron-clad  vessel  constructed  under  his 


MON 


401 


direction,  having  a  revolving  turret.  This  vessel  was  built  in  New 
York,  whence  she  went  to  Hampton  Roads  in  Virginia,  where,  in 
her  memorable  action  with  the  Confederate  iron-clad,  "  Merrimack," 
she  rendered  important  service  to  the  Union  cause.  Soon  after 
(Dec.  31,  1862),  the  "Monitor"  foundered  at  sea,  w^hile  on  her 
voyage  to  Charleston.  A  number  of  vessels  of  similar  construction 
built  during  the  late  civil  war  were  called  Monitors.  See  Turret- 
Ship. 

Our  Monitor,  —  she  earned  her  title  well. 

Though  short  the  race  she  run, 
She  left  a  record  for  the  world  to  tell 

Of  "victory  nobly  won." 
Tenderly  guard  her  in  thy  depths,  O  Sea ! 
For  never  nobler  vessel  sailed  o'er  thee. 

All  honor  then  to  Ericsson,  who  planned  the  Monitory 
And  knew  its  fighting  qualities,  before  we  dreamed  of  war! 
And  may  brave  Worden  never  know  a  nation's  cold  neglect. 
So  long  as  we 've  a  Monitor  our  Union  to  protect. 

Ballad  of  the  Monitor  and  Merrimack. 

Monk-Fish.    See  Devil- Fish. 
Monkey.    The  weight  of  a  pile-driver. 

Monkey-Shines.  Tricks,  such  as  those  of  boys  at  play;  proceedings 
at  once  farcical  and  reprehensible. 

Monongahela.  A  river  of  Pennsylvania,  so  called,  gave  its  name  to 
the  rye  whiskey  of  which  large  quantities  were  produced  in  its 
neighborhood,  and  indeed  to  American  whiskey  in  general,  as  distin- 
guished from  Usquebaugh  and  Inishowen,  the  Scotch  and  Irish 
sorts.  , 

Monroe  Doctrine.  The  historical  "  Monroe  doctrine  "  consisted  of 
two  declarations,  the  first  of  which  grew  out  of  the  discussions  had 
in  1823,  and  earlier,  between  our  government  and  that  of  Russia 
and  Great  Britain  in  regard  to  the  proper  limits  of  our  North- 
western territoiy.  The  leading  powders  of  Europe  up  to  that  time 
had  been  accustomed  to  consider  the  unoccupied  portions  of  the 
western  world  as  still  open,  in  point  of  public  law,  to  settlement 
and  colonization  as  derelict  territory,  upon  which  they  might  enter 
and  which  they  might  subsequently  hold,  on  condition  of  occupying 
the  land.  For  the  sake  of  rebutting  this  pretension,  at  least  so  far 
as  it  might  be  held  to  restrict  our  territorial  claims  in  the  North- 
west, the  administration  of  Mr.  ISIonroe  took  the  occasion  to  assert, 
"  as  a  principle,  in  which  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  United 
States  were  involved,  that  the  American  continents,  by  the  free  and 
independent  condition  which  they  have  assumed  and  maintain,  are 

26 


402 


MON 


henceforth  not  to  be  considered  as  subjects  for  future  colonization 
by  any  European  power."  It  is  well  known  that  Mr.  John  Quincy 
Adams  was  the  author  of  this  "  principle ;  "  and  the  motives  by 
M'hich  he  was  influenced  in  propounding  it  are  elaborately  set  forth 
in  the  correspondence  he  had  at  that  period  with  Mr.  Middleton, 
then  our  minister  at  the  Russian  court,  as  also  with  Mr.  Rush,  our 
able  ambassador  at  the  Court  of  St.  James.  His  argument  was,  in 
brief,  that  the  South  American  States  and  Mexico,  by  virtue  of 
their  independence,  had  acceded  to  all  the  proprietary  rights  for- 
merly enjoyed  by  Spain ;  and  since  the  United  States  claimed  to 
extend  their  jurisdiction  to  the  Pacific,  and  thus  over  the  whole  of 
the  North-western  territory  which  they  had  not  yet  actually  occu- 
pied, it  hence  resulted  that  both  the  northern  and  southern  conti- 
nents of  America  had  passed  under  the  civil  dominion  of  the  several 
States  among  which  they  were  parcelled.  In  other  words,  it  was 
contended  that  the  flag  of  some  power  now  covered  and  protected 
all  the  territory  of  the  western  world,  which,  being  thus  preoccupied 
by  civilized  nations,  would  henceforth  be  accessible  to  Europeans 
and  to  each  other  only  on  the  footing  of  so  many  independent  sover- 
eignties claiming  and  asserting  a  jurisdiction  which  shielded  the 
whole  continent  fi'om  encroachments,  under  the  old  and  long-recog- 
nized rights  of  discovery  and  settlement.  The  "  Monroe  doctrine,^^ 
under  this  head,  had  that  extent  and  no  more. 

The  second  branch  of  the  declaration  made  by  President  Monroe, 
in  his  annual  message  of  1823,  related  to  the  apprehended  attempt 
of  the  European  powers,  combined  in  the  Holy  Alliance,  to  resub- 
jugate  the  Spanish- American  States  which  had  thrown  off  their 
allegiance  to  the  mother  country.  These  powers  had  solemnly 
declared  at  Verona,  in  1822,  their  "  resolution  to  repel  the  maxim  of 
rebellion,  in  whatever  place  or  under  w^hatever  form  it  might  show 
itself,"  as  before  at  Troppau  they  had  publicly  announced  "  that 
the  European  States  have  an  undoubted  right  to  take  a  hostile  atti- 
tude in  regard  to  those  nations  in  which  the  overthrow  of  govern- 
ment might  operate  as  an  example."  Who  does  not  see  that  a  blow 
aimed  at  the  Spanish  provinces,  in  pursuance  of  principles  such  as 
these,  was  equally  directed  at  us,  as  the  revolted  provinces  of  Great 
Britain,  and  in  which,  if  anywhere,  the  "  overthrow  of  government  " 
might  be  deemed  to  operate  as  an  "  example  ' '  calling  for  chastise- 
ment? At  the  same  time.  Great  Britain,  by  virtue  of  her  constitu- 
tional principles  of  civil  liberty,  was  equally  averse  to  such  a  policy 
as  was  espoused  by  the  Holy  Alliance,  and,  moreover,  had  already 
entered  into  favorable  commercial  relations  with  the  Spanish- 


MON— MOO 


403 


American  republics,  which  she  was  unwilling  to  renounce  or  to 
subject  auew  to  the  hazards  and  interruptions  of  war.  Under  these 
circumstances  it  was  that  Mr.  Canning,  then  the  British  Secretary 
for  Foreign  Affairs,  proposed  to  Mr.  Rush  that  "  the  government  of 
the  United  States  should  go  hand  in  hand  with  England  "  in  resist- 
ing any  attempt  directed  to  the  resubjugation  of  the  revolted  colo- 
nies of  Spain ;  and  it  was  in  consequence  of  such  a  previous  concert 
of  views  between  the  two  governments,  as  well  as  in  obedience  to 
obvious  considerations  of  public  policy,  that  Mr.  Monroe  declared, 
in  1823,  that  the  United  States  would  consider  any  attempt  of  the 
Allied  Powers  to  extend  their  system  to  any  portion  of  this  hemi- 
sphere as  dangerous  to  our  peace  and  safety."  —  National  Intelli- 
gencer^ Sept.  18,  1858. 

For  eight  years  we  have  diplomatized  with  England  on  the  subject,  and  the 
question  is  now  more  complicated  than  ever.  Perhaps,  after  the  lapse  of  another 
term  of  eight  years,  we  may,  by  some  treaty  with  England,  be  admitted  to  a 
participation  in  the  facilities  for  inter-oceanic  communication  which  the  isthmus 
[of  Panama]  affords.  But  as  to  any  peculiar,  not  to  say  exclusive,  advantages 
in  the  isthmus,  which  we  have  claimed,  they  cannot  be  obtained.  While  other 
nations  were  passive,  it  was  thought  here  that  we  could  secure  the  isthmus  by 
the  insertion  of  a  plank  in  a  party  platform,  or  some  other  legerdemain.  If  we 
now  fall  back  on  the  Monroe  doctrine,  Ave  shall  see  the  difference  between  an 
abstraction  and  its  application  in  practice.  Our  theory  is  yet  to  be  defined  and 
recognized  and  applied. — {Baltimore)  Sun,  Oct.  30,  1858. 

Moute.    (Span.)    A  game  of  chance  played  with  cards,  of  which  the 
Spanish- Americans  are  excessively  fond. 

There  are  other  games  at  cards  practised  among  the  people,  depending  more 
upon  skill ;  but  that  of  el  monte,  being  one  exclusively  of  chance,  possesses  an 
all-absorbing  attraction  difficult  to  be  conceived  of  by  the  uninitiated  spectator. — 
Greg(/,  Com.  of  Prairies,  Vol.  I.  p.  239. 

I  passed  through  an  open  door  leading  into  a  back  room,  wheii2  were  a  small 
party  of  men  and  women  betting  at  ?nonte.  I  lost  a  couple  of  dollars,  "just  to  get 
the  hang  of  the  game,"  as  the  facetious  Sam  Slick  would  say,  and  then  retired  to 
my  lodgings.  —  Kendall,  Santa  Fe  Expedition,  Vol.  I.  p.  46. 

Monumental  City.    Baltimore;  so  called  from  the  several  fine  monu- 
ments it  contains. 

"What,  under  the  circumstances,  would  not  have  been  the  fate  of  the  Monu- 
viental  City,  of  Harrisburg,  of  Philadelphia,  of  Washington,  .  .  .  each  and  everj'- 
one  of  which  would  have  lain  at  the  mercy  of  the  enem}'.  — Edward  Everett. 

Moondown.    The  setting,  or  time  of  setting,  of  the  moon. 

They  landed  at  Santa  Rosa  Island,  at  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour  to  moondown, 
or  11  o'clock  p.  M.  — Florida  Corr.  of  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Moonglade.    A  beautiful  word  for  the  track  of  moonlight  on  the 
water. 


404  MOO 

Moonrise.    Rising,  or  time  of  rising,  of  the  moon.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune, 

Moonshiners.  A  term  applied  in  the  West  to  the  makers  of  illicit 
whiskey,  or  who  evade  the  excise  on  the  article. 

Nelson  County,  Kentuck}',  is  the  home  of  the  Moonshiner;  that  is,  the  manu- 
facturer of  illicit  whiskey.  .  .  .  The  Moonshiner  regards  the  revenue  officer  as  a 
being  to  be  extinguished,  and  favorable  opportunity  is  the  only  thing  he  asks  for 
putting  his  belief  into  practice.  —  Co7'r.  N.  Y.  livening  Post,  June  16,  1877. 

A  Nashville  despatch  says  the  revenue  officers  recently  broke  up  fourteen 
illicit  distilleries,  capturing  twelve  moonshiners.  — N.  Y.  Herald. 

Moonshower.  A  shower  which  descends  from  a  cloud  so  situated  as 
not  to  obscure  the  moon's  rays.    New  England. 

Moose.  (Cervus  alces.)  The  Abenaki  Indian  name  of  an  animal  of 
the  genus  Cervus,  and  the  largest  of  the  deer  kind,  growing  some- 
times to  the  height  of  seventeen  hands,  and  weighing  twelve  hun- 
dred pounds.  This  animal  inhabits  cold  northern  climates,  being 
found  in  the  forests  of  Canada  and  New  England. 

Lechford,  in  his  early  account  of  New  England,  entitled  "  Plains 
Dealing,"  &c.,  printed  in  1642,  says:  — 

There  are  beares,  wolves,  and  foxes,  and  many  other  wild  beasts,  as  the  moose, 
a  kind  of  deare,  as  big  as  some  oxen  and  lyons,  as  I  have  heard. 

In  a  letter  of  the  Rev.  Francis  Higginson,  sent  about  July  24, 
1629,  from  Naumkeag  (Salem),  Mass.,  he  says:  — 

Here  are  several  sorts  of  deere.  Also  ...  a  great  beast  called  a  molke,  as 
bigge  as  an  oxe. — Felfs  Annals  of  Salem,  who  in  a  note  adds,  "It  is  likely 
that  the  molke  is  what  is  commonly  called  a  moose." 

Moose-Bird.  A  name  of  the  Canada  Jay.  (Ganulus  Canadensis.) 
Maine.    Also  called  Whiskey  Jack,  which  see. 

Moose-Fly.  A  stout  brown  fly,  resembling  a  horse-fly,  rusty-colored 
beneath,  with  unspotted  wings.  They  bite  sharply.  Common  in 
Maine.  —  Thoreau,  Maine  Woods,  p.  228.  The  Abenakis  call  them 
Bososquasis. 

Moose- Wood.  A  species  of  maple-tree,  upon  the  leaves  of  which  the 
moose  feeds.    See  Leather-  Wood. 

Some  of  the  deer  were  close  along  shore,  feeding  upon  the  grass  that  grew 
there ;  others  were  nibbling  at  the  leaves  of  the  moose-wood  upon  the  bank.  — 
Hammond,  Wild  Northern  Scenes,  p.  145. 

Moose-Yard.  During  the  winter,  the  moose,  in  families  of  fifteen  or 
twenty,  seek  the  depth  of  the  forest  for  shelter  and  food.  Such  a 
herd  will  range  throughout  an  extent  of  about  five  hundred  acres, 
subsisting  upon  the  mosses  attached  to  the  trees,  or  browsing  the 
tender  branches  of  saplings,  especially  of  the  tree  called  Moose- 


MOP— MOR 


405 


wood.  The  Indians  name  parts  of  the  forest  thus  occupied  moose- 
yards.  —  Godrnan's  American  Nat.  Hist. 

In  the  far-away  northernmost  wilds  of  Maine, 

Where  the  murmuring  pines  all  the  year  complain, 

The  stalwart  wood-cutter  pitches  his  camp ; 

In  his  cabin  of  logs  trims  his  winter  lamp. 

And  oft  when  the  moose-herd  hath  formed  its  yard, 

And  trampled  the  snows  like  a  pavement  hard, 

The  woodman  forsakes  his  sled  and  his  team, 

And  his  harvest  of  logs  by  the  frozen  stream ; 

And,  armed  with  his  axe  and  his  rifle,  he  goes 

To  slaughter  the  moose  blocked  in  b}^  the  snows; 

And  many  a  savory  banquet  doth  cheer 

The  fireside  joys  of  his  wintry  year. 

With  the  haunch  of  the  moose  and  the  dappled  deer. 

N.  Y.  Knickerbocker,  Oct.,  1858. 

Mop-Board.  The  wash-board  which  extends  around  the  floor  at  the 
base  of  the  walls  in  the  interior  of  a  house  is  so  called  in  New 
England. 

More.  The  comparative  endings  -er  and  -est  are  very  commonly 
discarded  both  by  speakers  and  writers,  even  from  monosyllabic 
adjectives,  and  their  places  supplied  by  more  and  most. 

The  first  edition  of  the  work  contained  a  more  full  vocabulary  of  English  words 
than  the  dictionaries  which  at  that  time  were  generally  used  in  schools.  —  Wor- 
cester, Preface  to  Dictionary,  1856. 

The  Mexican  clergy  are  nowhere  famous  for  strictness  of  life  or  purity  of  char- 
acter. They  have  the  reputation  of  being  more  fond  of  cards  than  of  their  brev- 
iaries. —  Harper's  Magazine,  Vol.  XVII.  p.  179. 

Morgan.  The  phrase,  "  He  '.<?  a  good  enough  Morgan,'^  originated  as 
follows:  During  the  "  Anti-Masonic  "  warfare  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  a  great  excitement  was  created  by  the  abduction  of  one  Mor- 
gan, who  was  said  to  have  been  confined  by  the  Free-masons  in 
or  near  Fort  Niagara,  and  afterwards  drowned  in  the  river.  The 
alleged  reason  for  the  reported  crime  was  Morgan's  betrayal  of 
Masonic  secrets.  The  excitement  was  worked  up  to  the  highest 
pitch,  by  the  finding  of  a  dead  body  floating  in  the  river,  which  was 
said  to  be  that  of  Morgan.  Even  his  wife  swore  to  the  identity,  and 
a  lost  tooth  was  fitted  into  the  jaw.  It  was  afterwards,  however, 
ascertained  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  body  was  not  that  of  Morgan, 
whose  fate  still  is  a  mystery. 

It  was  asserted  that  the  whole  aiiair  was  got  up  for  political 
effect.  A  current  story  was,  that  a  celebrated  politician  concerned 
in  the  affair,  upon  being  reminded  that  the  dead  body  found  would 
not  pass  for  Morgan,  said  that  it  was  *'  a  good  enough  Morgan,^'  for 


406 


MOR 


his  purpose.  The  phrase  has  now  passed  into  general  use,  and  is 
applied  to  a  really  or  supposed  bare-faced  imposition,  particularly 
in  politics.  —  G.  C.  Schaeffer. 

Morgan  Horse.  A  type  of  horee  bearing  his  name,  and  coming  from 
Vei  mont,  is  familiar  to  the  sporting  world.  Tliis  breed  of  horses  is 
traced  back  to  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  and  derives  its 
name  from  Justin  Morgan,  of  llandolph,  Vermont,  a  schoolmaster, 
who  owned  the  animal  from  which  all  have  descended. 

Mormon.    1.  The  pretended  author  of  the  "  Book  of  Mormon." 

Beliold  I  were  about  to  write  them  all  which  were  engraven  upon  the  plates  of 
Ncphi,  but  the  Lord  forbid  it,  saying,  I  will  try  the  faith  of  my  people;  there- 
fore I,  Moi'mon,  do  write  the  things  which  have  been  commanded  me  of  the 
Lord.  —  Book  of  Nephi,  chap.  xii. 

2.  One  of  the  Mormonites,  or  Latter-day  Saints,  a  religious  sect 
which  derive  their  name  from  the  "  Book  of  Mormon.^ ^ 

Tlie  Book  of  Mormon,  first  published  in  the  year  1830,  purports 
to  be  the  record  or  history  of  a  certain  people  who  inhabited  Amer- 
ica previous  to  its  discovery  by  Columbus.  This  history,  contain- 
ing prophecies  and  revelations,  was  engraven  (according  to  it),  by 
the  command  of  God,  on  small  brass  plates,  and  deposited  in  the 
hill  Comora,  in  Western  New  York.  These  plates  were  discovered 
(the  Mormons  say)  by  Joseph  Smith,  in  the  year  1825:  they  con- 
tain certain  hieroglyphics,  in  the  Egyptian  character,  which  Smith, 
guided  by  inspiration,  translated.  They  purported  to  give  the  histoiy 
of  America  from  its  first  settlement  by  a  colony  from  the  tower  of 
Babel,  to  the  fifth  century  of  our  era.  It  stated  that  the  Saviour 
made  his  appearance  upon  this  continent  after  his  resurrection; 
that  he  planted  the  gospel  here,  had  his  apostles,  prophets,  teachers, 
&c. ;  that  the  people  were  cut  off  in  consequence  of  their  trans- 
gressions; and  that  the  last  of  their  prophets  wrote  the  Book  of 
Mormon  on  the  brass  plates  above  named,  ' '  which  he  hid  in  the 
earth  until  it  should  come  forth  and  be  united  with  the  Bible,  for 
the  accomplishment  of  the  purposes  of  God  in  the  last  days." 

Smith  readily  found  many  to  believe  his  statements,  and  in  1830 
organized  his  first  church  of  Mormons  in  Manchester,  Ontario 
County,  New  York.  Other  preachers  sprang  up,  who  "  saw  visions 
and  prophesied,  cast  out  devils  and  healed  the  sick  by  the  laying 
on  of  hands,"  and  performed  other  miracles.  New  churches  or 
societies  were  formed  in  other  States,  until  in  a  few^  years  their 
number  amounted  to  many  thousands.  They  removed  in  a  body  to 
Missouri,  where  a  most  cruel  and  relentless  persecution  sprang  up 
against  them,  which  forced  them  to  quit  their  homes  and  the  State. 


MOR— MOS 


407 


They  then  sought  a  refuge  in  Illinois,  where  they  founded  a  city 
called  Nauvoo,  in  which  they  erected  an  immense  edifice  or  temple. 

Persecution  followed  these  people  in  Illinois.  They  were  attacked 
by  armed  bodies  of  men,  by  order  of  the  State  authorities,  driven 
out  by  force,  and  compelled  to  abandon  or  sacrifice  their  property. 
Such  as  survived  the  persecution,  after  traversing  the  boundless 
prairies,  the  deserts  of  the  Far  West,  and  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
finally  found  a  resting-place  near  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  where  some 
forty  thousand  of  them  have  established  themselves,  and  (now  1857) 
chiefly  constitute  the  Territory  of  Utah. 

Mormondom.  The  country  occupied  by  the  Mormons;  the  whole 
body  of  Mormons. 

Mormonism.    The  doctrines  of  the  Mormonites. 
Mormonites.     The  followers  of  the   factitious  prophet  Mormon, 
usually  called  Mormons. 

Morphrodite,  for  Hermaphrodite.  A  common  pronunciation  among 
seamen,  and  in  seaports,  for  a  two-masted  vessel  of  a  particular  rig. 

First  Down-easter.  What  sort  of  the  way  is  that  for  a  colonel  to  rig  himself  ? 
Second  Down-easter.    Morphrodite  rig,  I  guess.  —  Cor.  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Mortal.  Used  in  vulgar  parlance  adverbially  for  mortally.,  i.  e.  ex- 
cessively. 

It  was  a  mortal  hot  day,  and  people  actually  sweated  to  that  degree  it  laid  the 
dust.  — Scm  Slick,  3d  Sen,  p.  102. 

To  mosey.  1 .  To  be  of£ ;  to  leave ;  to  sneak  away.  A  low  expres- 
sion. The  following  is  said  to  be  the  origin  of  the  word:  A  post- 
master in  Ohio  by  the  name  of  Moses  ran  away  with  a  considerable 
sum  of  money  belonging  to  the  government.  To  mosey  off.,  or  to 
run  away,  as  Mr.  Moses  had,  then  became  a  by-word  in  Ohio,  and, 
with  its  meaning  somewhat  extended,  has  spread  over  the  Union. 

After  I  left  you,  or  rather  after  you  left  me,  when  them  fellows  told  you  to 
mosey  off  before  the  boat  went  to  sea.  —  N.  Y.  Family  Comjyanion. 

2.  To  mosey  along.    To  jog  along;  to  manage  to  get  along. 

I  '11  get  a  room  nicely  furnished,  and  my  wife  and  I  will  jes  mosey  alony  till 
the  election  trouble  is  over,  an'  den  dere'll  be  a  powerful  sight  of  whitewashin' 
to  be  done.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Sternberg  gives  malter  and  moulter,  as  provincial  in  Northamp- 
tonshire, with  the  same  meaning  as  to  "  mosey."  The  word  more 
properly  originated  from  the  Spanish  vamose,  very  common  at  the 
South-west  and  in  California,  which  has  the  same  meaning.  See 
Vamose. 


408 


MOS— MOU 


Mosey  Sugar.    The  name  of  a  cake  made  of  sugar  for  children. 

Pennsylvania. 

Moshay.  A  slave  who  came  from  Florida  at  the  beginning  of  the  late 
civil  war  states  that  this  is  the  name  given  there  to  the  keeper  of 
bloodhounds. 

Mosquito  Bar,  Musquito  Net.  A  net  or  curtain  which,  in  the  South- 
ern States  and  in  the  West  Indies,  is  placed  over  the  bed  to  protect 
a  person  from  mosquitoes. 

Mosquito  Hawk.    Dragon-fly.  Louisiana. 

Mossbunker.  (Alosa  inenhaden.)  A  fish  of  the  herring  kind.  See 
Menhaden  and  Bunker. 

This  bay  [New  York]  swarms  with  fish,  both  large  and  small,  whales,  tunnies, 
and  porpoises,  whole  schools  of  innumerable  other  fish,  and  a  sort  of  herring  called 
the  marsbanckers,Ar\A  other  kinds.  —  Danktrs  and  Sluyter,  Voynye  to  New  York, 
1679,  in  Coll.  L.  I.  Hist.  Sac,  Vol.  I.  p.  100. 

Under  the  surfaces,  and  inside  the  exterior  of  all  these  [smooth  characters], 
there  may  be  found  as  many  asperities  as  there  are  bones  in  a  mossbunker.  — 
Dow's  Sermons,  Vol.  I. 

Most.    A  common  error  in  speaking  and  writing  for  almost. 

Most  of  us  Americans  have  been  to  see  the  "  monster  nugget."  It  was  found 
about  three  months  ago  at  Kingower,  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles  from  Mel- 
bourne, by  four  old  California  miners.  They  have  been  four  j'ears  in  the  diggings, 
and  had  most  a  pile  before  striking  the  last  prize. — Letter  of  J.  F.  Thornton, 
Dec.  24,  1857,  in  San  Francisco  Bulletin. 

Moth-Miller.  (Genus  Tinea.)  A  small  moth  very  destructive  of 
woollen  fabrics,  furs,  &c.,  the  detestation  of  housekeepers. 

Motte  or  Mot.  (French.)  A  clump  of  trees  in  a  prairie;  also 
called  "  an  island  of  timber."  Texas. 

It  is  not  necessary  that  prairies  should  be  entirely  destitute  of  trees;  for  there 
are  timber  prairies,  where  trees  grow  in  mottes  or  groves,  sometimes  termed 
islands,  from  their  resemblance  to  wooded  islands  in  the  sea.  —  Mayne  Reid, 
The  Boy  Hunters. 

Before  us  lay  beautiful  prairies,  with  the  smooth-grassed  surface,  varied  here 
and  there  by  herds  of  cattle  and  little  belts,  mottes,  and  groups  of  live  oak. — 
Olmsted's  Texas,  p.  137. 

All  that  was  necessary  was  to  keep  a  bright  look-out,  and  not  fall  into  an  am- 
buscade while  passing  the  different  mots  and  ravines  scattered  along  our  trail.  — 
Kendall,  s  Santa  Fe  Exped.,  Vol.  I. 

Mought.    This  obsolete  preterite  of  mai/  is  still  heard  among  old 
people  in  the  interior  parts  of  New  England. 
"  What  mought  your  name  be  ?  "  said  Potter. 

"Well,"  said  I,  "it  mouyht  be  Mr.  Samuel.  I  thought  I'd  keep  back  Slick, 
for  I  knew  he  wouldn't  talk  if  he  knew  who  I  was.  —  Sam  Slick,  Wise  Saws, 
p.  131. 


MOU— MOV  409 

Mounds.  An  artificial  elevation  made  of  earth  of  various  forms  for 
sepulchral  and  other  purposes,  of  which  large  numbers  are  found, 
chiefly  in  the  wider  bottom  lands,  and  at  the  junction  of  the  tribu- 
taries of  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  Rivers.  In  the  most  fertile  val- 
leys, and  those  most  easy  of  cultivation,  these  mounds  are  found 
in  the  greatest  numbers.  In  England,  they  would  be  termed  tumuli 
or  barrows. 

Mound-Builders.  The  aboriginal  race  which  erected  the  ancient 
mounds  and  other  earthworks  found  in  the  valleys  of  the  Mississippi 
and  Ohio  Rivers  and  their  tributaries. 

If  we  admit  the  correctness  of  Mr.  Gallatin's  views  [that  the  ancient  agricul- 
ture of  North  America  originated  between  the  tropics],  we  must  derive  the  agri- 
culture of  the  mound-builders  from  the  South,  and  assign  that  race  chronologically 
a  comparatively  low  date.  This  we  are  not  prepared  to  do ;  on  the  contrary,  there 
are  many  facts  going  to  establish  for  the  mound-builders  a  very  high  antiquity, 
&c.  —  Squier,  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley. 

We  need  not  look  to  Mexico  or  any  other  country  for  the  descendants  of  the 
mound-builders.  We  probably  see  them  in  the  present  red  race  of  the  same  or 
adjacent  regions.  — Lapham's  Antiq.  of  Wisconsin. 

The  red  man  came,  .  .  . 
The  roaming  hunter  tribes,  warlike  and  fierce; 
And  the  mound-builders  vanished  from  the  earth. 
The  solitude  of  centuries  untold 

Has  settled  where  they  dwell.  — Bryant,  The  Prairies. 

Mound-City.  The  city  of  St.  Louis,  so  called  from  the  number  of 
artificial  mounds  that  occupied  the  site  on  which  the  city  is  built. 

Mourners.  Persons  on  the  "  anxious  seat"  in  Methodist  churches, 
and  at  "revival"  meetings,  are  technically  termed  "mowrners;" 
that  is,  persons  mourning  for  their  sins. 

"  Crowding  the  mourners,"  in  political  slang,  mea.  ■  adding  some 
further  embarrassment  to  politicians  laboring  under  difficulties. 

Moutn't  for  mic/JiMt  has  given  rise  to  maytn't  for  maijnU.  In  a 
countiy  school,  a  great  overgrown  boy  will  rise  on  the  back  seat, 
and  say  very  sheepishly  to  the  schoolma'am,  "  Please,  marm, 
maytnH  I  gweout  ?  " 

To  move.  1.  For  to  remove.  To  change  one's  residence.  In  the 
city  of  New  York,  it  is  the  custom  to  hire  houses  by  the  year  from 
the  first  day  of  May;  and  as  many,  especially  of  the  poorer  class, 
remove  every  year  or  two,  an  immense  deal  of  puss-in-the-corner 
playing  takes  place  on  that  day,  producing  many  curious  scenes  to 
astonish  the  stranger.  The  custom  is  being  gradually  "  honored  in 
the  breach  "of  it;  but  had  Hogarth  been  a  New  Yorker,  and  lived 


410 


MUC— MUD 


twenty  or  thirty  years  ago,  May-day  would  certainly  have  found  a 
place  in  his  delineations  of  human  eccentricities. 

These  are  great  movinf/  times.  The  sovereigns  of  Europe  are  being  moved, 
much  against  their  will;  and  the  sovereign  people  of  New  York  are  on  the  eve 
of  movmy,  according  to  custom,  which  has  made  the  May-day  sports  of  this 
city  a  very  peculiar  feature.  Could  the  sovereigns  of  Europe  only  move,  as  easily 
as  the  sovereigns  of  New  York  do,  from  house  to  house,  palace  to  palace,  &c., 
they  would  be  well  content,  and  not  complain,  as  many  movers  to-morrow  will. 
N.  Y.  Sunday  Atlas,  April  30,  1848. 

Mr.  Irving  gives  the  following  humorous  account  of  the  origin  of 
this  custom  of  moving  on  the  first  of  May:  — 

The  memorable  emigration  [of  the  people  of  Communipaw  to  New  Amsterdam] 
took  place  on  the  first  of  May,  and  was  long  cited  in  tradition  as  the  (jvand  mov- 
ing. The  anniversary  of  it  was  piously  observed  among  their  sons,  by  turning 
their  houses  topsy-turvy,  and  carrying  all  their  furniture  into  the  streets,  &c. 
And  this  is  the  real  origin  of  the  universal  agitation  and  movinfj  hy  which  this 
most  restless  of  cities  is  literally  turned  out-of-doors  on  every  May-day.  — 
Kmckerbocke?',  N.  Y. 

2.  To  go,  depart.  Much  used  in  familiar  language,  particularly 
in  the  phrase  to  be  moving.  Some  of  our  novelists  are  borrowing 
from  English  novelists  the  absurd  pseudo-poetical  fiitting,  only  pro- 
vincial in  England. 

As  soon  as  the  ceremony  was  over,  "  Now,"  says  I,  "  we  must  be  a  inovinf/.''^ 
Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature,  p.  166. 

Much.  In  New  England,  "  He  is  very  much  of  a  man,"  means,  he 
is  a  man  of  very  good  qualities ;  and,  when  a  discarded  suitor  says 
of  his  former  mistress,  "  She  is  not  much  of  a  girl  after  all,"  he 
means  to  imply  that  she  is  "no  great  shakes." 

Mud-Cracker.  A  name  given  by  boys  to  a  fire-cracker  which  ex- 
plodes with  a  dull  report. 

Mud-Dabbler.  A  species  of  small  fresh-water  fish,  of  the  same  ap- 
pearance as  the  sucker,  although  much  smaller. 

Mud-Devil.    See  Water-Dog  and  Salamander. 

Muddle.    A  confusion,  as  of  those  who  muddle. 

A  respectable  wing  of  slaveholders  will  be  attached  [to  a  proposed  political 
party] ;  and  we  shall  all  go  along  beautifully  in  a  mild  muddle  of  pro-slavery 
Compromises.  — iV.  Y.  Tribune,  May  19,  1862. 

Mud-Fish.    (Melanura  pygmcea.)    A  small  fish  on  the  Atlantic  coast, 

which  burrows  in  the  mud. 
Mud-Head-    A  nickname  applied  to  the  natives  of  Tennessee. 
Mud-Hen.    1.  The  euphonious  and  rather  peculiar  epithet  applied  by 

the  brokers'  clerks  to  that  class  of  women  that  engage  in  the  fasci- 


MUD 


411 


nating  but  uncertain  game  of  stock  speculations.  The  average 
"mud-hen"  is  middle-aged,  rather  stout  in  person,  as  voluble  in 
conversation  as  a  stump-speaker,  and  possessed  of  an  inordinate 
desire  to  become  a  "stock-sharp."  She  has  a  wonderful  amount 
of  gossip  and  "dead-sure  points"  to  communicate,  and  is  by  no 
means  unwilling  to  reveal  all  she  knows  to  any  one  who  is  supposed 
to  have  information  relative  to  any  stock,  and  in  return  can  give 
her  a  point.  —  San  Francisco  Post^  Nov.,  1876. 

2.  (Rallus  Vird'uiianm.)    The  common  name  of  the  Virginia 
Rail  of  ornithologists.    It  inhabits  small  streams  and  marshes. 
Mud-Hook.    An  anchor. 

We  soon  let  down  our  mud-hook.  ...  In  the  morning,  the  sea  had  gone  down. 
Vivijinia  Cor.  N.  Y.  Tiibune. 

Mud-Poke.    {Grus  cinerea.)    A  wading  bird;  a  crane. 

Squatting  himself  down  on  the  edge  of  a  pond,  catching  fish  for  hours  together, 
and  bearing  no  little  resemblance  to  the  notable  bird  of  the  crane  family,  ycleped 
Mud-Poke.  —  Irving^  Knickei'hocker,  p.  317. 

Mud-Pout.    See  Cat-Fish  and  Poul. 

Mud-Scoop.  A  dredge;  a  dredging  machine  or  boat  used  in  taking 
mud  from  the  bottom  of  rivers. 

Mud-Sill.  The  longitudinal  timber  laid  upon  the  ground  to  form  the 
foundation  for  a  railway.  Hence  figuratively  applied  to  the  labor- 
ing classes,  as  the  substratum  of  society,  in  the  following  passage 
of  a  speech  of  Senator  Hammond  of  South  Carolina,  which  has 
occasioned  much  remark:  — 

In  all  social  systems,  there  must  be  a  class  to  perfoi-m  the  drudgery  of  life ; 
that  is,  a  class  requiring  but  a  low  order  of  intellect  and  but  little  skill.  Such 
a  class  you  must  have,  or  you  would  not  have  that  other  class  which  leads  pro- 
gress, civilization,  and  refinement.  It  constitutes  the  very  mudsill  of  society  and 
of  political  government;  and  you  might  as  well  attempt  to  build  a  house  in  the 
air  as  to  build  either  the  one  or  the  other  except  on  this  mud-sill.  — Speech  of 
Senator  Hammond,  March  4,  1858. 

It  is  time  that  Virginia  was  turning  her  attention  to  manufactures,  mechanics, 
mining,  and  foreign  commerce.  No  country,  no  State,  can  live  upon  one  only  of 
the  five  cardinal  powers  of  production.  She  must  resort  to  all  the  five  combined, 
and  she  is  doing  it.  I  say  that  labor  is  not  the  ^^miid-sill'"  of  society;  and  I 
thank  God  that  the  old  colonial  aristocracy  of  Virginia,  which  despised  mechan- 
ical and  manual  labor,  is  nearly  run  out.  —  Speech  of  Governor  Wise  of  Vir- 
ginia, 1858. 

Yet  the  haughty  Creole  lady's  sorest  sorrow  lies  not  there  ; 
'Tis  not  that  the  Yankee  mud-sills  will  pollute  her  sacred  air. 

Ballad  of  the  Crescent  City. 

Mud-Sill  Clubs.    The  miners  and  working-men  of  California  who 
support  Broderick  in  his  opposition  to  the  administration  are  pre- 


412 


MUD— MUL 


paring  for  a  vigorous  campaign,  and  are  already  organizing  them- 
selves into  associations  which  they  style  "  Mud-sill  Clubs.  — New 
York  Evening  Post,  1858. 
Mud-Turtle.  (Sternothoerus  odorata.)  The  popular  name  of  a  reptile 
common  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States.  Marsh  Tortoise  and 
Mud  Terrapin  are  other  names  for  the  same. 

Love  tunes  the  shepherd's  pipe,  and  makes  him  blow  it  out  with  a  warmth 
and  energy  sufficient  to  move  a  mud-turtle.  —  Daw's  Sermons,  Vol.  I.  p.  26. 

Mulada.    (Span.)    A  drove  of  mules. 

We  recognized  the  horsemen  as  a  band  of  robbers,  and  their  object  was  plain  ; 
collected  our  mulada  into  a  compact  body,  with  our  pieces  cocked,  ready  for  ser- 
vice. —  Ruxton's  Adventures,  p.  65. 

The  Indians  frightened  the  mules,  which,  turning  round,  broke  the  pole  of  the 
wagon.  As  this  accident  prevented  us  keeping  up  with  the  mulada  ahead,  the 
conductor  went  to  the  assistance  of  the  men  driving  the  herd.  —  Wood's  Report 
on  the  Pacific  Wagon-Road,  p.  7. 

Mulatto.  (Span,  mulato,  mulo,  mule.)  A  mulatto  is  the  offspring  of 
a  white  and  a  negro;  a  quadroon,  of  a  white  and  a  mulatto,  being 
one  quarter  black;  a  mmtee,  of  a  white  and  a  quadroon,  or  one 
eighth  black;  and  a  mustajina,  of  a  white  and  a  mustee,  being  one 
sixteenth  black.  Terms  implying  a  much  less  admixture  of  blood 
are  prevalent  in  Cuba. — Bait.  Sun,  Sept.  3,  1858.  See  Negro; 
also  Sambo. 

Mule  Deer.  (Cervus  macrotis.)  The  largest  of  the  true  deer  found 
in  North  America.  It  derives  its  scientific  name,  macrotis,  from  the 
great  length  of  its  ears,  resembling  those  of  the  mule,  whence  it  is 
sometimes  called  the  Alule  Deer.  Its  more  common  appellation, 
Black-tail  Deer,  is  owing  to  the  black  tip  to  its  tail.  —  S.  F.  Baird. 

Mule  Rabbit.    See  Jackass  Rabbit. 

Muley  or  Mooley  Cow.  A  name  quite  common  in  New  England, 
and,  we  believe,  elsewhere.  Muley,  a  cow,  is  equally  common.  In 
Connecticut,  it  is  distinctly  a  hornless  cow.  Provincial  in  England. 
Halliwell. 

Mooly  cow,  mooly  cow,  home  from  the  wood, 
They  sent  me  to  fetch  you  as  fast  as  I  could. 
The  sun  has  gone  dovvn :  it  is  time  to  go  home: 
Mooly  cow,  mooly  cow,  why  don't  you  come  ? 

Mrs.  Anna  M.  Wells. 

Muley  Saw.  (Germ.  MilMsdge,  mill-saw.)  That  variety  of  mill-saw 
which  is  not  hung  in  the  gate.  It  is  also  spelled  mulay,  moiley,  muhley^ 
the  last  indicating  its  origin. 

To  mull.  To  soften  and  dispirit, — Johnson.  The  only  authority 
cited  by  Johnson  is  from  Shakspeare :  — 


MUM— MUS 


413 


Peace  is  a  very  apoplexy,  lethargy, 

MulVdj  deaf,  sleepy,  insensible.  —  Coriolanus. 

Used  in  New  England:  1.  In  the  sense  of  stirring,  bustling  in 
an  underhand  way,  and  is  a  metaphor  derived  from  mulling  wine. 

There  has  been  a  pretty  considerable  mulUn'  going  on  among  the  doctors,  ever 
sen  the  quack  medicine  came  out.  —  Margaret^  p.  170. 

2.  To  think ;  to  meditate. 

At  the  annual  dinner  of  the  New  England  Society,  in  New  York, 
Mr.  Clemens  (Mark  Twain),  in  speaking  of  "Old  Probabilities," 
and  the  frequent  changes  of  weather,  said :  — 

He  doesn't  know  what  the  weather  is  going  to  be  in  New  England.  .  .  .  Well, 
he  mulls  over  it,  and  by  and  by  he  gets  out  something  about  like  this,  &c. 

Mumble  the  Peg.  A  boy's  game.  It  consists  in  endeavoring  to  draw 
out  with  the  teeth  a  peg  driven  almost  wholly  into  the  ground.  The 
successful  one  of  course  wins. 

Mummachog.  (Genus  Fundulus.)  The  popular  name  of  the  Barred 
Killifish  of  naturalists.  It  is  a  small  fish  from  two  to  four  inches 
in  length,  and  frequents  the  salt-water  creeks  and  the  vicinity  of 
the  wharves.  This  Indian  name  is  retained  on  both  sides  of  Long 
Island  Sound. 

In  Virginia,  there  must  be  a  larger  variety  of  this  fish,  as  Miss 
Ramsay,  speaking  of  the  fishes  sold  at  Norfolk,  says:  — 

Fine  mummy chog  are  to  be  had, 

With  tailors,  alewives,  drum,  and  shad. 

Picture  of  America,  p.  155. 

To  mummock.    To  handle.    See  Mommock. 

Mung  News.  False,  fictitious.  I  do  not  know  the  origin  of  the 
phrase. 

As  many  of  our  citizens  who  intend  to  go  to  California  ma}'  base  their  arrange- 
ments upon  the  mung  news  of  some  of  the  papers,  we  conceive  it  to  be  our  duty 
to  state  that  most  of  these  letters  are  fictions.  — N.  Y.  Express,  Feb.  17,  1849. 

Murphy.    A  potato.    New  England,  New  York,  and  Canada. 

Murth.    Plenty,  abundance.    A  north  of  England  word. 

I  think  we  should  have  had  a  murth  of  it  this  year,  but  the  summer  has  been  a 
little  too  cold,  and  Indian  corn  must  have  a  hot  sun.  —  Brockets  East/ord,  p.  76. 

Mush.  Indian  meal  boiled  with  water,  and  eaten  with  milk  or 
molasses.  It  is  often  called  hasty-pudding,  and  is  a  favorite  dish 
throughout  the  United  States.  In  Hallamshire,  England,  to  mush 
means  to  crush  or  pound  very  small.  From  this  our  word  may  have 
originated. 


414 


MUS 


The  earliest  use  of  the  term  we  have  met  with  is  in  Hardie's 
"Description  of  the  Last  Voyage  to  Bermudas  in  the  Ship  Mary- 
gold,"  London,  1G71,  where,  in  speaking  of  Indian  corn,  he  says:  — 

In  thickness  like  a  Cane,  it  Nature  roul'd 

Close  up  in  Leaves,  to  keep  it  from  the  cold ; 

Which  being  groun'd  and  bo^'l'd,  Mush  they  make 

Their  hungry  Servants  Hunger  for  to  slake.  — p.  11. 
E'en  in  thv  native  regions,  how  I  blush 
To  hear  the  PennsA-lvanians  call  thee  mush  ! 
On  Hudson'^?  banks,  while  men  of  Belgic  spawn 

Insult  and  eat  thee  by  the  name  suppawn.  —  Barlow,  Hasty  Pudding. 
Our  hasty  pudding  we  can  eat 

Without  the  Southern  sweetness, 
Though  true  it  is  that  mush  without 
Molasses  wants  completeness.  —  Anonymous. 

Music.    Amusement,  fun.    "  Jim  is  a  right  clever  fellow;  there  is  a 

great  deal  of  music  in  him." 
Musical.    Amusing.    New  England. 

Musicianer.  A  musician.  Vulgar.  Used  in  Norfolk  and  London, 
England. 

The  musicinners  sot  down  right  in  front  of  the  stage,  and  they  was  led  by  a 
handsome  young  man.  whose  head  went  from  one  side  to  the  other  like  happy 
people  at  a  camp  meetin'.  — N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

Muskeet.    See  Mesqidt  and  Musketo  Grass. 

Muskelunge.    See  Maskinonge. 

Musketo  Grass.  A  rich  native  grass  of  Western  Texas.  See 
Mei^quit. 

Twenty  acres  in  potatoes,  and  half  an  acre  in  the  Texas  Mosquit  or  Musketo 
Grass.  —  Macon  Teleijraph. 

Musk-Ox.  (Oaihos  moschatus.)  This  animal  inhabits  the  hilly,  barren 
grounds  between  the  Welcome  and  Copper  Mountains,  from  the 
63d  or  64th  parallel  to  the  Arctic  Sea.  Li  size,  it  is  nearly  equal 
to  the  smallest  Highland  cattle;  but  it  is  more  compactly  made, 
and  the  shaggy  hair  of  its  flanks  almost  touches  the  ground.  Its 
flesh  is  tainted  with  a  strong  flavor  of  musk,  which  is  more  particu- 
larly the  case  with  the  bull.  —  S.  F.  Daird. 

Musk-Rat.  {Fiber  zihethicus.)  An  animal  closely  allied  in  form  and 
habits  to  the  beaver,  inhabiting  the  banks  of  streams  and  ponds. 
It  has  a  powerful  musky  odor  in  summer,  which  it  loses  in  winter. 

The  beasts  of  the  Countrey  [Virginia]  are  for  the  most  part  wilde,  ...  as 
Rakowns,  Possowns,  .  .  .  and  Muske-Rats -which,  yield  ^luske  as  the  Muske- 
Cats  doe.  —  Whitaker,  Good  NewesJ'rom  Virginia  (1613),  p.  41. 


MUS 


415 


Over  in  the  meadow,  in  the  reeds  on  the  shore, 
Lived  a  mother  music-rat  and  her  little  rattles  four. 

"Dive!  "  said  the  mother.    "  We  dive,"  said  the  four: 
So  they  dived  and  they  burrowed,  in  the  reeds  on  the  shore. 

Olice  A.  Wadswortli. 

Musquash.  (Abenaki  Ind.,  miiskivessv,  red  animal.)  The  musk-rat 
among  the  traders  in  the  Northern  States  is  often  called  by  this 
aboriginal  name. 

A  muscascus  is  a  beaste  of  the  forme  and  nature  of  our  water-rats,  but  many  of 
them  smell  exceedingly  strongly  of  muske.  —  Smith,  Hist,  of  Virginia,  1632, 
Booke  II.  p.  27. 

If  China  suppose  a  merit  of  precedency  in  Muske,  Virginia  may  justly  oppose 
them  with  her  Musk-Rat,  or  Muscassus,  which  in  all  probability  cannot  but  be  the 
same. — Hakluyt,  Virginia  Richly  Valued  {IQO^d). 

Musquash  Root.  (Cicuta  maculata.)  An  umbelliferous  plant  and 
deadly  poison. 

Muss.  A  coiTuption  of  mess^  a  state  of  confusion;  a  squabble;  a  row. 
This  vulgarism  is  very  common  in  New  York. 

"My  head  aches,"  said  he  :  "they  have  put  my  mind  and  body  both  into  a 
confounded  mMSS."  — Mrs.  Child,  Letters  from  New  York,  p.  129. 

I  saw  the  British  flag  a  flyin'  ft-om  the  top  of  the  mast,  and  my  first  notion  was 
to  haul  it  down,  and  up  with  the  stars  and  stripes ;  but  I  concluded  I  hadn't  1  et- 
ter  say  nothin'  about  it,  for  it  might  get  the  two  nations  into  a  muss,  and  then 
there  would  have  to  be  a  war.  —  Hiram.  Biyelom's  Letter  in  Fam.  Companion. 

Mr.  Soul^  is  trying  to  get  up  a  mwss  with  Spain,  or  with  Louis  Napoleon. — 
Major  Doiuniny  in  National  Intelligencer. 

Mose.  Satisfaction,  eh!  Well,  if  he  wants  to  make  a  muss,  I 'm  on  hand.  — 
Play,  A  Glance  at  New  York. 

I  got  into  a  muss  down  at  the  store  last  night,  and  was  whipped,  and  deserved 
it  too.  —  Borth  wick^s  California,  p.  153. 

When  near  their  place  of  debarkation,  they  came  across  a  gang  of  b'hoys,  with 
whom  they  came  in  collision;  and,  as  that  class  of  individuals  are  always  inclined 
to  have  a  bit  of  a  "  tomss,"  that  result  was  very  soon  accomplished.  —  N.  Y.  Spirit 
of  the  Times. 

There  is,  also,  an  old  English  word  muss,  meaning  a  scramble; 
but  it  has  apparently  no  connection  with  the  above. 

Ant.    "  When  I  cry'd.  Ho ! 

Like  boys  into  a  muss,  kings  would  start  forth, 

And  cry.  Your  will  V  "  —  Ant.  and  Cleopatra,  Act  iii.  Sc.  11. 

To  muss.  1.  A  corruption  of  to  mess.  To  disarrange,  disorder;  to 
tumble,  rumple.  Ex.:  "  I  hate  to  ride  in  an  omnibus,  because  it 
musses  my  clothes;"  "I'm  all  mussed  up."  The  word  is  much 
used  in  New  York. 

See  that  beautiful  girl  [the  morning  after  a  ball]  ;  her  hair  mussed  and  mossy, 
except  what  lies  in  the  bureau;  and  her  whole  contour  wearing  the  appearance 


416 


MUS 


of  an  angel  rammed  through  a  bush  fence  into  a  world  of  wretchedness  and  woe. 
Dow's  Sermons^  Vol.  I.  p.  151. 

2.  (Dutch,  moreen.)  To  soil,  besmear,  befoul;  as,  "That  child 
has  mussed  himself  all  over  with  molasses  candy." 
Mussulmen.  There  are  American  as  well  as  English  writers  who 
thus  form  the  plural  of  the  Arabic  Mussulman^  erroneously  imagining 
the  last  syllable  to  be  the  English  word  man.  The  correct  plural 
is  Moslems  or  Moslemin. 

A  correspondent  of  the  "  N.  Y.  Daily  Times"  (Nov.  6,  1851) 
has  carried  out  the  absurdity  by  coining  the  term  Mussulhoy !  He 
says :  — 

The  Turkish  sultan  has  just  sent  me  one  of  his  sons.  Master  Abdel  Hamid,  a 
little  Mussulboy  of  nine  years,  to  be  educated  in  Paris. 

Mussy.    1.  Disarranged,  disordered,  tumbled;  as,  "Although  your 

cap  has  just  been  ironed,  it  looks  quite  tnussij.'^ 

2.  (Dutch,  jnorsig.)  Smeary,  dirty,  nasty;  as,  "  These  plates 

have  not  been  wiped  clean:  they  look  mussy. 
Mustafina.    See  Mulatto. 

Mustang.  (S^a^n.  mesteno.)  The  wild  horse  of  the  prairies,  descended 
from  the  stock  introduced  into  America  by  the  first  Spanish  colo- 
nists. He  is  of  various  colors,  a  cream  color  and  piebald  being 
quite  common.  Mustangs  are  found  in  the  greatest  numbers  on 
the  rich  prairies  of  South-western  Texas,  where  I  encountered 
numerous  herds,  and  experienced  the  not  unusual  excitement  of  hav- 
ing a  stampede  caused  by  them.  They  are  generally  of  bad  dispo- 
sition, and  hard  to  subdue.  Few  are  seen  west  of  the  Rio  Grande. 
Young  or  untrained  mustangs  are  called  cow-ponies,  which  see. 
See  also  illustration  to  Buck. 

The  wild  horse  of  the  prairies,  and  the  invariable  companion  of  their  inhabi- 
tants. Sparing  in  diet,  a  stranger  to  grain,  easily  satisfied  whether  on  growing 
or  dead  grass,  inured  to  all  weathers,  capable  of  great  labor,  the  mustang  pony 
seems  as  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  prairies  as  the  camel  is  to  the  desert.  — 
Thorpe's  Backwoods^  p.  12. 

Mustangers.  Men  who  employ  themselves  in  catching  mustangs  for 
market. 

The  business  of  entrapping  mustangs  has  given  rise  to  a  class  of  men  called 
mustangers,  composed  of  runaway  vagabonds  and  outlaws  of  all  nations,  the 
legitimate  border-rufKans  of  Texas.  —  Olmsted's  Texas,  p.  443. 

Mustang  Grape.  Indigenous  to  Texas,  probably  a  variety  of  the  Vitis 
rotund iflora  of  Michaux.  The  bunches  are  small,  each  grape  being 
the  size  of  an  ounce  lead  ball.  A  wine  is  made  from  it  similar  to 
Port,  or,  according  to  some,  Burgundy. 


MUS— NAN 


417 


Mustee.  (Fr.  Metis,  Span.  Mestizo.)  See  Mestee  and  Negro. 

To  muster  out.  To  muster  troops  out  of  service  is  to  enter  them  on 
a  muster-roll  previous  to  their  discharge.  The  expression  attracted 
the  attention  of  Dr.  W.  H.  Russell,  the  correspondent  of  the  "  London 
Times,"  who,  in  speaking  of  the  Union  troops,  said:  — 

The}-- will  nearly  all  go  home  to  be  "mustei-ed  out  of  the  service,"  as  it  is 
called. 

Webster,  in  noticing  the  expression,  refers  to  HazUtt. 

Muttonhead.  A  stupid  fellow;  chowderhead;  puddinghead;  dunder- 
head.   See  Chowderhead. 

Columbus  taught  a  parcel  of  mutton-heads  that  an  egg  might  be  poised  on  its 
smaller  end ;  and  they  thanked  him,  with  a  very  mutton-headed  sneer,  that  the 
thing  was  easy  enough  to  do  after  they  knew  how  to  do  it. — Boston  Courier, 
Notice  of  Hiawatha. 

To  mux  is  much  used  in  New  England  for  muss  ;  as,  "  Don't  mux  my 
crinoline." 

"  Stop  muxin'  that  bread !  one  would  think  you  were  a  drove  of  young  hogs 
to  see  you  at  the  table.  You 've  eaten  enough  for  twenty  people.  I  shan't  have 
you  muxing  and  yauming  up  the  victuals."  —  M.  Bailey  {The  Danbury 
News  Man),  They  All  Do  It,  p.  22. 

N. 

Nabber.    In  the  city  of  New  York,  a  thief. 
To  nail.    To  arrest. 

Naked  Possessor.  The  occupant  of  land  for  a  long  period  without 
a  title,  being  the  manifest,  evident,  and  undisguised  possessor,  is 
called  in  Texas  the  naked  possessor. 

Ten  years  of  peaceable  possession  and  cultivation,  use,  or  enjoyment  thereof, 
without  any  evidence  of  title,  shall  give  to  such  naked  possessor'  full  property,  pre- 
cursive  of  all  other  claims,  in  and  to  six  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  land,  includ- 
ing his  improvement.  —  Laws  of  Texas. 

Namaycush.  (Salmo  namaycush,  Penn.)  The  great  trout  of  the  Lakes. 
Richardson. 

Nankeen.  (Chinese.)  A  species  of  light  yellow  or  fawn-colored  cloth, 
made  from  cotton  of  the  same  color  (Gossijpium  religiosum) ,  which 
color  is  permanent.  This  article  was  formerly  imported  in  large 
quantities  from  China;  but  since  the  cultivation  of  the  raw  material 
in  the  United  States,  introduced  by  Mr.  John  Forsyth,  formerly 
Secretary  of  State,  Nankeens  have  been  manufactured  here,  in 
every  respect  equal  to  and  cheaper  than  the  Chinese  article. 

27 


418 


NAR 


Narragansett  Pacer.  A  breed  of  Rhode  Island  horses  once  very 
famous;  but,  although  we  often  hear  of  Narragansett  pacers^  there 
is  now  no  particular  breed  so  called.  In  a  pamphlet  entitled 
*'  America  Dissected,"  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Mac  Sparran,  published  in 
Dublin  in  1753,  the  writer,  in  speaking  of  Rhode  Island,  says: 
The  produce  of  this  colony  is  fat  cattle,  wool,  and  fine  horses, 
which  are  exported  to  all  parts  of  English  America.  They  are  re- 
markable for  their  fleetness  and  swift  pacing,  and  I  have  seen  some 
of  them  pace  a  mile  in  little  more  than  two  minutes,  a  good  deal 
less  than  three."  According  to  that  veritable  historian,  Diedrich 
Knickerbocker,  Narragansett  pacers  were  well  known  in  the  early 
days  of  New  Amsterdam. 

In  olden  time,  the  horses  most  vahied  were  pacers.  To  this  end  the  breed  Avas 
propagated  with  care.  The  Narragansett  pacers  were  in  such  repute  that  they 
were  sent  for,  at  much  trouble  and  expense.  —  Watson,  Historical  Tales  of  Olden 
Times. 

Not  so  easih^  did  he  [Peter  Stuyvesant]  escape  from  the  crafty  liands  of  a 
crafty  man  of  P^'quag;  who,  with  undaunted  perseverance  and  repeated  onsets, 
finally  bargained  him  out  of  his  goodly  switch-tailed  charger,  leaving  in  place 
thereof  a  villanous,  foundered  Narragansett  pacer.  — Knickerbocker'' s  N.  Y. 

I  had  an  everlastin'  fast  Narragansett  pacer.  I  was  considerable  proud  of  him, 
I  assure  you;  for  he  took  the  rag  off  the  bush  in  great  style.  —  Sam  Slick, 
Human  Nature,  p.  218. 

Nary.    A  common  corruption  of  "  ne'er  a."    So  nary  one,  for  "  ne'er 
a  one."    See  Ne^er  a. 

It 's  no  use  argufyin'  the  matter,  — I 'm  the  ugliest  man  now  on  top  of  dirt. 
Thar's  nary  nuther  like  me. —  Widoio  Bagly's  Husband. 

"  Arter  I  got  into  Mobile,  I  was  bothered  and  pestered  by  the  people  stoppin' 
in  the  street  to  look  at  me,  all  dirty  and  lightwood  smoked  as  I  was,  from  behig 
on  the  boat." 

"I  think  I'd  a  cleaned  up  a  little,"  interposed  tidy  Lucy. 

"  Old  'oman,  ain't  \o\x  got  nary  cold  tater  to  choke  that  gai  with?  "  —  Ibid. 

Among  the  many  "  highfaluten  "  toasts,  sentiments,  and  mottoes 
produced  on  the  occasion  of  the  successful  laying  of  the  Atlantic 
telegraph  cable  was  the  following  at  North  Conway:  — 

The  Atlantic  Cable  and  the  White  Mountains,  —  both  monuments  of  God's 
power,  but  nary  one  alike.  — N.  Y.  Evening  Post,  Sept.  1,  1858. 

Nary  Red.    A  contraction  for  "  ne'er  a  red  (cent),"  alluding  to  the 
color  of  the  copper  cent.  —  See  Red  Cent. 

In  the  course  of  a  few  weeks,  the  new  coin  [the  nickel  cent]  will  be  plentiful 
enough  at  par;  the  Spanish  coins  will  go  out  of  the  hands  of  the  brokers,  just  as 
they  already  have  disappeared  from  ordinary  circulation ;  and,  as  regards  the 
old  cents,  there  will  be  nary  red to  be  seen,  except  such  as  will  be  found 
in  the  cabinets  of  coin  collectors.  —  Philad.  Bulletin,  May,  1857. 


NAS— NAT 


419 


Our  citizens  last  week  adopted  a  new  plan  for  protecting  their  banks  from  being 
run  by  the  brokers.    Learning  that  a  broker  had  reached  town  from  a  neighbor- 
ing city  to  run  the  bank  for  coin,  they  prompth'  placed  on  one  side  of  the  bank- 
entrance  a  bucket  of  tar  and  a  brush,  and  upon  the  opposite  a  long,  rough-looking 
fence-rail,  bearing  this  inscription,  "  Nanj  red  to  nary  broker."    As  the  broker 
approached  the  bank,  he  read  the  inscription,  glanced  at  the  tar-bucket,  and 
retreated.    The  bank  went  on  as  usual.  —  Sprincjjitld  (Ohio)  Nonpareil.  1858. 
From  one  week's  end  to  another, 
We  scratch  a  poor  man's  head  ; 
For  our  pockets  are  all  empty, 

We  haven't  nary  red.  —  Comic  Song. 

Birdofredom  Sawiii  says,  certain  people  subscribe  liberally  to 
every  good  cause,  but  never  pay. 

It 's  a  good  Avay,  though,  come  to  think,  coz  ye  enjoy  the  sense 
0'  lendin'  lib'rally  to  the  Lord,  an'  na7-y  red  o'  xpense. 

Lowell,  Biglotv  Papers. 

Naseberry  or  Nisberry.    See  Sapote. 

Nation.    A  corruption  of  damnation.    Immense,  enormous;  very, 
extremely.    Used  in  both  ways  in  Old  and  in  New  England. 
There  were  a  nation  set  a'  folks  at  kirk.  —  Carr's  Craven  Gloss. 
But  no  sense  of  a  place,  some  think, 

Is  this  here  hill  so  high; 
Cos  there,  full  oft,  'tis  nation  cold. 

But  that  don't  argufy.  —  Essex  Dialect,  Noahes  and  Styles. 

In  a  Dialogue  relating  to  the  Stamp  Act,  called  "  Moving  Times 
and  No  Friends  "  [Boston,  1765],  a  countryman  says  :  — 

I  believe,  my  friend,  you  're  very  right: 
They  '11  get  a  nation  profit  by 't.  — p.  4. 

You  colony  chaps  are  a  nation  sight  too  well  off,  so  you  be.  —  Sam  Slide. 
And  every  time  they  shoot  it  off. 

It  takes  a  horn  of  powder, 
And  makes  a  noise  like  father's  gun. 

Only  a  nation  louder.  —  Song,  Yankee  Doodle. 

National.  Relating  or  belonging  to  the  nation  at  large,  having  in 
view  the  interests  of  the  whole  nation;  as  opposed  to  "sectional." 
Hence  the  term  "  national  sentiments,"  "  national  man,"  &c. 

If  the  little  men  of  the  New  England  States  have,  in  a  furor  of  false  excite- 
ment, been  able  to  sway  and  guide  the  popular  prejudices  to  their  own  material 
and  political  elevation,  it  is  satisfactory  to  the  man  of  national  nnpulses,  to 
reflect  that  the  passions  and  mad  follies  of  the  hour  have  not  been  sufKcient  to 
tempt  our  most  gifted  geniuses  and  noble  men  to  forget  the  advantages  and 
prospects  which  the  Union  confers  upon  and  promises  to  the  American  people.  — 
Newark  Journal,  18.58. 

National  Democrats.  Democrats  who  profess  to  entertain  no  sec- 
tional preference. 


420 


NAT 


I  have  been  given  to  understand  that  there  are  two  parties  in  the  South,  called 
"  National  "  and  "States-rights"  Democrats.  If  a  Southern  National  Demo- 
crat'''' means  one  who  is  ready  to  welcome  into  our  ranks  with  open  arms,  and 
cordially  embrace  and  promote,  according  to  his  merits,  every  honest  Free  State 
man  who  reads  the  Constitution  as  we  do,  and  Avill  co-operate  with  us  in  its 
maintenance,  then  I  belong  to  that  party,  call  it  as  you  may,  and  I  should  grieve 
to  find  a  Southern  man  who  does  not. — Speech  of  Hon.  J.  H.  Hammond^ 
Oct.  27,  1858. 

Native.  1.  At  the  South,  among  uneducated  people,  instead  of  ask- 
ing, "  What  is  your  native  place,"  or  "  the  place  of  your  nativity," 
the  question  is,  "Where  is  your  native  f  " 

2.  Place  of  one's  early  life,  not  his  birthplace. 

Died,  W.  H.  Stone.  .  .  .  He  was  formerly  a  native  of  Lynn,  and  at  one  time 
Deputy  Marshal  of  that  city.  —  Boston  Journal. 

The  "  Boston  Traveller,"  noticing  the  above,  says:  — 
A  morning  paper,  in  an  obituary  of  one  who  died  in  Boston  a  few  days  since, 

says  :  "He  was  formerly  a  native  of  Lynn."    What  place  he  was  a  native  of  in 

later  years  is  the  unsettled  question. 

But  the  "  Boston  Journal  "  is  not  alone  in  its  singular  use  of  the 
word,  as  "The  Congregationalist "  (May  22,  1877)  uses  it  in  the 
same  sense. 

Here  [at  Princeton]  is  Professor  Aiken,  who  has  settled  down  in  the  Theolog- 
ical Seminary  as  if  he  were  born  there ;  and  here  is  Dr.  Atwater,  who  has  been 
here  long  enough  to  become  a  native. 

(A  good  hit  is  the  last,  with  an  outlook  towards  another  than 
"  Princetonian  "  doctrine  of  re-generation.) 
Native  Americans.  In  speaking  of  the  Native  American  party,  the 
"  New  York  Express  "  says  it  originated  as  a  consequence  of  "a 
meeting  held  in  Carroll  Hall  in  1843,  at  which  Bishop  Hughes  made 
a  speech  relative  to  the  school  system,  and  advocated  a  distinct 
organization,  as  a  party,  of  the  Irish  voters  of  the  metropolis,  in 
order  to  accomplish  the  end  they  had  in  view.  This  was  the  first 
attempt  ever  made  in  this  country  to  organize  citizens  of  foreign 
birth,  for  the  purpose  of  operating  at  the  election  of  any  candidate." 
This  gave  rise,  the  year  following,  to  the  formation  of  a  political 
party  to  advocate  the  rights  and  privileges  of  persons  born  in  the 
United  States,  in  opposition  to  those  of  foreigners.  The  principal 
measure  advocated  by  it  was  the  extension  of  the  term  of  resi- 
dence required  by  law  previous  to  naturalization  from  seven  to 
twenty-one  years.  The  extreme  lengths  to  which  this  party  went 
insured  its  speedy  defeat. 

Ten  years  later  (in  1854),  a  party  sprang  up  with  similar  princi- 
ples, known  first  as  the  Know-Xothing,  and  subsequently  as  the 
American  party.    See  Know-Nothings. 


NAT— NEE 


421 


Native-born.  A  Hibernicism  of  politictal  origin  apparently  used  in 
contradistinction  from  adopted,  naturalized,  "  foreign  born."  Na- 
tive-born is  used  emphatically  thus :  — 

I  asked  some  of  the  native-born  Southerners  if  they  believed  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment was  endeavoring,  &c.  —  Cor.  of  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

New  York  to-day  stands  on  the  rock  of  the  Union.  Her  people,  whether  native 
or  adopted,  have  vied  with  each  other  in  defeating  the  schemes  of  traitors;  and 
while  it  was  natural  that  our  natice-born  population  should  evince  patriotic  devo- 
tion to  the  Union,  &c. — Speech  of  James  Gallatin,  N.  F.,  Nov.  27,  1861. 

Nativism.    The  doctrines  of  the  "  Native  Americans,"  as  a  party. 

Naturalized  Citizens.  Those  who  go  through  the  prescribed  process 
for  naturalization;  their  minor  children  at  that  time  in  the  country; 
or  the  widows  and  children  of  those  who  have  taken  the  initiatory 
steps  for  naturalization,  but  have  died  before  they  were  actually 
naturalized.  —  Hilliord^s  Real  Property,  Vol.  II.  p.  190. 

Naval  Officer.  On 3  of  the  chief  officers  of  the  large  U.  S.  custom- 
houses. It  is  the  duty  of  the  Naval  Officer  to  receive  copies  of  all 
manifests  and  entries,  and,  together  with  the  collector,  estimate  all 
duties  on  imports,  and  keep  a  separate  record  thereof;  countersign 
all  permits,  clearances,  certificates,  and  other  documents  granted  by 
the  collector;  examine  the  collector's  abstract  of  duties,  and  other 
accounts  of  receipts,  bonds,  and  expenditures,  and,  if  found  correct, 
to  certify  them.  —  ^c^  of  March  2,  1799. 

Neap.  Used  in  some  parts  of  New  England  for  the  tongue  or  pole  of 
a  cart  or  wagon. —  Worcester.  Nape,  neap,  in  "  Bailey's  Diction- 
ary," is  a  prop  for  staying  up  the  tongue  or  pole. 

Near,  for  to  or  at ;  in  these  expressions:  "  The  minister  plenipotentiary 
near  the  Court  of  St.  James's  —  near  the  United  States,"  &c.  This 
Gallicism  was  first  used  here  in  translations  of  the  diplomatic  cor- 
respondence between  the  French  and  American  governments ;  and 
from  the  language  of  translations  it  has  been  adopted  in  many  of  our 
original  compositions.  — Pickering. 

Neck  of  the  Woods.  In  the  wooded  sections  of  the  South-west,  this 
term  is  used  in  speaking  of  any  settlement,  place,  or  plantation. 

I  am  the  only  subscriber  to  the  "  Spirit  of  the  Times  "  in  this  neck  of  woods, 
and  consequently  my  paper  is  in  great  requisition. — Letter  from  Arkansas,  N.  Y, 
Spirit  of  the  Times. 

It 's  no  use  talkin'  about  your  Polar  bar  and  j-^our  grizzly  bar.    They  ain't  no 
whar,  for  the  big  black  customer  down  in  our  neck  o'  the  woods  beats  'em  all 
hollow.  —  Traits  of  American  Humor,  Vol.  II. 
Ne'er.    N(>;  not.    A  derivative  correctly  made  from  iVeyer. 

There  is  not  a  Virgmia  abstractionist  on  earth  who  does  not  think  that  Tie'er  a 
Negro  who  came  over  to  us  under  such  an  act  would  ever  return  to  Slavery.  — 
A .  Y.  Tribune,  Feb  4,  1862. 


422 


NEG 


Negro.  The  various  grades  of  the  colored  people  in  Louisiana  are 
designated  by  the  French  as  follows,  according  to  the  greater  or  less 
predominance  of  negro  blood :  — 


Mulatto, 

■|  black, 

white  and  Xegro. 

Quarteron  [Quadroon] 

,  i  black. 

white  and  mulatto. 

Metis  or  metif , 

i  black, 

white  and  quarteron. 

Meamelouc, 

Jg  black. 

white  and  metis. 

Demi-meamelouc , 

■3^2  black, 

white  and  meamelouc. 

Sang-mele, 

black. 

white  and  demi-meamelouc 

Griffe, 

1  black. 

Negro  and  mulatto. 

Marabou, 

1  black. 

mulatto  and  gviEe. 

Sacatra, 

1  black. 

griffe  and  Negro. 

All  these  varieties  exist  in  New  Orleans,  with  sub-varieties;  and 

experts  pretend  to  be  able  to  distinguish  'ihem.  —  Olmsted^ s  Slave 
States,  p.  583.    See  Mulatto. 
Negro-Catcher.    Men  engaged  during  the  civil  war  in  catching  and 
stealing  Negro  slaves. 

The  object  of  these  orders  is  to  prevent  any  person  in  the  anny  from  acting  in 
the  capacity  of  a  nearo-catcher  or  of  a  negro-stealer. —  General  Ordei'  of  Major- 
General  Ilalleck,  Jan.,  1862. 

Take  this  jail  from  the  care  of  Marshal  Lamon  and  his  negro-catddng  crea- 
tures.—  Speech  of  General  Wilson  of  Massachusetts,  Feb.  16,  1862. 

Negro-Cloth.    A  light  cloth  made  of  cotton  and  wool,  expressly  for 

the  clothing  of  Negroes. 
Negro-Corn.     The  Indian  millet  or  durra;  so  called  in  the  West 

Indies.  —  Simmonds. 
Negro-Driver.    A  person  who  conducts  coffles  of  slaves ;  an  overseer 

of  slaves. 

Once  we  boys  went  for  tote  some  rice,  and  de  niyrjer-dnver  he  keep  a-callin' 
onus;  and  I  say,  "Oh,  de  ole  nigyer-driver !  "  Den  anoder  said,  "Fust  tinj.'- 
mv  mammy  told  me  was  notin'  so  bad  as  nigger-dnvers.^^  —  Slave  Songs,  edited  by 
W.  F.  Allen. 

Negro  Fellow.    A  black  man. 

The  price  of  Negroes  has  already  reached  that  point  which  is  beyond  the  means 
of  small  planters,  and  they  cannot  afford  to  invest  their  small  amounts  of  spare 
capital  in  a  species  of  property  that  may  be  swept  away  by  the  diseases  of  the 
climate,  perhaps  the  Very  next  week  after  its  purchase ;  and  thus,  in  the  loss  of 
on&  Negro  fellow,  di  three-years  saving  is  gone  with  him.  —  De  3010' s  Review, 
Nov.,  1858. 

Negro  Hate.    Aversion  to  Negroes. 

Southern  negro-hate,  being  based  on  slavery,  is  kept  within  bounds ;  that  of  the 
North  being  mainh'  a  hypocrisy,  or  an  imitation,  is  affected  and  exaggerated  to 
caricature.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  April  21,  1862. 


NEG 


423 


Negro  Head.  1.  Tobacco  prepared  by  softening  with  molasses,  and 
then  pressing  it  into  cakes;  called  also  Cavendish.  —  Simmonds. 

2.  Tussocks  or  knotted  masses  of  the  roots  of  sedges  and  ferns 
projecting  above  the  wet  surface  of  a  swamp.  South. 
Negro  Hound.    A  hound  formerly  used  in  hunting  fugitive  slaves. 
It  has  been  found  that  Schenck,  Piatt,  and  the  rest,  are  not  negro-hounds.  — 
N.  Y.  Tribune,  May  9,  1862. 
Negroism.    1.  Pro-slaveryism. 

Most  of  the  common  soldiers  had  been  reared  among  Negroes,  had  become 
infused  with  Neyroism,  and  knew  nothing  beyond  it.  —  Cor.  N.  Y.  Tribune, 
April  14,  1862. 

2.  A  Negro  peculiarity  of  speech ;  an  example  of  Negro  English. 
See  also  various  words  under  Nigger. 
Negroless.    Not  having  any  Negro  or  slave. 

Go  to  Baltimore,  and  you  will  find  the  neyroless  majority  hearty  devotees  of  the 
Union.  —iV^.  Y.  Tribune,  April  3,  1862. 

Negro  Minstrel.  Negro  musicians,  or  more  frequently  white  men  who 
blacken  their  hands  and  faces,  and,  assuming  the  manners  of  the 
Negroes  of  the  Southern  plantations,  go  about  singing  negro  songs 
and  playing  upon  the  banjo  and  "bones."  There  is  often  much 
melody  in  their  music,  while  their  humorous  parodies  on  popular 
songs,  their  manner  of  singing,  and  their  jokes,  render  their  enter- 
tainments popular  among  all  classes. 

Negro  Nomenclature.  A  peculiarity  of  the  colored  race  is  their 
fondness  for  high-sounding  words  in  their  conversation,  sermons, 
and  speeches.  In  their  religious  and  political  organizations,  the  odd 
names  they  assume  are  often  ludicrous.  Among  the  societies  of 
colored  men  who  recently  celebrated  in  Richmond,  Va.,  the  anni- 
versary of  the  Fifteenth  Amendment,  were  the  following:  — 

First  National  Phoenix,  Sons  of  Elijah,  Sons  of  Enoch,  Loving  Sons  of  Daniel, 
First  Star  of  Jacob,  Rising  Sons  of  Vineyard,  Independent  National  Blues, 
Young  Rising  Sons  of  Ham,  Rising  Sons  of  Faith  and  Order,  Lord's  Delight, 
Rising  Sons  of  Youth,  Teamster's  Benevolent  Star  of  the  East,  United  Sons  of 
Love,  Christian  Sons  of  Peace,  Young  Sons  of  Zion,  and  Benevolent  Society  of 
the  Young  Shining  Army,  The  Golden  Gilt  Dramatic  Association  of  Annapolis. 

Negrophilism.    A  name  reproachfully  given  to  anti-slavery. 

Here  is  a  taste  of  his  [the  editor  of  the  "  New  York  Times  "]  Journal's  qual- 
ity, from  the  editorials  of  its  Saturday's  issue:  "  The  Mystery  of  Ni'tjrojthilism. 
Of  all  topics  now  engaging  attention,  the  American  Negro  is  unquestionably  tlie 
chief."  — A^.  Y.  Tribune,  June  16,  1862. 

Negro-proscriptive.    Proscriptive  of  Negroes. 

We  hope  some  of  those  who  voted  these  ncf/ro-proscriptive  clauses  into  the 
[new]  constitution  of  Illinois  will  live  to  be  ashamed  of  them.  —  N.  Y.  Tiibune, 
April  19.  1862. 


424 


NEG— NIC 


Negro-Worshipper.    An  opposer  of  slavery ;  an  abolitionist. 

The  apologist  for  Negro-worshijiping  and  Negro-worshipj^rs.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune^ 
Jan.  30,  18G2. 

Neighborhood.  The  phrase,  in  the  neighborhood  of^  is  frequently  used 
to  mean  bordering  on,  near,  about. 

The  Catholic  clergy  of  this  city  have  purchased  in  the  neighborhood  of  forty 
acres  of  land  from  Mr.  Fenwick,  for  a  cemetery  for  the  use  of  the  Catholic  con- 
gregations of  Washington.  —  {Bait.)  Sun,  June  27,  1857. 

Netop.  "  This  Indian  word,"  says  Mr.  Pickering,  "  is  still  used, 
colloquially,  in  some  towns  in  the  interior  of  Massachusetts,  to  sig- 
nify a  friend,  or  (to  use  a  cant  word)  a  crony. Roger  Williams, 
in  his  Key  to  the  Indian  Language,  says,  "  What  cheer,  netop?  is 
.  the  general  salutation  of  all  English  towards  the  Indians."  The 
word  is  Narragansett,  and  means  literally,  "my  friend."  See 
Whatcheer. 

Never  say  die.    Do  not  despair  under  any  circumstances. 

New  Jersey  Tea.  (Ceanothus  Americanus.)  The  leaves  of  a  plant 
employed  during  the  Revolution  as  a  poor  substitute  for  imported 
tea. 

Nice.    Fair;  good;  agreeable:  "  A  nice  day;  "  "  nice  goods,"  &c. 

Nicely.  In  some  parts  of  New  England  used,  like  "  cleverly,"  in  the 
sense  of  well,  very  well.  Ex. :  "  How 's  your  wife,  Mr.  Peabody, 
this  fine  morning  ?  "    "  She 's  nicely. 

Nick.  The  name  already  given  to  the  new  cent,  from  the  material 
(nickel)  of  which  it  is  composed. 

The  "  Philadelphia  Bulletin,"  in  speaking  of  the  first  delivery  of 
the  new  cents  at  the  U.  S.  mint,  and  of  the  rush  for  them,  says:  — 

The  bags  containing  the  nicks  were  neat  little  canvas  arrangements,  each  of 
which  held  five  hundred  of  the  diminutive  strangers.  —  May  25,  1857. 

The  new  cent  creates  quite  a  furor.  It  is  a  neat,  handy  coin,  and  will  soon 
supplant  the  cumbersome  copper  one.  "Nary  red will  soon  be  an  obsolete 
phrase  among  the  boys,  and  "nary  nickeV  will  take  its  place.  — N.  Y.  Herald, 
May  27,  1857. 

Nickel.    A  five-cent  piece  coined  of  that  metal. 

Nicotiana.  A  region  in  which  tobacco  is  a  staple.  A  country 
growing  tobacco,  or  where  the  use  of  tobacco  prevails. 

It  was  in  June  last  that  Dr.  Russell  [of  the  "  London  Times  "  ]  called  upon  that 
tobacco-ruminant,  Governor  Pettus  of  Mississippi.  .  .  .  After  an  interview  [with 
him],  holding  high  converse  with  other  noble  votaries  of  Nicotiana,  put  to  them 
...  the  following  interrogatories.  —  N.  Y.  Tnbune,  Feb.  13,  18G2. 


NIC— NIN 


425 


Nicotian  Leaf.  Tobacco. 

William  Boyd,  in  describing  a  model  newspaper,  says :  — 

It  admitteth  nothing  vulgar; 

Doth  not  jest  at  sacred  thoughts ; 
And  ignoreth  outrage,  swearing, 

Hazards,  drink,  nicotian  leaf. 

Patterns  American  Monthly,  June,  1877. 

Nigger.    The  vulgar  pronunciation  of  the  word  Negro,  which  see  for 

various  words  appertaining  to  Negroes. 
Niggerhead  Stone.    The  hard,  heavy,  black  rock  with  which  the 

country  about  Baltimore  is  filled,  and  which  is  so  useful  in  making 

turnpike  roads. 

Niggerism.  The  peculiarities,  real  or  supposed,  of  a  Negro,  in  respect 
of  language,  &c. 

If  we  did  not  think  it  a  Pro-Slaver}^  speech,  the  audience  did,  and  bestowed 
upon  it  a  meed  of  approving  screams  as  loud  as  those  which  immediately  after 
greeted  the  bald  nigyerism  of  Rynders.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Nov.  20,  1861. 

To  nigger  out.  To  nigger  out  land  signifies,  in  Southern  phraseology, 
to  exhaust  land  by  the  mode  of  tilling  without  fertilization  pursued 
in  the  slave  States. 

Niggery.    Pertaining  to,  like,  a  Negro. 

The  dialect  of  the  entire  population  is  essentially  unmistakable  niggery.  — 
Virginia  Cor.  N.  Y.  Tiibune. 

Nigh  unto.    Nearly,  almost. 

I  nigh  unto  burst  with  madness !  I  could  feel  every  har  on  my  head  kindlia' 
at  the  eend.  — Robb,  Squatter  Life. 

Nigh  upon.    Nearly,  almost. 

I  got  your  letter  and  razor-strap.  It 's  a  complete  strap  as  you  ever  see ;  and, 
as  soon  as  it  was  known  about  here  that  I  had  received  it,  nigh  upon  all  our  folks 
have  been  sendin'  to  borrow  it.  —  Major  Downing,  Letter  27. 

Mr.  Bedott  had  been  out  of  health  niyh  upon  ten  year;  and,  oh  dear,  how 
he 'd  altered  since  the  first  time  I  ever  see  him.  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  22. 

Nimshi.  A  foolish  fellow,  or  one  who  habitually  acts  in  a  foolish 
manner.  Connecticut. 

Nine-Bark.  {Spircea  opuUfolia.)  A  low  shrub  found  in  INIaine, 
Canada,  Wisconsin,  and  west  to  Oregon.  Its  old  bark  is  loose, 
and  separates  in  thin  layers. 

Nine-Killer.  The  popular  name  of  the  Northern  Butcher-bird  (Lanius 
septentrionalis)  of  ornithologists.  In  Canada  and  the  Eastern  States, 
it  is  sometimes  called  IMocking-bird.  "The  name  of  nine-killer,^^ 
says  Dr.  DeKay,  "  is  derived  from  the  popular  belief  that  it  catches 
and  impales  nine  grasshoppers  in  a  day."  —  Nat.  Hist,  of  New  York. 


426 


NIP— NOC 


Nip.  1.  A  dram.  From  nip,  a  small  quantity  as  of  snuff,  taken 
between  the  thumb  and  finger. 

2.  Nick;  instant:  as,  "  Just  in  the /?i/9  of  time."  Connecticut. 

Nip  and  Tuck.  An  expression  signifying  an  equality,  or  nearly  so, 
in  any  strife,  but  particularly  in  a  horse-race  or  a  game,  equivalent 
to  the  phrase  "  neck  and  neck."    Comp.  Ruh  and  go. 

"  Nathan,''  said  a  prudent  father,  "  now  you  're  goin'  down  to  Orleans,  I 've 
just  one  thing  to  advise  you  on.  Don't  play  that  new  game  they 've  got,  where 
the  jack  takes  the  ace,  —  't  ain't  natural.  I  tried  'em  at  poker,  and  old  sledge, 
and  loo,  but  they  couldn't  get  me  down,  it  was  7bip  and  tuck  between  us;  but  by 
and  by  they  fotched  in  that  new  game,  and  then  I  hollei'ed."  —  Major  Bunkum^ 
Recollections. 

Nipper.    A  dram.    Also  "  a  nip.^^ 

Then  it  waz,  "Mister  Sawin,  sir,  you're  middlin'  well  now,  be  ye? 
Step  up  an'  take  a  nij^j^er,  sir;  I 'm  dreffle  glad  to  see  ye." 

Lowell,  Bifjlow  Papers. 
Nippent.    Impudent;  impertinent. — Hurd^s  Gram.  Corrector. 
Nipping.    1.  Mincing. 

Oh,  deary  me,  it 's  enough  to  make  anybody  sick  to  see  the  airs  Mrs.  Major 
Coou  puts  on.  Did  you  see  her  come  nippin'  into  meetin'  with  a  shawl  on  as  big 
as  a  bedcover  V  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  35. 

2.  Applied  to  cold  weather;  as,  "  n</>/>m^/ cold,"     a  nipping  ivo&t.^^ 
The  temperature  continues  to  develop  a  remarkable  mildness  for  the  season, 
with  occasional  returns  of  winter  gusts  and  nipjiiny  frosts.  —  Providence  Journal. 

There  are  examples  of  the  use  of  the  verb  to  nip  applied  to  severe 
cold  in  English  writers :  — 

His  delivery  now  proves 
Abortive,  as  the  first-born  bloom  of  spring 
Nipt  with  the  lagging  rear  of  winter's  frost. 

Milton,  Samson  Agonistes,  1575. 
No-account.    Of  no  account,  worthless;  as,  "That's  a  no-account 
chap,  I  reckon  !  "    "  Where  did  you  raise  that  no-account  horse  ?  " 
South-west. 

"  Miss  Bella  done  learn  how  to  talk,"  said  Sarah,  in  the  kitchen  cabinet,  "and 
she  look  as  rosy  and  peart!  her  heart  ain't  broke !  " 

"Broke  wid  what  V  "  asked  Aunt  Hagar.  "I  alwayth  telled  you  that  no 
young  mith  of  mine  wath  given  to  hurt  herthelf  grieving  after  a  no-account  feller 
like  that  down  yonder  in  Richmond."  —  The  Hidden  Path. 

Nobby.    Stylish;  often  applied  to  new  hats.    Also  spelled  knobby. 

If  you  would  dress  yourself  cheaply,  neatly,  nobby,  and  stylish,  give  us  a  call. 
Hat-Seller^ s  Advertisement. 
Nocake.    (Nookhic,  meal. — Eliofs  Indian  Bible.)  Parched  meal.  An 
Indian  word  still  used  in  some  parts  of  New  England. 

Nokehick,  parched  meal,  which  is  a  readie  very  wholesome  food,  which  they 
eat  with  a  little  water.  —  .K.  Williams's  Key  (1643),  p.  11. 


NOG— NON 


427 


If  their  imperious  occasions  cause  the  Indians  to  travel,  the  best  of  their  victuals 
for  their  journey  is  nocake  (as  they  call  it),  which  is  nothing  but  Indian  corn 
parched  in  the  hot  ashes;  the  ashes  being  sifted  from  it,  it  is  afterwards  beaten 
to  powder,  and  put  into  a  long  leathern  bag,  trussed  at  their  back  like  a  knap- 
sack, out  of  which  they  take  thrice  three  spoonefuls  a  day.  —  Wood's  New  Eng- 
land's Froqject  (1634),  pt.  2,  ch.  6. 

With  a  pestle  and  mortar  [the  Indians]  broke  up  [their  corn]  into  meal,  which, 
moistened  with  water  into  a  paste,  they  called  nookhik.  —  ralfrei/s  New  Eng- 
land, Vol.  I.  p.  28. 

Warm  was  the  room  and  plenteous  was  the  cheer 

Which  generous  Waban  did  our  Founder  bring; 
In  trays  the  nocake  and  the  joints  of  deer. 
And  in  the  gourd-shell  water  from  the  spring. 

Durfee,  Whatcheer,  Canto  I.  Ixxxii. 

Noggin.    A  drinlt  of  something  alcoholic. 

Nohow.    Not  in  anyway;  by  no  means.    Always  with  a  preceding 
negative,  and  sometimes  enlarged  into  "  nohow  you  can  fix  iV." 

Dod  rot  that  old  Mike  Hooter!  He  pertend  to  be  a  preacher!  His  preachin' 
ain't  nothin'  but  loud  hollerin'  nohow.  —  Tales  of  American  Humor. 

You  don't  cook  broken-down  horse-flesh  very  easy,  nohow.  —  G.  W.  Kendall. 

Miss  Sikes  had  better  not  come  a  cavortin'  round  me  with  any  of  her  rantan- 
kerous  carryin'  on;  for  I  ain't  in  no  humor,  nohow.  — Story  of  the  Fire  Hunt. 

The  Colonel's  wife  could  not  abide  her  nohow.,  and  appears  like  dey  done  gone 
guv  each  udder  all  the  trouble  de}-  could.  —  Harjier's  May.  for  July,  1876,  p.  195. 

Them  two  fool  niggers  never  did  have  no  sense,  nohow.  —  Ibid.,  p.  197. 
No  —  not.  What  the  Portuguese  say  of  the  Brazilians,  the  English 
say  of  the  Americans,  —  that  they  are  as  fond  of  double  negatives 
as  Homer  himself.  "  I  won't  nohow,"  "  It  ain't  neither,"  "  I  ain't 
got  none,"  "It  ain't  nothing  else,"  &c.,  are  locutions  constantly 
heard. 

No  Mistake.    See  example  at  Mistake. 

Nomological.    Relating  to  Homology.  • 

The  observations  of  the  senses  yield  us  only  limited  successions  and  recurrences 
of  phenomena.  These  have  antecedence  in  the  order  of  time.  But  Law,  eternal, 
absolute,  and  universal,  has  antecedence  in  the  order  of  necessary  existence,  and 
is  an  idea  of  the  Reason.  It  is  the  Idea  of  Ideas  under  the  nomological  conception. 
Tappan's  Elements  of  Logic. 

Nomology.    That  branch  of  philosophy  which  treats  of  law  in  general. 

This  at  once  introduces  us  to  the  Doctrine  of  Law  or  Nomology,  which  is  the 
second  grand  division  of  philosophy.  —  Tappan's  Elements  of  Logic. 

Non-committal.    That  does  not  commit  or  pledge  himself  to  any  par- 
ticular measure.    A  political  term  in  frequent  use. 

A  successful  politician  here  [in  New  York]  is  either  a  hack  lawyer  of  thirty 
years'  standing,  or  an  upstart  demagogue,  who  has  made  his  way  by  dint  of 
sheer  brass;  either  a  blind  partisan,  who  knows  nothing  outside  the  regular 


428 


NON— NOR 


ticket,  or  a  non-committal  man,  who  says  every  thing  to  everybody,  and  never 
gave  an  intelligent,  manly,  straightforward  opinion  in  his  life.  —  Sketches  of 
American  Society,  Frazer's  Magazine. 
Non-Committalism.    The  practice  or  doctrine  of  not  committing 
one's  self. 

Much  of  what  Governor  W  saj's  in  his  message  is  made  feeble  by  diffiise- 

ness ;  and  on  many  points  he  either  avoids  the  expression  of  opinion,  or  ex- 
presses his  opinion  with  so  many  qualifications  as  to  subject  himself  to  the  charge 
of  non-co7nmittalism. — N.  Y.  Commercial  Advertiser. 

He,  being  somewhat  of  a  wag,  handed  me  "  Fearne  on  Contingent  Remain- 
ders," which  he  remarked,  with  admirable  non-committalism,  was  as  interesting  as 
a  novel,  after  one  got  interested  in  it.  —  My  Uncle  Hohson  and  /,  p  20. 

None  of  my  Funeral.    An  affair  with  which  one  has  nothing  to  do. 
'■It's  none  of  my  funeral,  I  know.  Sin  Saxon,"  said  Miss  Craydocke.  "I'm 
only  an  eleventh-hour  helper;  but  I '11  come  in  for  the  holiday  business.  .  .  . 
that 's  more  in  my  line."  —  Mrs.  Whitney,  A  Summer  in  Leslie  Goldthwaite's  Life, 
p.  183. 

Senators  Blaine  and  Barnum  passed  down  to  New  York,  en  route  to  Washing- 
ton, on  Wednesday  last,  when  Barnum  asked  Blaine  how  he  liked  the  news  from 
Ohio.  "  Oh,  that  isn't  my  funereal,  I  want  you  to  understand,"  replied  the  plucky 
Maine  Senator.  —  Hartford  Times,  Oct.  17,  1877. 

Non-slaveholding.  Not  holding  slaves.  Thus,  the  States  north  of 
Mason  and  Dixon's  line  were  formerly  designated  as  the  "  non-slace- 
holding  States." 

Noodles.  {G^rm.  Nudel.)  Dumplings  or  vermicelli.  They  are  used 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  are  made  by  rolling  into  very  thin  sheets  the 
dough,  which  differs  from  the  Italian  preparation  by  the  addition 
of  eggs.  These  sheets  are  then  rolled  up  and  cut  across  witli  a 
knife.  The  strips  thus  formed  differ  from  vermicelli  only  in  their 
section  being  square,  instead  of  circular. 

Noodlejees.  (Dutch.)  Wheat  dough  rolled  thin  and  cut  into  strings 
like  vermicelli. 

Noodle-Soup.    Soup  made  of  the  above. 

Nooning-Time.    Dinner-time  in  the  hayfield. 

Nopal.    The  prickly  pear  cactus  that  the  cochineal  insect  feeds  upon. 

North  and  South.  Terms  commonly  used  to  signify  the  Northern 
and  Southern,  or  the  free  and  slave  States,  of  the  Union. 

The  North  in  an  unrestrained  intercourse  with  the  South,  protected  by  the 
equal  laws  of  a  common  government,  finds  in  the  productions  of  the  latter  great 
additional  resources  of  maritime  and  commercial  enterprise,  and  precious  mate- 
rials of  manufacturing  industry.  The  South,  in  the  same  intercourse,  benefiting 
by  the  agency  of  the  North,  sees  its  agriculture  grow  and  its  commerce  expand. 
Speech  of  Hon.  E.  Everett,  July  5,  1858. 

North  Americans.  The  Northern  or  anti-slavery  section  of  the 
American  or  Know-Nothing  Party. 


NOR— NOT 


429 


Northern  Neck.  The  portion  of  Virginia  lying  between  the  Potomac 
and  the  Rappahannock. 

Norther,  A  severe  north  wind  which  blows  at  particular  seasons 
along  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  as  well  as  across  the  vast  region  lying  to 
the  north  of  it.  These  northers  upon  the  open  prairies  are  exceed- 
ingly trying,  and,  when  accompanied  by  snow  or  a  freezing  rain, 
prove  fatal  to  cattle  and  horses.  Teamsters,  herdsmen,  and  travel- 
lers have  also  been  known,  in  many  instances,  to  perish.  I  experi- 
enced a  terrific  norther  on  the  high  plateau  of  Texas  in  November, 
1850,  which  was  accompanied  by  snow,  and  lasted  for  three  days. 

Mr.  Olmsted,  in  his  "  Journey  through  Texas,"  thus  describes  one 
of  these  northers :  — 

We  were  suffering  with  the  heat,  when  one  of  us  said,  "See  this  before  us, — 
•what  is  it,  fog  or  smoke  V  " 
"  A  prairie  fire,  I  think,"  said  the  other. 

"Probably  it  is;  but  what  is  this  on  the  hill  close  by:  this  is  fog,  surely?  It 
must  be  a  norther  coming.  Yes,  it  is  a  norther:  listen  to  that  roar!  We  must 
get  our  clothing  on,  or  we  shall  be  chilled  through." 

First,  a  chilly  whiff,  then  a  puff,  the  grass  bends  flat;  and,  bang,  it  is  upon  us, 
—  a  blast  that  would  have  taken  a  top-gallant  sail  out  of  the  bolt-ropes,  and  cold 
as  if  blowing  across  a  sea  of  ice.  We  galloped  to  the  nearest  ravine,  and  hurried 
on  all  the  clothing  we  could  muster.  Fortunately,  though  our  baggage  was  left 
behind,  we  had  taken  a  supply  of  blankets.  Sac,  —  p.  168. 

Northerner.  A  citizen  of  one  of  the  Northern  or  non-slaveholding 
States. 

Nose,  "  To  bite  one^s  nose  off''''  is  to  foolishly  inflict  self-injury,  w^hile 
striving  to  injure  another. 

No-see-ums.  The  little  midge.  (Simulium  nocivum.)  A  kind  of 
sand-fly.  One  of  the  annoyances  of  travellers  in  the  Northern  and 
North-eastern  States.  They  are  said  to  get  under  your  clothes,  and 
produce  a  feverish  heat  by  their  bites.  —  Thoreau,  Maine  Woods, 
p.  228. 

The  name  is  Indian-English. 
Notch.    An  opening  or  narrow  passage  through  a  mountain  or  hill.  — 
Webster.    The  Notch  in  the  White  Mountains  is  well  known. 

This  gap  is  not  a  notch  or  depression  in  the  crest  of  a  continuous  ridge,  but  the 
extension  of  the  plain  narrowed  down  by  bare,  rugged  peaks  of  almost  solid 
rock,  rising  abruptly  from  the  plain.  —  Rep.  on  Pacific  Rdilroad.  Vol.  II. 

Passing  down  the  Chemung  and  Susquehanna  in  canoes,  they  landed,  and 
struck  through  the  wilderness  to  a  gap  or  notch  of  the  mountains,  by  which  they 
entered  the  Valley  of  Wyoming.  —  Irviny's  Washington,  Vol.  III.  p.  408. 

Note.  A  happy  expression ;  a  good  joke.  "That's  a  good  no/e." 
New  York. 


430 


NOT 


Note-Shaver.    One  who  discounts  or  buys  notes  at  a  high  rate  of 

interest.    See  Landshark. 
Nothing  else.    "  It  ain't  nothing  else,^^  is  a  vulgar  style  of  phraseology 

equivalent  to  "  It 's  that,  and  no  mistake." 

Mose.    "  Lize,  ain't  you  a  gallows  gall?  " 

Lize.    "T  ain't  nothing  else,  Mose.''  — New  York  in  1848. 

Nothing  to  Nobody.  Nobody's  business.  This  singular  expression 
is  common  in  the  language  of  the  illiterate  in  some  ]3arts  of  the 
South. 

Mr.  minds  his  own  business;  and  what  he  gives  away  is  nothing  to 

nobody.  — New  Hampshire pojjer. 
"  Vot  I  gives  is  nujffin  to  nobody.''''  — English  Anecdote. 

But  surely  no  lady  drank  punch?  Yes,  three  of  them  did,  ....  and  the  way 
these  women  love  punch  is  nothing  to  nobody.  —  Georgia  Scenes. 

The  way  she  would  make  Indian  cakes,  and  the  way  I  used  to  slick  them  over 
with  molasses,  was  nothing  to  nobody.  — N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

To  notify.  1.  To  make  known;  to  declare;  to  publish.  "  The  laws 
of  God  notify  to  man  his  will  and  our  duty." 

2.  To  give  information  of.  The  allied  sovereigns  have  notified 
the  Spanish  court  of  their  purpose  of  maintaining  legitimate  gov- 
ernment. ' ' 

3.  To  give  notice  to.  "  The  constable  has  notified  the  citizens  to 
meet  at  the  City  Hall."  "  The  bell  notifies  us  of  the  time  of 
meeting." 

The  first  of  these  senses,  as  Dr.  Witherspoon  long  ago  observed 
(Druid,  No.  5),  is  the  only  one  in  which  this  word  is  employed  by 
English  writers.  They  use  it  simply  in  the  sense  of  the  Latin  noti- 
ficare,  i.  e.  "to  make  known,"  as  in  the  following  examples  from 
Richardson :  — 

His  [Duke  Robert's]  worthie  acts,  valientlie  and  fortunately  atchieved  against 
the  infidels,  are  notified  to  the  world  by  many  and  sundrie  writers.  —  Holinshed. 
Such  protest  must  also  be  notifed,  within  fourteen  days  after,  to  the  drawer.  — 

Blackstone' s  Commentaries. 

The  two  significations,  Nos.  2  and  3,  in  which  the  direct  object 
of  the  verb  is  the  person,  instead  of  the  thing,  is  in  accordance  with 
the  French  use  of  the  verb  nofifier.  It  is  not  improbable  that  they 
will  yet  be  adopted  in  England;  for  the  same  transfer  of  the  idea 
from  the  thing  to  the  person  took  place  in  the  Latin  language  itself, 
in  which  the  word  notus,  known,  was  also  used  in  the  sense  of 
informed  of,  knowing. 

Notional.  Fanciful,  whimsical.  Applied  to  persons;  as,  "He's  a 
very  notional  man."    New  England. 


NOT— NUL 


431 


Notionate.    Fanciful,  whimsical.  West. 

Notions.  Small  wares  or  trifles.  —  Worcester.  A  word  much  used 
,  by  the  ingenious  New  Englanders. 

"Can  I  suit  you  to-day,  ma'am  V"  said  a  peddler  from  New  England,  when 
offering  his  wares  for  sale  in  Michigan.  "I've  all  sorts  of  notions.  Here's 
fashionable  calicoes;  French  work  collars  and  capes  ;  elegant  milk-pans,  and  Har- 
rison skimmers,  and  ne  plus  «/^/-?/ dippers ;  patent  pills;,  —  cure  any  thing  you 
like;  ague  bitters;  Shaker  yarbs;  essences,  wintergreen,  lobelv;  tapes,  pins, 
needles,  hooks  and  eyes;  broaches  and  bracelets;  smelling-bottles;  castor  ile; 
corn-plaster;  mustard;  garding-seeds ;  silver  spoons;  pocket-combs;  tea-puts; 
green  tea;  saleratus;  tracts;  song-books;  thimbles;  baby's  whistles;  slates; 
playin'  cards ;  puddin'  sticks ;  baskets ;  wooden  bowls ;  powder  and  shot.  I 
shan't  offer  you  lucifers,  for  ladies  with  such  eyes  never  buys  matches;  but 
you  can't  ask  me  for  any  thing  I  haven't  got,  I  guess."  — Mrs.  Clavers's  For- 
est Life,  Vol.  II.  p.  113. ' 

He  has  invented  several  other  important  wooden  notions  out  of  his  own  head; 
and  Muffins  says  there  is  enough  left  to  invent  a  good  many  more.  — N.  Y.  Spirit 
of  the  Timt^. 

No  Two  Ways  about  it.    Certain ;  sure. 

Nowhere.  To  he  nowhere  is  to  be  at  sea;  to  be  utterly  at  a  loss;  to 
be  ignorant. 

This  gentleman  has  been  for  some  years  at  the  head  of  this  institution,  the 
special  business  of  which  is  to  educate  teachers  who  shall  be  employed  in  the 
subordinate  public  schools;  and  it  has  just  been  ascertained  that  he  is  lamentably 
ignorant  of  the  rudiments  of  an  English  education;  in  short,  that  in  "  lirst  prin- 
ciples "  he  is  nowhere.  —  Boston  Bee. 

No,  you  don't.  An  expression  of  a  non-coincidence  of  opinion. 
Northern. 

Nub.    1.  A  knob.    New  England. 

2.  The  nuh  of  a  story  is  the  point  or  gist  of  it. 

Nubbins.  Imperfectly  formed  ears  of  Indian  corn.  Suffolk,  Eng., 
knuhhle  [dim.  of  knoh  or  nw/y],  "a  little  knob;"  Leicestershire, 
nubbin,  "the  stump  of  a  tree;"  Worcestershire,  nubblings,  "small 
coal." 

"Aunt  Peggy  brought  in  some  of  the  early  corn  this  morning,  mother.  Did 
j''Ou  see  it  V  " 

"Yes,  3'our  father  says  it  is  a  humbug.  There  are  nothing  but  little  nubbins 
with  not  more  than  a  dozen  grains  to  the  ear." 

Precisely  such  badly  filled  nubbins  your  children's  minds  are  fated  to  become, 
if  you  ailopt  the  forcing,  hot-bed  system  with  them.  —  The  Hidden  Path. 

Nullification.  Some  years  ago,  when  the  system  of  high  protective 
duties  on  foreign  impoi-ts  was  pi-edominant  in  the  national  councils, 
the  politicians  of  South  Carolina  —  whose  main  article  of  export  is 


432 


NUL— NUT 


cotton  —  were  strongly  desirous  of  free  trade  with  England  and 
France,  the  principal  consumers  of  that  article  believing  that  the 
consumption  of  it  in  those  countries  would  be  augmented  by  an 
augmentation  of  the  import  of  their  fabrics.  Those  politicians 
thought  themselves  aggrieved  therefore  by  the  protection  given  in 
the  United  States  to  the  manufacture  of  fabrics  coming  into  compe- 
tition with  those  of  England  and  France.  But,  finding  Congress 
resolute  in  adhering  to  the  protective  tariff,  the  South  Carolina 
politicians  became  so  exasperated  that  at  last  they  proclaimed  their 
intention  to  nw////^  the  tariff ;  that  is,  to  admit  British  and  French 
goods  into  their  ports  free  of  duty,  and  not  to  permit  the  exercise 
of  custom-house  functions  in  their  State.  In  other  words,  nullifica- 
tion, in  the  case  of  South  Carolina,  was  simply  an  act,  or  at  least  a 
threat,  of  open  rebellion. 

Somebody  must  go  ahead,  and  look  after  these  matters,  to  keep  down  nullijica- 
tion,  and  take  care  of  the  Gineral  [Jackson]  when  he  gits  into  his  tantrums,  and 
keep  the  great  Democratic  party  from  splitting  in  two.  —  Crockett,  Tour,  p.  218. 

NuUifier.  One  who  believes  in  or  maintains  the  right  of  a  State  to 
refuse  compliance  with  a  law  enacted  by  the  legislature  of  the  whole 
Union. 

This  term  was  also  applied  to  a  sort  of  shoe,  made  like  a  decapi- 
tated boot,  brought  into  fashion  in  the  "  nullification  "  times. 

Nurly.  A  corrupt  pronunciation  and  orthography  of  gnarly,  i.  e. 
gnarled. 

Times  are  mopish  and  nurly.  —  Margaret,  p.  314. 

Nurse-Fish.  (Somniosus.)  Speaking  of  the  fishes  at  the  Isles  of 
Shoals,  N.  H.,  Miss  Thaxter  says:  "  Sometimes  is  caught  on  a 
trawl  a  monstrous  creature  of  horrible  aspect,  called  the  nurse-Jishy 
—  an  immense  fish,  weighing  twelve  hundred  pounds,  with  a  skin 
like  a  nutmeg  grater,  and  no  teeth,  —  a  kind  of  sucker,  hence  its 
name."  —  Isles  of  Shoals,  p.  87.  Le  Sueur  notices  the  fish,  which  is 
also  called  sleeper,  from  its  inactive  or  sluggish  habits. 

Nut-Cake.    A  doughnut.    New  England.     See  Cruller. 

Nutmeg  State.  A  nickname  given  to  the  State  of  Connecticut,  in 
allusion  to  a  ridiculous  story  that  wooden  nutmegs  are  there  manu- 
factured for  exportation. 

Nuts.  Enjoyment,  gratification,  pleasure.  "He  enjoyed  the  play 
greatly:  it  was  nuts  for  him."  Also  used  in  England.  —  Slang 
Dictionary. 


OAK— OCC 


433 


O. 

Oak  Barrens.  Straggling  forests  of  oak-trees,  where  the  soil  is  very- 
poor,  and  the  trees  small,  stunted,  and  gnarled.  The  oak  barrens 
differ  from  the  oak  openings,"  inasmuch  as  the  latter  are  usually 
on  good  soil,  and  hence  thrifty. 

Our  march  to-day  lay  through  straggling  forests  of  the  kind  of  low,  scrubbed 
trees,  called  post-oaks  and  black-jacks.  The  soil  of  these  oak  barrens  is  loose 
and  unsound,  being  little  better  than  a  mere  quick-and  ;  in  which,  in  rainy 
weather,  the  horse's  foot  slips,  and  now  and  then  sinks  in  a  rotten,  spongy  turf, 
to  the  fetlock.  —  Irviny's  Tour  on  the  Prairies,  p.  95. 

Oak  Openings.  A  characteristic  feature  in  all  the  North-western 
States  are  the  oak  openings.  These  are  forests  of  short,  thinly 
scattered  oak-trees.  The  trees  are  so  diminutive  that  generally  but 
one  length  for  rails  can  be  cut  between  the  ground  and  the  limbs. 
See  Opening. 

The  grounds  about  the  mounds  are  covered  with  scattered  oak-trees,  commonly 
called  oak  openings,  and  thickly  overgrown  with  small  bushes.  —  Lnpham's  Antiqs. 
of  Wisconsin,  p.  31. 

Having  passed  the  skirt  of  the  woodlands,  we  ascended  the  hills,  taking  a  course 
through  the  oak  openings,  where  the  eye  stretched  over  wide  tracts  of  hill  and 
dale,  diversified  by  forests,  groves,  and  clumps  of  trees. — Jrving's  Tour  on  the 
Prairies,  p.  77. 

Oats.  "  To  feel  oneh  oats.^'  An  expression  applied  by  college  stu- 
dents to  one  who  is  much  aware  of  his  importance.  Such  a  one  is 
called  cocky.  ^  r  \/C 

Obliged  to  be.    Must  be;  as,  "  This  is  obliged  to  be  a  fever  and  ague^^^^^  >^Jt'  i— 
country."    Comp.  the  analogous  vulgarism,  "  bound  to  be."  f  - 

Obligement.   This  antiquated  word  is  still  used  by  old  people  in  New        p  JM^^  ^ 
England. — Pickering.  y  z   ^    // / 

Obscutely.    Obliquely.    A  factitious  word  used  in  New  England. 

Obstrep.    To  be  obstreperous. 

This  sort  of  thing  won't  do.  The  obstreperous  fair  ones  must  cease  to  obstrep. 
Vanity  Fair,  18G2. 

Obstropulous.  A  vulgar  corruption  of  obstreperous.  New  England. 
It  is  of  cis-atlantic  origin. 

By  hearsay,  [the  Count  and  Countess]  are  a  topping  sort  of  people,  and  pretty 
much  like  the  Boston  folks,  full  of  notions.  At  times  he  is  obstropulous.  —  D. 
Humphreys,  The  Yankee  in  England. 

Obtusity.    Obtuseness.    New  England. 

To  occasion  or  'casion.  To  go  about  asking  for  work;  i.  e.,  to  ask  if 
employers  have  any  occasion  for  one's  services.  Maryland. 

28 


OCC— OF 


Occupying  Claimant.    One  who  claims  land  by  virtue  of  occupation 

of  the  same  under  the  land  systems  of  various  States. 

Occurrings.    Occurrences;  incidents. 

'Tis  a  news-collector,  valued 

For  its  manifold  accounts ; 
Gath'ring  in,  from  thousand  sources, 

Numberless  occur-rinys,  deeds. 
Wm.  Boyd,  Desc.  of  a  Model  Ne  wspaper,  Potter's  Am.  Monthly,  June,  1877. 

Ocelot.  (Mexican,  ocelotl.)  A  beautiful  but  savage  animal,  holding 
a  middle  rank  between  the  leopard  and  the  conniion  cat,  the  Felis 
pardalus  of  Linnaeus.  The  body  is  about  three  feet  in  length,  and 
the  tail  about  one;  height,  about  eighteen  inches.  It  is  a  native  of 
various  parts  of  South  America,  and  is  thought  to  extend  as  far 
north  as  Texas.    Called  also  Tiger  Cat. 

Octoroon.  A  name  recently  coined  for  a  mustee ;  the  offspring  of  a 
white  and  a  quadroon.    See  Mulatto  and  Negro. 

"  Oh,  stay,"  a  cullered  pusson  said, 
"An'  on  dis  bosom  rest  your  head!  " 
The  Octoroon  she  winked  her  eye. 
But  still  he  answered  with  a  sigh, 

Skedaddle.  —  Sony,  Vanity  Fair. 

Odd  Stick.    An  eccentric  person;  an  "  odd  fish."    "  John  Randolph 

was  an  odd  stick.'' ^ 
Of.  1.  An  action  of  the  organs  of  sense  may  be  either  involuntary  or 
voluntary.  Accordingly  we  say  to  see,  to  It  ear,  to  denote  an  involun- 
tary act;  and  to  look  at,  to  hearken  or  listen  to,  to  denote  a  voluntary 
one.  With  regard  to  the  other  senses,  we  are  not  so  well  provided 
with  words;  but  some  people,  prompted  apparently  by  a  feeling  of 
this  deficiency,  endeavor  to  supply  it  by  construing  the  verbs  to  feel, 
to  taste,  to  smell,  with  the  preposition  of,  to  signify  a  voluntary  act. 
Hence,  to  feel,  taste,  smell  of  a  thing,  is  to  do  so  intentionally. 
This  corruption  is  rarely  met  with  in  writing. 

In  the  course  of  the  forenoon,  a  few  women  came  around  our  \Qn{,felt  of  it, 
and  peeped  through  the  cracks  to  see  Mrs.  Perkins.  —  Perhins's  Residence  in 
Persia,  p.  103. 

2.  In  the  colloquial  language  of  New  England,  this  preposition, 
frequently  corrupted  into  on,  is  used  after  a  gerund  or  active  parti- 
ciple; as,  "  Ebenezer  is  coming  to  stick  our  pig;  but  he  '11  want  a 
quarter  for  doin'  o/it  (or  on  it)." 

Whereas,  many  Negroes  and  other  slaves  absent  themselves  from  their  masters' 
service,  and  rim  out  into  the  woods  and  there  remain,  killing  and  destroying  of 
hogs  and  cattle  belonging  unto  the  people  of  this  province,  &c.  —  Maryhuid 
Statutes,  Act  ofllbl. 


OFF 


435 


Off  the  Handle.  To  Jly  off  the  handle  is  to  fly  into  a  passion.  To  go 
off  the  handle  is  to  give  up  the  ghost,  to  die.  The  aUusion  is  to  the 
head  of  an  axe. 

A  poor  man  in  this  city  had  a  fortune  left  him  by  a  distant  and  wealthy  rela- 
tive, who  went  off  the  handle  in  England,  rather  unexpectedly.  —  N.  Y.  Spirit  of 
the  Times. 

Ofifal.  This  word,  among  pork-butchers  and  curers  in  the  West, 
implies  the  liver  and  lights,  or  more  technically  the  head  and  pluck, 
liver,  &c.,  of  the  animal;  whereas,  in  correct  English,  it  is  limited 
to  the  refuse  thrown  to  the  dogs.  An  English  reader  would  be 
much  shocked  at  the  mention  of  a  dish  of  offal. 

Offen.    Off  from;  off  on.    A  vulgarism. 

I  am  glad  Miss  Woodhull  is  engaged  to  be  married,  it  takes  a  load  offen  my 
mind.  I  presume  she  will  settle  down  and  make  a  likeh'  woman.  —  Betsy  Bvbbet^ 
p.  311. 

Say,  if  you  give  me  much  more  of  your  sass,  I'll  take  and  bounce  a  rock 
off''n  yonr  head.  — Mark,  Twain,  Tom  Sawyer,  p.  23. 

Office-Holder.  A  government  official.  Used  frequently  as  a  term  of 
reproach. 

OflSce-Holding.    The  holding  of  an  office  under  government. 
OflBce-Hunter.    A  seeker  after  public  office. 

)fiBce-Hunting.  A  seeking  after  public  office.  That  both  the  practice 
and  the  name  for  it  are  acquiring  all  the  respectability  that  age  can 
bestow,  is  evident  from  the  date  of  the  following  extract :  — 

Office-Hunting.  —  The  decease  of  Col.  Freeman,  late  Fourth  Auditor  of  the 
Treasury,  the  salar}'  of  which  is  $3,000  a  year,  has  caused  a  great  stir  at  Wash- 
ington. There  are  said  to  be  about  fifty  applicants  for  the  place,  among  whom 
are  a  dozen  or  two  members  of  Congress.  — Niles's  Register,  March  20,  1824:. 

ffish.    Distant  or  unapproachable  in  manners. 

I  am  naturall}'  pretty  offish  and  retirin'  in  my  ways  with  strange  men  folks. 
I  think  it  is  becoming  in  a  woman  to  be  so,  instead  of  bold.  —  Betsy  Bobbet, 
p.  28U. 

Off-Ox.    An  unmanageable,  cross-grained  fellow.  —Lowell. 

Offset.  1.  In  accounts,  a  sum,  account,  or  value  set  off  against  an- 
other sum  or  account,  as  an  equivalent.  —  Webster. 

This  word  is  generally  used  in  place  of  the  English  term  set-off. 
Mr.  Pickering  says,  "  It  is  also  very  common  in  popular  language, 
in  the  sense  of  an  equicalent.'^  None  of  the  English  dictionaries 
have  the  word  in  any  sense  except  that  of  "  shoot  from  a  plant." 

The  expense  of  the  frigates  had  been  strongly  urged;  but  the  saving  in  insur- 
ance, in  ships  and  cargoes,  and  the  ransom  of  seamen,  was  more  than  an  ajj'set 
against  this  item.  —  Marshall's  Washington. 


436 


OFF— OLD 


Thanksgiving  was  an  anti-Christmas  festival,  established  as  a  kind  of  offset  to 
that.  —  Margaret,  p  61. 

2.  The  dictionaries  omit  to  notice  a  use  of  this  word,  which  was 
common  thirty  years  ago  in  New  England,  and  probably  is  still 
known  outside  the  cities,  i.  e.  a  terrace.  A  hillside  garden  was  laid 
out  in  off-sets,  or  a  house  built  above  the  level  of  the  travelled  road 
had  one  or  more  off-sets  in  its  "front  yard."  Often  pronounced 
''off  I  set.'' 

To  offset.  To  set  one  account  against  another;  to  make  the  account 
of  one  party  pay  the  demand  of  another.  —  Webster. 

Oildom.  The  petroleum  manufacture;  the  district  in  Pennsylvania 
whence  petroleum  is  obtained. 

Ojo.  (Pron.  oho.)  This  Spanish  term  means  an  eye,  and  figuratively 
a  spring  in  a  plain.  In  Texas,  New  Mexico,  and  California,  these 
springs  greet  the  thirsty  traveller  as  the  oases  do  in  Africa.  A  few 
rushes  or  rank  grass,  rising  above  the  sterile  wastes,  guide  him  to 
the  spot. 

Okra.  (Hibiscus  esculentus.)  A  tropical  plant,  the  pods  of  which  are 
used  in  the  mucilaginous  soup  called  gumbo.  —  Worcester. 

Old  Coon.  The  raccoon,  or  'coon,  as  it  is  generally  called  in  the 
language  of  slang,  has  the  reputation  of  being  a  very  knowing  ani- 
mal; hence,  "as  sly  as  a  coon.''  "He's  an  old  coon,"  is  said  of 
one  who  is  very  shrewd;  often  applied  to  a  political  manager. 
Comp.  "  Sbj  Old  Fox." 

I  guess  them  sarcy  Britishers 

Won't  easv  get  to  leeward 
Of  such  an  all-fired  smart  old  coon 

As  William  Henry  Seward. 

[London]  Punch,  Feb.  1,  1862. 

Old  Country.  A  term  applied  to  Great  Britain,  originally  by  natives 
from  that  country,  but  now  understood  and  used  generally  in  the 
United  States. 

Mr.  Goodrich,  in  describing  the  people  of  New  England  at  the 
period  of  the  Revolution,  says:  — 

The  Episcopalians  had  indeed  one  more  tie  than  other  men  to  the  old  country, 
and  that  was  a  powerful  one.  England  was  not  only  their  mother  in  things  sec- 
ular, but  in  things  sacred. — Vol.  I.  p.  192. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  a  few  years  ago  a  base  ball  team  from  the  United 
States  went  to  the  old  country,  but  met  with  poor  success.  —  Scribner's  Monthly 
for  Aug.,  1877,  p.  516. 


OLD 


437 


Old  Countryman.  A  native  of  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  or  Wales. 
The  term  is  never  applied  to  persons  from  the  continent  of  Europe. 

Oldermost.    Oldest.    Used  in  the  West. 

Ain't  that  oldermost  stranger  a  kinder  sort  a  preacher  ?  —  Carlton,  The  New 
Purchase,  Vol.  II.  p.  70. 

Old  Dominion.  The  State  of  Virginia.  Sometimes  called  the  "  An- 
cient Dominion.''^  The  name  probably  arose  from  the  circumstance 
that  Virginia  was  the  original  name  for  all  the  English  colonies  in 
America;  also  from  the  fact  that  in  early  times  it  was  called,  in  all 
the  letters  from  the  King,  "  The  Colony  and  Dominion  of  Virginia." 

What  means  the  Old  Dominion  f   Hath  she  forgot  the  day, 
When  o'er  her  conquered  valleys  swept  the  Briton's  steel  array  V 

Whittier,  Voices  of  Freedom. 

Old  Driver.    Euphemism  for  the  devil.    See  Spitfoot. 

Old  Fogy.    (Su.  Goth,  fogde.)    One  who  is  behind  the  times. 

Janiieson  suggests  that  the  term  originally  signified  the  governor 
of  a  garrison ;  and  like  the  Sw,  word  sunk  into  insignificance.  — 
Scottish  Die. 
Latham  defines  it  an  imbecile  old  man. 

Old  Livermore,  old  Soy,  old  Chutney,  &c.,  that  society  of  old  fogies  in  tine, 
who  gave  each  other  dinners  round  and  round,  and  dine  for  the  mere  purpose  of 
guttling,  — these,  again,  are  dinner-giving  snobs.  —  Thackeray,  Book  of  Snobs. 

Old-fogyish.    "  He 's  slow  and  rather  old-fogijish.^^ — The  Independent. 

Old  Hickory.  A  nickname  applied  to  General  Jackson,  President  of 
the  United  States,  in  allusion  to  his  tough,  unyielding  disposition. 

The  name  of  Old  Hickory,  says  Parton,  was  not  an  instanta.neous 
inspiration,  but  a  growth.  First  of  all,  the  remark  was  made  by 
some  soldier,  who  was  struck  with  his  commander's  pedestrian 
powers,  that  the  general  was  tough.  Next,  it  was  observed  .  .  . 
that  he  was  as  tough  as  hickory.  Then  he  was  called  Hickory. 
Lastly,  the  affectionate  adjective  "  old  "  was  prefixed,  and  the  Gen- 
eral thenceforth  rejoiced  in  the  completed  nickname,  usually  the 
first-won  honor  of  a  great  commander.  — Life  of  Jackson. 

Old  HosB.  A  familiar  expression  used  in  accosting  a  person,  equiva- 
lent to  "  old  fellow."  Western. 

Old  Hoss,  when  analyzed,  is  found  to  be  the  tenderest  appellation  of  a  biped 
juvenile  without  hoofs.  — Speech  of  Samuel  H.  Cox. 

Old  Man.  1.  The  old  man  is  a  terra  more  common  than  respectful, 
used  by  "  Young  America  "  for  father. 

2.  In  the  South  and  West,  instead  of  saying,  for  instance,  "  Old 
Mr.  Smith,"  it  is  customary  to  say,  "  Old  man  Smith."    A  friend 


438 


OLD— OLE 


informs  me  that,  in  the  eastern  part  of  N'ew  England,  he  had  heard 
the  expression  applied  to  women;  as,  "  Old  Woman  Abrams." 
3.  "My  old  7nan,^^  my  husband.    Used  also  in  England. 
Old  North  State.    North  Carolina. 

The  opposition  are  brins^ing  out  the  most  popular  man  in  North  Carolina,  W. 
A.  Graham,  who  will  be  elected  governor  by  the  largest  majority  ever  before 
given  ...  in  the  Old  North  State. — Ntwbern  Cor.  of  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Old  Pod.    An  old  man. 

Old  Probabilities.    See  Probahililies. 

Old  Rye.    Old  whiskey  distilled  from  rye. 

I  don't  know  whether  Mark  took  a  drop  or  not;  but  they  generally  keep  a 
barrel  of  old  rye  in  the  lumber  shanties,  and  my  opinion  is  that  he  was  invited  to 
take  a  horn.  — Hammond,  Wild  Northern  Scenes,  p.  198. 

"Nary  drop,"  said  Tom;  "ten  minutes  ago  I  wouldn't  have  given  a  pewter 
dime  for  my  chance  of  sticking  to  [the  temperance  pledge],  but  now  I  wouldn't 
give  a  cent  for  a  barrel  full  of  ten-year-oZcZ  rye.  —  Habberton,  The  Bar-ton  Experi- 
mtnt,  p.  42. 

Old  Scratch.    The  devil.    See  Scratch. 

Old  Sledge.  A  Southern  and  Western  name  for  the  game  at  cards 
commonly  called  All  Fours. 

I  played  a  pretty  stiff  game  of  old  sledge,  or,  as  he  called  it,  all  fours ;  for  I  played 
every  night.  —  Simm,s,  Wiyivam  and  Cabin,  p.  88. 

With  professional  flat-boatmen,  their  acme  of  felicity  is  a  game  of  old  sledye 
enlivened  by  the  fiddle.  —  Remembrances  of  the  Mississippi,  Harper'' s  Magazine, 

Old  Soldiers.  Ends  of  cigars  and  quids  of  tobacco  that  have  been 
used. 

Ladies  who  swab  our  sidewalks,  richly  dressed, 
To  rid  us  of  the  juices  there  expressed, 

And  like  drill-sergeants 
Haul  off  old  soldiers  lying  there  at  rest ; 
No  more  your  silks  shall  be  of  the  "  vile  pest " 

Brooms  and  abstergents.  —  Newspaper. 

Old- Wife  or  Old-Squaw.  (Anas  glacialis.)  The  popular  name  of  a 
brown  duck,  one  of  the  most  common  throughout  North  America, 
the  long-tailed  Duck  of  Pennant, 

Old  Whale.    A  sailor.    See  at  Sardine. 

Oleomargarine.  An  article  made  from  fat,  grease,  and  oily  sub- 
stances, large  quantities  of  which  find  its  way  to  market,  where  it 
is  sold  for  butter.    Also  called  Butterine. 

About  $1,000,000  pounds  of  "  butterine,"  formerly  known  as  oleomargaHne, 
have  been  shipped  from  Philadelphia  during  the  last  month,  the  greater  part  of 
which  went  to  France,  England,  and  Scotland,  and  some  to  Germany  and  the 
Netherlands.  —  Philadelphia  Record. 


OLY— ONE 


439 


Oleomarf/arine  to  the  front.  The  Governor  [of  New  York]  having  signed  the 
act  for  the  protection  of  buttermakers,  all  imitations  of  butter  are  hereafter  to 
be  sold  only  under  the  name  of  oleomai'ffar-ine,  which  is  to  be  stamped  on  all  its 
receptacles.  — N.  Y.  Tiibune. 

Olycook.  (Dutch,  oliekoek,  oil-cake.)  A  cake  fried  in  lard.  A 
favorite  delicacy  with  the  Dutch,  and  also  with  their  descendants  in 
New  York.    There  are  various  kinds,  as  doughnuts,  crullers,  &c. 

The  table  was  always  sure  to  boast  of  an  enormous  dish  of  balls  of  sweetened 
dough,  fried  in  hog's  fat,  and  called  doughnuts  or  olyko&ks.  —  Knicherbocker^ s 
Ntw  York. 

On.  This  word  is  much  used  where  the  English  use  in;  as,  "  I  met 
him  on  the  cars,"  or  "      a  steamer."    "  He  lives  on  Broadway." 

Once.    As  soon  as;  if. 

Once  the  planters  in  the  vicinity  of  Port  Royal  find  that  the  Union  troops  are 
established  there  in  such  force  as  to  insure  their  protection,  their  faith  in  seces- 
sionisni  will  give  place  to  a  keen  appreciation  of  their  own  interests.  —  iV.  Y. 
Herald,  Nov.  16,  1861. 

Once  and  again.  Occasionally;  sometimes.  A  Southern  phrase, 
equivalent  to  "once  in  a  while." 

On  Eend,  i.  e.  on  end.    Excited;  astonished;  enraged. 

One-Berry.  The  Indian  turnip,  so  called  in  Connecticut;  also  called 
J ack-in-the- Pulpit,  which  see. 

One-Horse.  In  the  West,  by  an  obvious  agricultural  figure,  this  term 
is  applied  to  any  thing  small  or  diminutive,  as  a  "  one-horse  bank," 
a  '■'-one-horse  church,"  meaning  a  little  bank  or  church.  So  the 
phrase  "  one-horse  lawyer  "  is  applied  to  a  mean,  pettifogging  fellow. 
A  clergyman,  deprecating  the  use  of  such  expressions  as  "  confound 
it,"  called  them  '*  one-horse  oaths." 

Every  State  in  the  Union  should  rigidly  proscribe  and  prohibit  the  establish- 
ment of  the  wild-cat  and  one-horse  banking  concerns  wliich  have  produced  so 
much  mischief,  and  brought  discredit  on  all  banking  institutions. — New  York 
Sun. 

On  Friday  last,  the  engineer  of  a  fast  train  was  arrested  by  the  authorities  of 
a  one  horse  town  in  Dauphin  County,  Pa.,  for  running  through  tlie  borough  at  a 
greater  rate  of  speed  than  is  allowed  by  their  ordinances.  Having  neglected, 
however,  to  give  publicity  to  these  ordinances,  they  could  not  impose  any  fine; 
and  their  discomfiture  was  aggravated  by  the  malicious  excuse  of  the  engineer, 
that  "he  didn't  know  there  was  a  town  there!  "  — (  Wash.)  Evenimj  Star,  1858. 
To  see  how  he  liked  pork  and  pone  flavored  with  wa'nut  saplin,' 
An'  nary  social  priv'lege  but  a  one-hoss,  stam-wheel  chaplin. 

Lowell,  The  BUjlow  Ptt2)ers. 

Professor  Goldwin  Smith,  writing  of  University  extension  in 
England,  says:  — 


440 


ONH— ONT 


"There  is  6ne  mode  of  extension  against  which  transatlantic  experience 
emphatically  protests,  —  the  multiplication  of  universities.  The  effects  of  the 
"  one-horse  university  "  system  in  the  United  States  and  Canada  have  been  ruin- 
ous to  high  education  and  to  the  value  of  degrees. 

On  Hand.  At  hand,  present.  A  colloquial  expression,  borrowed  from 
the  shop,  in  frequent  use. 

The  anti-Sabbath  meeting,  so  long  talked  of,  has  at  length  taken  place  in 
Boston.    About  three  hundred  females  were  on  hand.  — N.  Y.  Express. 

If  our  numerous  subscribers  and  the  public  will  be  on  hand  about  5  o'clock 
this  evening,  we  can  give  them  the  European  papers  by  the  "  America,"  containing 
doubtless  the  most  critical  intelligence  ever  transmitted  to  this  country.  So  be 
ready.  —  Burgess,  Stringer,  <f  Co.,  222  Broadway. 

We  appeal  to  every  man  who  has  a  right  to  vote  in  New  Hampshire,  but 
especially  in  the  1st  and  2d  districts,  to  be  on  hand  next  Tuesday  to  cast  hia 
ballot  for  Peace,  Prosperity,  and  Freedom.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  March  10,  1849. 

A  broker  from  Wall  Street  was  on  hand  at  the  meeting,  and  tried  to  pray,  but, 
from  want  of  practice,  could  only  utter  disjointed  sentences  about  the  money 
market,  &c.  —  Doesticks. 

Onhitch.    To  pull  trigger  (of.  Spanish  disparar). 

Onplush,  for  nonplus.    Used  in  the  Southern  States. 

You  know  I  tuck  dinner  at  the  Planters.  Well,  I  was  put  a  leetle  to  the  on- 
plush by  that  old  nigger  feller  that  waits  on  the  table  there.  I  did  not  know 
what  to  make  of  him.  —  Major  Jones's  Courtship,  p.  63. 

Yt.-^^-'-t^  Onst  (Pron.  wunst.)  A  common  vulgar  pronunciation,  especially  in 
'CJL^  ^^^i^'r  West.    And  so  twiste  for  "  twice."    The  same  pronunciation  is 

^        ''     sometimes  heard  from  Englishmen. 

On  the  Coast.  Near,  close  at  hand.  A  nautical  expression,  in  com- 
mon use  in  Nantucket. 

Onto.  A  preposition  bearing  the  same  relation  to  on  that  into  does 
to  in.  Although  used  here  much  more  frequently  than  in  England, 
it  is  not  peculiar  to  America. 

When  the  stack  rises  two  feet  high,  to  be  conveniently  forked  onto  from  the 
ground.  —  Marshall,  Rural  Econ.,  Yorkshire,  Vol.  II.  p.  14'4. 

Mr.  Pickering  quotes  the  following  as  the  only  example  he  has 
seen  in  an  American  book :  — 

Take  all  your  cigars  and  tobacco,  and  in  some  calm  evening  carry  them  onto 
the  common.  —  Dr.  B.  Waterhouse,  Lecture  on  Tobacco. 

In  descriptions  of  m.achinery,  &c.,  the  term  is  in  very  general  use. 

The  improvement  consists  in  casting  a  boss  of  soft  metal  onto  the  metallic 
tu\)Q.  —  Patent  Office  Report  for  1854,  Part  I.  p.  480. 

The  nature  of  this  invention  consists  in  the  use  of  a  spring  clamp,  &c.,  by 
means  of  which  the  back  of  the  shoe  is  securely  held  while  being  pulled  onto  the 
foot  of  it.  —  Ibid.,  p.  533. 


ONY—ORG 


441 


On  Yesterday.  A  corruption  in  common  use  among  editors  and  con- 
gressmen, who  seem  to  have  forgotten  that  yesterday  is  an  adverb 
as  well  as  a  noun. 

It  was  the  intention  to  send  in  the  Treasury  Report,  which  has  been  so  long 
delayed,  on  yesterday.  — N.  Y.  Tribune,  Jan.  9,  1852. 

I  supposed  that  the  house  listened  to  the  remarks  of  the  gentleman  from  Texas 
on  yesterday ;  and  therefore  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  relate  the  points  he 
made.  —  Speech  of  Mr.  BrooJcs,  July  7,  1852. 

Mr.  Speaker,  when  I  arose  on  yesterday,  it  was  my  intention  merely  to  explain 
my  position,  &c.  —  Speech  of  Mr  Quitman,  Dec.  18,  1856. 

Oodles.  Abundance.  "  Oodles  of  money."  Plenty  of  money.  Ten- 
nessee. 

Opening.  In  the  Western  States,  a  term  applied  to  thinly  wooded 
spaces  without  underwood,  so  called  to  distinguish  them  from  the 
forests  which  are  thickly  wooded.  These  openings  are  generally 
covered  with  small  oaks. 

Accordin'  to  the  Bible,  God  put  the  first  man  and  woman  together  in  a  most 
beautiful  garden,  in  which  all  things  excellent  and  pleasant  was  to  be  found,  — 
some  such  place  as  these  openings,  I  reckon.  —  Cooper'' s  Oak  Openings,  p.  225. 

Opinuated.    Opinionative,  conceited.  —  Sherwood^ s  Georgia. 

Opossum.  (Virginia,  Ind.)  An  opassom  hath  a  head  like  a  swine, 
and  a  taile  like  a  rat,  and  is  of  the  bignesse  of  a  cat.  Under  her 
belly  she  hath  a  bagge  wherein  she  lodgeth,  carrieth,  and  suckleth 
her  young.  —  Smithes  Generall  Historie  of  Virginia^  B.  ii.  p.  27 
(1627).     See  Possum. 

Here  is  likewise  that  singular  animal  called  the  opossum,  which  seems  to  be 
the  wood-rat  mentioned  by  Charlevoix,  in  his  History  of  Canada.  —  Guthrie's 
Geography. 

Ordinary.  Euphemistic  for  homely,  plain,  not  handsome.  Connecticut. 

A  lady  accidentally  conversing  with  a  gentleman,  unknown  to  her  by  name, 
said  of  him  as  well  as  to  him  what  he  did  not  forget:  "I  hear  Mi*.  B.  is  an 
extraordinary  ordinary  man." 

In  the  West,  we  hear  or  ^nary  used  for  mean ;  as,  "  He  's  an  or  ''nary 
fellow." 

Oregon  Grape.  Frequently  mentioned  by  explorers  in  Oregon.  The 
name  of  the  plant  which  yields  it  is  not  given. 

Organic.  Which  organizes  into  a  political,  legislative,  or  social 
body;  as,  the  organic  law  of  a  Territory  or  State.  A  word  which 
has  recently  come  into  very  common  use. 

The  powers  of  the  corporation  of  Washington  are  only  those  which  are  con- 
ferred by  the  organic  law,  the  charter.  —  Message  of  AI ay  or  of  Washington^ 
May  26,  1857. 


442 


ORP— OUT 


Orphanage.  An  institution  for  the  care  of  orphans;  an  orphan 
asylum. 

Measures  have  been  adopted  for  the  establishment  of  a  Presbyterian  orphan^ 
age  in  Philadelphia.  — Boston  Journal. 

Ortolan.    See  Bobolink. 

Osage  Orange.  (Madura  aiirantiaca.)  A  native  of  Missouri  and 
Arkansas.  It  has  been  much  used  of  late  years  for  farm  and 
garden  hedges;  and,  when  grown  singly,  is  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able of  small  trees.  Its  orange-like  foliage  is  so  brilliant,  and  its 
erratic  luxuriance  of  growth  so  extraordinary,  that  it  is  difficult  to 
realize  that  plants  of  the  same  tree  can  be  confined  within  the 
formal  limits  of  a  narrow  hedge.  —  Scott,  The  Suhurhan  Gardoier, 
480. 

This  tree  is  better  known  beyond  the  Mississippi  by  its  French 
name  of  Bois  d^arc,  where  it  was  used  by  the  Indians  for  their 
bows.    See  Bois  d^Arc. 
Oswego  Tea.    (Monarda  didyina.)    A  medicinal  plant  prepared  by 

the  Shakers  for  its  aromatic  and  stomachic  properties. 
Ouch!  Oh!  ah!  An  exclamation  of  pain.  Much  used  at  the  South. 
Ought.  1.  As  this  verb  is  defective,  and  has  no  inflection  to  distin- 
guish past  from  present  time,  illiterate  persons  often  attempt  to 
supply  the  deficiency  by  the  use  of  auxiliaries.  Hence  the  expres- 
sions, donH  ought,  had  ought,  hadnH  ought.  Mr.  Pegge  notices  the 
two  last  among  the  vulgarisms  of  London. 

Now,  you  hadn't  ought  to  be  so  stingy  with  such  charming  daughters  as 
you 've  got.  —  Major  Jones's  Courtship,  p.  67. 

Peter  Cram  is  an  impostor  and  ignoramus,  and  you  hadnH  ought  to  have  rec- 
ommended him.  —  Knickerbocker  Mag.,  Vol.  XVIII. 

"The  luggage  must  be  brought  in,"  said  the  elderly  gentleman.    "Yes,  I 
should  think  it  had  oughter,''  observed  the  young  man  in  reply.    "I  should 
bring  it  in,  if  it  was  mine."  —  Mrs.  Clavers's  Forest  Life,  Vol.  I.  p.  96. 
They  call  the  man  unfortunate  who  ruins  half  the  cit}"-,  — 
In  m}'  day  'twas  his  creditors  to  whom  we  gave  our  pity. 
But,  then,  I  tell  my  daughter. 
Folks  don't  do  as  they 'd  ough'-ter. 

From  the  Olive  Branch. 

2.  A  vulgarism  for  naught,  as  an  arithmetical  word;  zero. 

Out,  adj.  "The  wind  is  out"  (outward,  comes  from  the  sea). 
Connecticut. 

Out,  n.  1.  A  person  not  having  position  or  office.  "The  outs  wish 
to  be  ins,  and  the  ins  do  not  wish  to  be  ow^s."  —  Newspapers  Siud 
familiar  usage. 


OUT— OVE 


448 


2.  Unfavorable  condition  or  feeling;  the  being  "  out  of  humor." 
Mrs.  H.  B.  Stowe.    See  In. 
To  out.    To  "  out  the  candle  "  means,  at  the  South,  to  put  out  the 
candle. 

Outen.  Miss  Bobbet  and  Josiah  Allen's  wife  call  upon  Horace 
Greeley,  of  whom  the  former  was  a  great  admirer:  — 

Betsy  took  a  bottle  of  hartshorn  outen  her  pocket,  and  advanced  onto  him, 
and  says  she,  in  tender,  cooin*  tones,  "  Does  your  intellectual  head  ache  V  Let 
me  bathe  that  lofty  forwerd.    And  oh !  dearest  man,  will  you  give  me  a  lock 
of  your  noble  hair."  — Betsy  Bobbet,  p.  393. 
An'  since  the  whole  trade  has  grown  easy,  'twould  be  eas}'  enough,  I 've  a  whim, 
If  you  was  agreed,  to  be  makin'  an  editor  out-en  of  Jim. 

Carlton,  Farm  Ballads,  p.  85. 

Outer.  Out  of.  "  Whar  are  you  from  outer?  "  is  a  common  expres- 
sion in  Kentucky  and  the  neighboring  States,  meaning.  Where  ao 
you  come  or  hail  from  ? 

Outfit.  Allowance  to  a  public  minister  of  the  United  States,  on  gomg 
to  a  foreign  country,  which  cannot  exceed  a  year's  salary.  —  Wor- 
cester. 

In  the  Far  West  and  on  the  Plains,  every  thing  is  an  outfit,  from  a  railway 
train  to  a  pocket-knife.  It  is  applied  indiscriminately, — to  a  Avife,  a  horse,  a 
dog,  a  cat,  or  a  row  of  pins.  —  McClure,  Rocky  Mountains,  p.  211. 

Out  of  Fix.  Disarranged;  in  a  state  of  disorder.  Out  of  kilter  is 
used  in  the  same  sense. 

The  week  was  the  longest  one  ever  was.  It  seemed  to  me  that  the  axletree  of 
the  world  wanted  greasin',  or  somethin'  or  other  was  out  of  fix,  for  it  didn't 
seem  to  turn  round  half  so  fast  as  it  used  to  do.  — Major  Jones'' s  Courtship,  p.  80. 

Out  of  Whack.    Out  of  repair,  as  machinery,  &c.  Virginia. 
Outsider.    A  term  applied  by  those  in  office,  or  in  any  association,  to 
tho.se  outside  of  it. 

A  large  number  of  outsiders  have  gone  to  the  free-soil  convention  at  Buffalo.  — 
Lowell  .Tournal. 

Out  West,  Out  South,  instead  of  West  and  South. 

Over,  for  under.  In  these  expressions,  "  He  wrote  over  the  signature 
of  Junius;  "  "  He  published  some  papers  over  his  own  signature." 
A  few  of  our  writers  still  countenance  this  unwarrantable  innovation; 
but  the  principle  on  which  it  is  defended  would  unsettle  the  whole 
language.  The  use  of  the  word  under,  in  phrases  like  those  above 
mentioned,  is  as  well  established  as  any  English  idiom.  — Pickering. 

Had  our  friend  U.,  of  Philadelphia,  duly  meditated  this  matter,  he  never 
would  have  sent  us  a  letter  with  such  an  unpoetical  expression  in  it  as  the  very 
common  blunder  of  "  over  the  signature,"  for  the  metaphorical  phrase  originally 


444 


OVE 


derived  from  the  ensign  of  the  soldier,  the  device  of  the  knight,  the  armorial 
bearing  of  the  baron,  the  totem,  if  you  please,  of  the  Indian  sachem,  under 
which  he  presents  himself  to  the  world.  U.,  as  a  lawyer,  must  at  least  be  more 
or  less  familiar  with  the  phrase,  "given  under  my  hand  and  seal,"  as  a  true 
English  idiom,  albeit  the  hand  and  seal  (which  in  this  instance  constitute  "  the 
signature")  are  placed  at  the  bottom  of  the  document.  We  do  not  talk  of  a 
vessel  sailing  "over"  the  flag  of  the  United  States,  when  her  ensigns  are  sent 
below  at  sunset!  —  N.  Y.  Lit.  World. 

Over,  for  by.  "  They  left  Boston  for  New  York  oyer  the  Provi- 
dence Railroad." 

Over  and  above,    1.  Tolerable;  middling.    "  How  are  you  to-day  ?  " 
"  So  so,  not  oDer  and  above  well." 
"  How  did  your  crop  turn  out  ?  " 

"Well,  not  over^n  aftoue  good,"  said  Tappermine.  —  Habberton,  The  Barton 
Experiment,  p.  125. 

2.  Exceedingly;  very.  "  I  don't  think  our  friend  Phineas  is  over 
and  above  scrupulous  as  to  how  he  makes  his  money."  "  He 's  not 
over  and  above  pious." 

Overcrop.  A  planter  or  farmer  is  said  to  overcrop  himself  when  he 
plants  or  "  seeds  "  more  ground  than  he  can  attend  to. 

Overcup  White  Oak.    See  Burr  Oak. 

Overly.     Excessively.    "Is  old  man  Boone  rich?"     "Why,  not 

overly  so."  Western. 
To  overrun.    To  run  over. 

Economy,  Rupp's  community  near  Beaver,  was  lately  overrun  by  a  delighted 
traveller,  &c.  —      Y.  Tribune,  June  16,  1849. 

Overslaugh.  (Dutch,  overslag.)  1.  A  bar,  in  the  marine  language 
of  the  Dutch.  The  overslaugh  in  the  Hudson  River,  near  Albany, 
on  which  steamboats  and  other  vessels  often  run  aground,  is,  I 
believe,  the  only  locality  to  which  this  term  is  now  applied  among 
us. 

2.  A  skipping  over. 

Samuel  Woodworth,  author  of  the  well-known  song  of  "  The  Old 
Oaken  Bucket,"  in  a  poem  upon  "  Old  New  York,"  thus  refers  to 
the  Hudson  River  overslaugh :  — 

To  visit  Albany  or  Troy 

Was  quite  an  enterprise  ; 
In  Tappan  Zee  the  wind  was  flawy, 

And  billows  oft  would  rise. 
And  then  the  overslaugh  alone 

For  weeks  detained  a  few : 
Steamboats  and  railroads  were  unknown, 
When  this  old  house  was  new. 

New  York  Post,  March,  1877. 


OVE 


445 


To  overslaugh.  (Dutch,  overslaen,  and  from  the  verb.)  To  skip 
over,  pass  over,  omit.  A  word  used  by  New  York  politicians,  to 
signify  that  the  direct  line  of  elevation  in  office  is  not  observed, 
and  especially  when  an  ' '  outsider  ' '  is  appointed  over  the  heads  of 
those  already  in  office. 

Mr.  Polk  intended  making  General  Butler  commander-in-chief,  and  to  drop 
General  Scott.  But  it  was  found  that  public  opinion  would  not  be  reconciled  to 
overslaughing  Taylor,  and  he  [General  Taylor]  Avas  nominated.  —  Washington 
Correspondent,  N.  Y.  Com.  Adv.,  Oct.  21,  1846. 

The  attempt  to  overslaugh  officers  entitled  to  rank  in  the  highest  grade  in  the 
service  is  about  to  be  repeated  in  a  somewhat  different  way  in  a  lower  grade, 
and  we  desire  to  call  attention  to  the  facts.  — N.  Y.  Courier  and  Enq.,  Oct.,  IS-tS. 

If  the  conspiracy  of  the  Calhounites  with  a  few  doughfaces  of  the  North  to 
overslaugh  him  [BentonJ  succeeds,  it  will  render  him  the  stronger  in  Missouri, 
and  make  his  re-election  to  the  Senate  more  certain.  — N,  Y.  Tribune,  Dec.  20, 
1849. 

The  Boston  Herald,"  April  8,  1877,  in  speaking  of  a  bill 
before  the  Legislature  of  Illinois,  to  control  the  operations  of  the 
"  bummer  element  "  at  primary  political  meetings,  says:  — 

The  law  is  to  be  available  .  .  .  for  giving  primary  meetings  more  dignity  and 
importance,  and  encouraging  the  better  class  of  voters  to  come  out  without  fear 
of  being  overslaughed  by  the  rowdy  elements  of  the  community. 

Over-smart.    Smart  to  excess ;  very  capable.  Connecticut. 

Over  Street,  for  across  the  street.    New  York. 

To  overture.  To  propose.  A  word  in  common  use  in  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  in  speaking  of  laying  a  subject  before  an  ecclesias- 
tical body  for  its  consideration. 

Over  the  Left.    An  expression  used  to  give  to  the  words  it  accom- 
panies a  meaning  directly  opposite  to  that  which  they  would  other- 
wise have.    Common  in  England. 
At  a  county  court  held  in  Hartford,  Sept.  4,  1705, 

Whereas  James  Steel  did  commence  an  action  against  Bevel  Waters  (both  of 
Hartford),  in  tliis  court,  upon  hearing  and  tryall  whereoff  the  court  gave  judg- 
ment against  the  said  Waters  (as  in  justice  they  think  they  ought),  upon  the 
declaring  the  said  judgment  the  said  Waters  did  review  to  the  court  in  March 
next,  that  being  granted  and  entered,  the  said  Waters,  as  he  departed  from  the 
table,  said,  ''God  bless  you  over  the  left  shoulder.'''' 

The  court  ordered  a  record  thereof  to  be  made  forthwith. 

A  true  copie  :  Test  Caleb  Stanley,  Clerk. 

At  the  next  court.  Waters  was  tried  for  contempt,  for  saj'ing  the  words  recited, 
"so  cursing  the  court;  "  and,  on  verdict,  fined  £b.  He  asked  a  review  at  the 
court  following,  which  was  granted;  and,  pending  trial,  the  court  asked  counsel 
of  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Woodbridge  and  Buckingham,  the  ministers  of  the  Hartford 
churches,  as  to  "the  common  acceptation  "  of  the  offensive  phrase.  Their  reply 
constitutes  a  part  of  the  record,  and  is  as  follows :  — 


446 


OWD— PAC 


We  are  of  opinion  that  these  words,  said  on  the  other  side  to  be  spoken  by 
lievol  Waters,  include  [1]  prophaneness,  by  using  the  name  of  God,  that  is  holy, 
with  such  ill  words  whereto  it  was  joyned ;  [2]  that  they  carry  great  contempt  in 
them,  arising  to  the  degree  of  an  imprecation  or  a  curse,  the  words  of  a  curse 
being  the  most  contemptible  that  can  ordinarily  be  used.       T.  Woodbhidge. 

March  7,  1705-G.  T.  Buckingham. 

The  former  judgment  was  affirmed  on  review.  This,  it  is 
believed,  is  the  earliest  instance  of  the  use  of  this  phrase  to  be 
met  with,  at  least  in  this  country. 

"Cette  putain  qui  ne  vous  aime 
Que  de  yauche  et  pour  le  profit," 

are  the  first  two  lines  of  an  epigram  (of  which  the  remainder  will 
not  bear  transcription),  in  Le  Parnasse  Satyrique  (1611). 
Owdacious,  for  audacious.    Southern  and  Western. 

He  had  a  daughter  Molly,  that  was  the  most  enticin',  heart-distressin'  creature 
that  ever  made  a  feller  get  owdacious.  —  Robh,  Squatter  Life. 

Why,  Major,  you  wouldn't  take  such  a  likely  gall  as  that  to  New  York  ?  The 
abolitionists  would  have  her  out  of  your  hands  quicker  than  you  could  say  Jack 
Robinson.  I  v/as  never  so  owdaciously  put  out  with  the  abominable  abolitionists 
before.  It  was  enough  to  make  a  man  what  wasn't  principled  agin  swearin' 
cuss  like  a  trooper.  —  Major  Jones's  Travels. 

Own  up.    To  confess ;  to  make  a  clean  breast. 

Oyster-Fish.    See  Toad- Fish. 

Oyster-Shucker.    An  oyster-opener.  Southern. 

P. 

Paas.  (Pron.  paws,  with  s  hard.)  (Dutch,  Paasch.)  This  Dutch 
name  is  commonly  applied  to  the  festival  of  Easter,  in  the  State 
of  jSlew  York. 

Paas  Bloomachee,  i.  e.  Easter  flower.  (Narcissus  pseudo-narcissus.) 
Not  the  Pasque  Flower  of  botanists,  but  the  common  Yellow  Daffo- 
dil.   The  Calla  is  frequently  called  Easter  Lily. 

Paas  Eggs.  Hard-boiled  eggs  cracked  together  by  New  York  boys  at 
the  Easter  season.  They  are  often  dyed  of  various  colors  in  boil- 
ing. 

To  pack.  To  transport  in  packs  or  packages;  and  hence  simply  to 
carry.  "  Are  you  going  to  pack  that  rock  all  the  way  home  ?  "  said 
to  a  person  who  had  secured  a  bit  of  stone  containing  a  fine  fossil. 
Western. 

We  reached  Bull  Creek  about  two  o'clock,  and  there  gave  the  mules  some  rest. 
Just  before  reaching  it,  Joe  killed  an  antelope,  of  which  we  had  seen  several.  We 


PAD— PAL 


447 


packed  the  hams  and  shoulders  to  camp.  —  T.  A.  Culbertson,  in  Fifth  Smithson. 
Report,  p.  91. 

Paddle.  1.  A  wooden  instrument  with  which  negroes  are  punished, 
shaped  like  the  paddle  of  a  canoe,  with  holes  bored  through  the 
blade.    See  Cohb. 

2.  A  paddle-wheel.    "  The  steamer's  paddles  were  torn  away  by 
the  floating  ice." 

To  paddle.    To  punish;  to  beat  with  the  sticks  of  a  paddle. 

All  the  starving,  paddling,  and  pickling  in  the  world  will  not  insure  good  crops, 
N.  Y.  Tribune. 

His  master  had  paddled  to  death  three  of  his  fellow-slaves.  — Newbern  Cor. 
of  The  Independent,  May  15,  1862. 

To  paddle  one's  own  Canoe.  A  figurative  Western  phrase,  mean- 
ing to  make  one's  own  way  in  life,  to  be  the  architect  of  one's 
own  fortunes.  Comp.  the  French  proverbial  saying:  "  II  conduit 
bien  sa  barque." 

Voyager  upon  life's  sea, 

To  yourself  be  true  ; 
And,  where'er  your  lot  may  be, 

Paddle  your  own  canoe. 


Leave  to  Heaven,  in  humble  trust, 

All  you  will  to  do ; 
But,  if  you  succeed,  you  must 

Paddle  your  own  canoe. 

Harper's  Magazine,  May,  1854. 

Pain-Killer.  A  nostrum  made  at  Providence,  R.  1.,  by  Perry  Davis 
&  Son,  which  has  a  world-wide  fame.  It  is  as  popular  in  India, 
China,  Japan,  and  throughout  Europe,  as  it  is  in  the  United 
States. 

Paint.  In  some  of  the  Southern  States,  a  horse  or  other  animal  which 
is  spotted  is  called  a  paint. 

Painter.  A  corruption  of  panther.  The  popular  name  of  the  cougar  or 
panther.    See  Puma. 

"  You  don't  know  the  way,"  said  Obed  :  "  snakes  '11  bite  ye ;  there 's painters 
in  the  woods,  and  wild-cats  and  owls."  — Margaret,  p.  27. 

Pair  of  Stairs.  An  expression  often  used  for  a  flight  of  stairs.  Found 
in  Evelyn's  Diaiy,  June  10,  1640. 

Palace  Car.  An  elegantly  fitted  car  or  railway  carriage  now  intro- 
duced on  most  of  our  railways:  they  are  also  called  drnioing-room 
cars.  They  were  finst  introduced  by  Mr.  Pullman  of  Chicago,  and 
for  a  time  were  called  Pullman  cars. 


448 


PAL 


Beauty  in  distress  may  recline  on  the  sofas  of  a  palace  car  all  the  way  [from 
Halifax  to  San  Antonio],  nor  leave  one  palace  for  another,  but  under  the  shelter 
of  a  station.  —  E.  E.  Hale,  Adventures  of  a  Pullman,  p.  viii. 

Pale-Faces.    A  term  applied,  or  said  to  be  applied,  by  the  American 

Indians  to  the  whites.    See  Ball-Face. 

"  Yes,"  muttered  the  Indian,  "  the  pale-faces  are  prattling  women !  They  have 
two  words  for  each  thing,  while  a  red-skin  will  make  the  sound  of  his  voice  speak 
for  him."  —  Coojjer,  Last  of  the  Mohicans. 

The  brave  Tecumseh's  words  are  good: 
"  One  league  for  terror,  strife,  and  blood, 
Must  all  our  far-spread  tribes  unite; 
Then  shall  the  paleface  sink  to  night." 

Colton,  Tecumseh,  xviii. 
But,  Yengee,  hear:  The  pale  faced  strangers  came; 

No  runners  told  us  that  they  trod  our  shores : 
Near  the  big  waters  rose  their  council  flame, 
And  to  it  ran  our  Eastern  Sagamores. 

Durfee,  Whatcheer,  Canto  IV.  xxxv. 
Palm.  (Pron.  paum.)  To  smutch  with  the  hands.  New  England. 
Palmateer.    See  Parmateer. 

Palm  Cabbage.  The  young  terminal  bud  or  sprouting  leaf  of  the  Areca 
oleracea  and  of  some  other  palms,  used  as  a  culinary  vegetable  when 
sufficiently  tender. 
Palmetto.  {Chamoerops  palmetto.^  A  perennial  plant  strongly  mark- 
ing climate.  It  commences  in  the  same  regions  with  Long  Moss ; 
that  is  to  say,  about  33°.  It  throws  up  from  a  large  root,  so  tough 
as  to  be  cut  with  difficulty  by  an  axe,  and  hard  to  be  eradicated 
from  the  soil,  large,  fan-shaped  palms,  of  the  most  striking  and 
vivid  verdure,  and  ribbed  with  wonderful  exactness.  It  is  used  by 
the  savages  and  the  poorer  Creoles  as  thatch  for  their  cabins  ;  and 
from  the  tender  shoots  of  the  season,  properly  prepared,  a  very  use- 
ful kind  of  summer  hats,  called  palmetto  hats,  is  manufactured.  — 
Flint,  Geogr.  of  Miss.  Valley. 

When  they  came  to  the  river  which  the  Governourhad  passed,  they  found  Pal' 
mitos  vpon  low  Palmetrees  like  those  of  Andaluzia.  — HaMuyt,  Virginia  Richly 
Valued  (1609),  p.  30. 

Of  all  the  trees  that  is,  or  ever  were. 

None  to  the  straight  Palmeta  may  compare. 

Hardie,  Last  Voyage  to  Bermudas  (Lond.  1671),  p.  9. 

Palmetto  City.    The  city  of  Augusta,  the  capital  of  South  Carolina; 
so  called  from  the  arms  of  the  State,  which  contain  a  palmetto. 

In  the  delightful  temperature  of  to-day,  with  the  rich  foliage  of  the  trees  in 
green  luxuriance,  and  the  perfumes  of  a  thousand  bedstof  flowers  burdening  the 
air,  ih.^  Palmetto  capital  is  exceedingly  pleasant.  — Letter  from  Charleston,  N.  Y. 
Tribune. 


PAL— PAN 


449 


Palmetto  State.    The  State  of  South  Carolina.     Uuring  the  lato 
civil  war,  the  soldiers  from  the  State  were  called  "  Palmetto  Boys.''^ 
March,  march  on,  brave  Palmetto  Boys, 

Sumter  and  Lafayette,  forward  in  order; 
March,  march,  Calhoun  and  Rifle  Boys, 
All  the  base  Yankees  are  crossing  the  border. 

Charleston  Mercury,  1861,  War  Song. 

Palmilla.    See  Soap-Plant.    (Sp.  palmilla  is  a  sort  of  bluish  cloth.) 

Pandowdy.  Food  made  of  bread  and  apples  baked  together.  —  Worces- 
ter. New  England.  Halliwell  gives  Pandoulde  as  the  Somerset 
name  for  a  custard.    See  Slump  and  Pan-Pie. 

Panel-House  or  Panel-Den.  A  house  of  prostitution  and  theft  com- 
bined. 

Panel-Thief.  A  thief  who,  while  the  victim  is  engaged  with  a  girl  of 
the  town,  enters  the  room  by  a  secret  opening,  and  abstracts  his 
money,  watch,  &c. 

Pan-Handle.  A  part  of  Western  Virginia,  so  called  from  its  shape ; 
the  Pan-handle  running  up  like  a  wedge  between  Pennsylvania 
and  Ohio.    There  is  also  a  Pan-handle  district  in  Texas. 

So  they  whirled  relentlessly  across  the  Pan-Handle,  by  which  domestic  name 
that  funny  strip  of  Western  Virginia  is  known  that  shoots  up  like  an  inverted 
icicle  between  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio.  —  Hale,  Adv.  of  a  Pullman,  p.  30. 

Panier.  (French.  A  basket;  a  hoop  petticoat.)  A  frame-work  of 
steel  or  whalebone  worn  by  ladies  for  the  purpose  of  expanding  their 
dresses ;  also  called  a  tournure  and  a  bustle. 

How  queer  to  my  sight  are  the  fair  promenaders. 

When  bright  afternoons  bring  them  out  to  my  view? 

The  ribbons,  the  flounces,  the  tangled-up  dresses. 

The  balmoral  stocking,  and  heel-lifted  shoe ! 

The  high-towering  chignon,  the  pot-lid  hitched  to  it; 

The  back-hair  turned  up  where  the  waterfall  fell; 

The  cotton  device  —  those  things  I  '11  not  mention  — 

And  e'en  the  plump  j9a«ier  that  makes  such  a  swell,  — 

The  wonderful /xmier,  the  flip-flappy /earner, 

The  ex-bustle  panier,  that  makes  such  a  swell ! 

New  York  Mail,  The  Panier  in  a  Windy  Day. 

Panning  or  Panning  out.  A  term  employed  by  gold  miners  to  denote 
the  process  by  which  grains  of  gold  are  separated  from  the  earth 
with  which  it  is  mingled.  The  earth  with  water  is  put  in  a  pan 
and  then  shook,  when  the  gold  sinks  to  the  bottom. 

The  [Mexican]  greasers  went  panning  up  the  hill,  and  found  what  Avas  the  rich- 
eflt  pocket  that  the  region  has  yet  produced.  —  Mark  Twain,  Roughing  It,  p.  438. 

We  mingled  freely  with  the  miners,  and  witnessed  the  process  of  cleaning  up 
and  panning  out,  which  is  the  last  process  of  separating  the  pure  gold  from  the 
fine  dirt  and  black  sand.  —  Gen.  Sherman's  Memoirs,  Vol.  I.  p.  53. 

29 


450 


PAN— PAR 


Pan-Pie.    Same  as  Pandowdy^  which  see. 

Pantaloonery.    The  particular  description  of  fabrics  from  which  pan- 
taloons are  made.    A  word  used  by  the  merchant  tailors  in  their  ad- 
vertisements.  "  Cotton  pantaloonery  very  active."  —  Prices  Current. 
Pants.    Pantaloons;  in  England,  generally  called  trousers.    A  word 
borrowed  from  the  language  of  tailors'  bills. 

The  things  namQ&  jxints  in  certain  documents, 
A  word  not  made  for  gentlemen,  but  gents. 

Holmes's  Poems,  p.  217. 

Papaw.  (Asi7mna  triloba.)  A  wild,  fruit-bearing  shrub  of  the  Annona 
family,  remarkable  for  its  beauty;  also  called  Custard  Apple.  The 
fruit  is  nutritious,  and  a  great  resource  to  the  Indians.  "  The  pop- 
ular name  of  Papaw,"  says  Gray,  in  his  "  N.  Amer.  Genera,"  "  was 
doubtless  given  to  the  fruit  from  a  fancied  resemblance  in  the 
appearance  or  taste  of  the  fruit  to  the  true  Papaw  of  tropical  Amer- 
ica." By  the  French  of  Upper  Louisiana  and  the  Canadas  called 
Assiminier  (Michaux,  North  Am.  Sylva,  Vol.  II.  p.  33),  whence 
the  name  of  the  genus  Assune-minnar.,  stony  fruit.  The  fruit  con- 
tains several  large  triangular  stones.  The  plant  is  also  noted  for 
the  pliability  and  toughness  of  its  twigs,  well  known  as  substitutes 
for  parts  of  broken  harness.  The  papaw  of  the  tropics  (Carica 
papaya)  is  a  very  different  plant.    See  Melon  Fruit. 

Poor  Jeff  Davis, 
His  low  grave  is 
Made  beneath  ajimv-jjaiv  tree: 
He  is  laid  out, 
He  is  played  out 
On  the  land  and  on  the  sea.  —  Vanity  Fair. 
Paper  City.    A  town  plot.    Said  of  cities  in  embryo,  the  names  of 
which  are  put  in  maps  and  plans  with  their  streets,  public  places, 
&c.,  laid  down  and  named,  the  work  of  speculators  who  hope,  by 
these  displays,  to  attract  settlers.    See  City. 
Pappoose.    Among  the  native  Indians  of  New  England,  a  babe  or 
young  child.  —  Roger  Williams.    It  is  applied  by  the  whites  to 
Indian  infants  in  general. 

Where  the  Indian  squaw  hung  her  young  pappoose  upon  the  bough,  and  left  it 
to  squall  at  the  hush-a-by  of  the  blast,  the  Anglo-Saxon  mother  now  rocks  the 
cradle  of  her  delicate  babe. —  Dow's  Sermons. 
Pappoose-Root.  (Caulophyllum  thalictroides.)  A  plant  called  also  Blue 
Cohosh. 

Parbuckle.  (Marine.)    A  rope  arranged  to  draw  casks  up  cellar  steps 

or  an  inclined  plane. 
Pard.    Much  used  in  California  for  partner 


PAR— PAS 


451 


Parish.  In  Louisiana,  a  parish  is  what,  in  other  States,  is  called  a 
county. 

To  parmateer  or  palmateer.  To  electioneer;  evidently  a  corruption 
oi  parliamenteer,  to  electioneer  for  a  seat  in  parliament.  This  term 
is  very  common  in  the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  beyond  which  I  think 
it  does  not  extend. 

Our  people  talk  a  great  deal  about  emancipation;  but  they  know  it's  all 
bunkum,  and  it  serves  to  palmateer  on,  and  makes  a  pretty  catchword.  —  Sam 
Slick,  Human  Nature,  175. 

Particular.  To  express  indifference,  they  say  in  Pennsylvania,  "  It 's 
not  particular,^'  instead  of  "No  matter  ;  "  sometimes,  "It  makes 
no  matter." 

Partly.  Mr.  Pickering  notices  the  use  of  this  word  in  the  sense  of 
nearly,  almost,  in  some  towns  of  the  Middle  States.  "  His  house  is 
partly  opposite  to  mine,"  i.e.  nearly  opposite.  "It  is  jjartly  all 
gone,"  i.  e.  nearly  all  gone. 

Partridge-Berry.  A  name  applied  both  to  Gaultlieria  procumbens,  or 
Creeping  Wintergreen,  and  to  Mitclie.lla  repens.  The  scarlet  fruit 
of  both  is  similar  in  appearance,  highly  flavored  in  the  former,  but 
tasteless  in  the  latter.  In  some  parts  of  New  England,  it  is  known 
as  the  Pigeon-berry. 

To  pass  a  Dividend.  When  the  directors  of  a  bank,  insurance  com- 
pany, railway,  or  other  corporation,  vote  against  declaring  a  dividend, 
it  is  CdllQd  passing  it. 

We  have  corruption  in  railway  inanagement,  finesse  in  telegraph  and  steam- 
ship lines,  stock-watering  by  the  hundred  millions,  legislative  rohh^vy,  j^assing 
of  dividends,  —  every  artifice  of  capital  working  under  high  pressure.  —  Medhery, 
Men  and  Mysteries  of  Wall  Street,  p.  212. 

"  assage.  Enactment;  the  act  of  carrying  through  all  the  regular 
forms  necessary  to  give  validity;  as,  the  passage  of  a  law,  or  of  a 
bill  into  a  law,  by  a  legislative  body.  —  Webster.  Mr.  Pickering 
says  this  word  "  is  criticised  by  the  English  reviewers  as  an  Ameri- 
can innovation."  It  is  not  in  the  English  dictionaries  in  this 
sense. 

His  agency  in  procuring  the  passage  of  the  Stamp  Act  was  more  than  sus- 
pected. —  Hosack. 

Po  pass  in  one's  Checks  is  to  adjust  one's  accounts  at  the  end  of  a 

game  of  poker,  whence  it  has  become  at  the  West  a  slang  term  for 
settling  the  final  account  of  life.  It  is  with  reference  to  the  latter 
that  John  Hay  sings :  — 

How  Jim  Bludsoe  passed  in  his  checks 
The  night  of  the  Prairie  Belle. 


452 


PAS— PAT 


When  the  California  miner  called  upon  a  clergyman  to  perform 
the  funeral  ceremonies  of  Buck  Fanshaw,  he  used  the  peculiar  lan- 
guage of  the  region,  which  was  quite  incomprehensible  to  the 
revei-end  gentleman :  — 

"  You  see,"  said  the  miner,  "  one  of  the  boys  has  passed  in  his  checks,  and  we 
want  to  give  him  a  good  send  off;  and  the  thing  I 'm  now  on  is  to  roust  out  some- 
body to  jerk  a  little  chin-music  for  us,  and  waltz  him  through  handsome."  — 
Murk  Twain,  Rouyhiny  It,  p.  332. 

A  New  York  paper,  in  alluding  to  the  protracted  illness  of  Commodore  Vander- 
bilt,  said  the  reporters  and  interviewers  were  waiting  for  him  to  "^ass  in  his 
checks.''^ 

Passion-Flower.  {Passijiora.)  A  genus  of  tendril-bearing  vines, 
most  of  whose  species  are  South  American.  The  early  missiona- 
ries fancied  that  they  found  in  these  flowers  emblems  of  the  imple- 
ments of  Christ's  passion:  the  fringe  representing  the  crown  of 
thorns;  the  large  anthers  fixed  by  their  middle,  hammers;  and  the 
five  styles,  the  nails.  We  have  two  wild  species,  latea  and  incar- 
nata,  common  in  the  South  and  West.  —  Gray.  The  plant  bears 
edible  fruit,  called  grenadillas,  &c. 

Patentable.  That  may  be  patented;  for  which  a  patent  can  be  taken 
out. 

Patent  Agent.    One  who  procures  patents  for  inventors. 

Patent  Right.    A  patent.    In  the  United  States,  an  inventor  takes 

out  a  '■'■patent  right ;  "  in  England,  "  letters-patent." 
Patent-Safe  Game  or  Operation.    A  system  of  trickery,  by  means  of 

a  small  box  made  for  the  purpose,  practised  in  our  large  cities  or? 

verdant  gentlemen  from  the  country. 

General  Scott,  by  a  sort  of  patent  safe  or  Peter  Funk  operation,  diddled  out  oT 

his  ten  thousand,  or  did  Santa  Anna  try  the  trick  merely  to  get  a  little  reaiy 

money  for  the  uses  of  ihe  defensiv^e  garrisons  of  Mexico,  or  how  was  it?  —  N.  Y. 

Herald,  Sept.  1,  1857. 

Patent-Safe  Operator,  A  rogue  who  plays  the  "  patent  safe  game." 
Little  Toddlekins  arrives  about  this  hour,  escorted  by  his  female  guard  of  honor, 
with  a  wonderful  hat,  all  feathers  and  ribbons,  and  his  little  legs  cased  in  stock- 
ings of  the  most  brilliant  hues.  The  guard  of  honor  takes  possession  of  a  bench 
not  too  far  from  a  flashy-looking  man  with  a  black  moustache,  who  is  probably 
Sipatent  safe  operator,  and  with  whom  she  presently  falls  into  conversation.  — 
N.  Y.  Tribune,  Nov.  3,  1858. 

Patroon.  (Dutch,  patroon,  a  patron.)  A  grantee  of  land  to  be  set- 
tled under  the  old  Dutch  governments  of  New  York  and  New 
Jersey. 

The  following  articles,  from  the  "Freedoms  and  Exemptions" 
granted  to  the  Dutch  West  India  Company,  will  show  what  were 
some  of  the  privileges  of  the  Patroons :  — 


PAT— PEA 


453 


Art.  3.  All  such  shall  be  acknowledged  Patroons  of  New^Tetherland,  who  shall, 
within  the  space  of  four  years  next  after  the_y  have  given  notice  to  any  of  the 
Chambers  of  the  Company  here,  or  to  the  Commander  of  the  Council  there,  under- 
take to  plant  a  colonic  there  of  tifty  souls,  upwards  of  fifteen  years  of  age;  one 
fourth  part  within  one  year,  and  within  three  years  of  the  sending  of  the  first, 
the  remainder,  to  the  full  number  of  fifty  persons,  to  be  shipped  from  hence,  on 
pain,  in  case  of  wilful  neglect,  of  being  deprived  of  the  privileges  obtained,  &c. 

Art.  5-  The  Patroons,  hy  virtue  of  their  power,  shall  and  may  be  permitted, 
at  such  places  as  they  shall  settle  their  colonies,  to  extend  their  limits  four  miles 
along  the  shore,  that  is,  on  one  side  of  a  navigable  river,  or  two  miles  on  each 
side  of  a  river,  and  so  far  into  the  country  as  the  situation  of  the  occupiers  will 
permit,  &c. 

Art.  8.  The  Patroons  ma}',  if  they  think  proper,  make  use  of  all  lands,  rivers, 
and  woods  lying  contiguous  to  them,  for  and  during  so  long  a  time  as  this  com- 
pany shall  grant  them  to  other  Patroons  or  particulars. 

For  a  further  account  of  the  privileges  of  the  Patroons^  see  O' Calla- 
han's "  History  of  New  Netherland,"  Vol.  I.  p.  112. 
Patroonship.    The  office  of  a  patroon. 

The  great  Oloffe  indulged  in  magnificent  dreams  of  foreign  conquests  and  great 
patroonships  in  the  wilderness.  —  Irving^  Knickerbocker. 

Pauhagen  or  Pohagen.    See  Menhaden. 

Pay-Dirt.  Auriferous  earth  sufficiently  rich  to  pay  the  miner  for  his 
labor  in  extracting  the  metal. 

There  was  pay-dirt  back  in  the  hills,  but  it  didn't  pay  to  carry  it  down  to  the 
river  and  wash  it  out  by  any  ordinary  process.  —  Ross  Browne.,  Adventures  in  the 
Apache  Country^  p.  77. 

The  bubble  burst,  and  Gila  City  which  came  up  like  a  mushroom  was  deserted, 
and  all  that  was  left  to  mark  the  spot  where  pay-dirt  had  been  found  was  mud 
chimneys  and  rubbish.  —  Cozzens's  Marvellous  Country.,  p.  203. 

Pay-rock  is  the  term  applied  to  quartz  or  other  rock  that  will  pay 
for  mining. 

In  California,  and  most  other  mines  of  the  precious  metals,  shafts  must  be  sunk 
hundreds  of  feet  before  pay-rock  can  be  obtained.  — McClure,  Rocky  Mountains. 

To  peach.    To  reveal  a  secret  to  the  injury  of  another;  to  expose  one. 

Hotten  defines  it,  "  to  inform  against  or  betray."  —  Slang  Die. 

The  "  N.  Y.  Herald,"  May  4,  1876,  commenting  on  the  order  of 
General  Grant  in  reference  to  General  Custer,  says :  — 

This  action  is  on  a  par  with  the  President's  course  in  issuing  a  circular  to  all 
witnesses  against  Babcock  and  Joyce  and  McDonald,  warning  them  that  they 
should  not  expect  mercy  if  they  peached. 

When  "Boss  Tweed"  was  brought  back  to  New  York  (Nov., 
1876),  it  was  intimated  that  he  was  in  possession  of  some  great 
secrets,  which,  if  made  known,  would  reflect  upon  the  character  of 
certain  leading  politicians.  A  writer  in  the  "  N.  Y.  Tribune" 
asks:  — 

Do  3'ou  think  Tweed  will  peach  on  his  friends  ? 


454 


PEA 


Peach-Butter.    Stewed  peaches. 

Peach-Leather.  Peaches  boiled,  rolled  out,  and  dried  in  the  sun. 
Apples  served  in  the  same  way  are  called  apple-leather. 

Pea-Coal.  The  smallest-sized  coal  of  commerce;  nut  coal.  It  is 
obtained  from  sifting  the  larger  sizes.  Its  market  value  is  below 
that  of  larger  size.    See  Coal. 

Peage  or  Peak.  Shells,  or  strings  of  shells,  formerly  used  by  the 
Indians  of  New  England  and  Virginia,  as  well  as  among  the  early 
settlers,  as  money;  also  called  vmnipum  and  seaivan,  which  see. 

No  one  shall  take  any  black  pea/ye  of  the  Indians  but  at  foure  a  penny;  and,  if 
any  shall  take  black  j^e-CKje  under  four  a  penny,  hee  shall  forfeitt  sayd peafje,  one 
halfe  to  the  informer  and  the  other  halfe  to  the  State.  —  Laws  of  Rhode  Island, 
1648. 

The  Indians  [of  Virginia]  had  nothing  which  they  reckoned  riches  before  the 
English  went  among  them,  except  j)eak,  roenoke,  and  such  like  trifles,  made  out 
of  the  cunk  shell.  — Beverly's  Viryinia  (1705). 

The  current  money  of  all  the  Indians  in  Carolina,  and,  I  believe,  of  all  over  the 
continent  as  far  as  the  Bay  of  Mexico,  is  that  which  we  call  peak  and  ronoak. 
This  is  that  which  they  in  New  York  call  wampum.  — Lawson's  Carolina  (1718). 

On  the  Virginia  coast  is  found  that  species  of  conch  shell  which  the  Indian 
2)ea'k  is  made  of.  The  exti'emities  of  these  shells  are  blue  and  the  rest  white,  so 
that/>en^•  of  both  these  colors  are  drilled  out  of  the  same  shell,  serving  the  natives 
both  for  ornament  and  money,  and  are  esteemed  by  them  beyond  gold  and  silver. 
W estover  Papers,  p.  12. 

To  peak  or  peke.  To  peep.  It  is  quite  common  in  the  popular  lan- 
guage of  New  England  to  hear  this  word,  which  Dr.  Webster  sup- 
poses to  be  the  same  as  peep.  If  it  be  a  corruption,  which  is 
doubtful,  the  examples  will  show  that  its  use  is  not  modern. 

Now  whereof  he  speketh. 

He  cryeth  and  he  creketh. 

He  pryeth  and  he  peketh.  — Skelton,  Colin  Cloute,  Vol.  I.  p.  312. 
That  other  pries  and7?e^-es  in  everie  place.  —  Gascoigne  (1577),  p.  301. 
He's  a  lazy,  good-for-nothin'  fellow.    He's  no  better  than  a  j^eaHw^r  mud- 
sucker.  —  Margaret,  p.  20. 

The  convent  committee  visited  the  city  of  Worcester,  and  inspected  the  Catholic 
Seminary.  The  members  of  it  behaved  in  such  an  undignified,  ludicrous,  jt)ee/j- 
ing,  bombastical  manner,  that  they  obtained  the  appellation  of  the  "smelling 
committee." — Worcester  Transcript,  April,  1855. 

As  once  my  dazzled  eyes  I  set 

Where  Julia's  neck  and  bodice  met, 
She  asked  what  I  was  seeking. 

"  There  —  that,"  said  I  :  "  is  that  Nankeen  ? 
The  lining  of  your  waist,  I  mean." 

"No,  sir!  "  said  she,  "  that 's  Pekin  !  " 

Tribune  Almanac^  1855. 


PEA— PEC 


455 


Peaked.  Thin  and  emaciated,  as  from  sickness.  HoUoway  says  that 
in  England  they  say  of  a  sickly  person,  "  He  looks  pale  and  peaked.^' 
The  same  expression  is  often  heard  in  the  Northern  States. 

But  there  was  a  lawyer  a  standing  vip  by  the  grove,  lookin'  as  peaked  and  as 
forlorn  as  an  unmated  coon.  —  Sam  Slick  inEnyland,  ch.  11. 

Peaky  or  Peeky.    Sickly-looking;  peakish. 

The  species  of  decay  to  which  the  cypress-tree  is  liable  shows  itself  in  detached 
spots  in  close  proximity  to  each  other.  Timber  aflected  in  this  way  is  denomi- 
nated by  raftsmen  peeky.  —  Dickeson  on  Cypress  Timber. 

Twistleton  and  his  wife  dined  at  Kent  House  last  night.  She  is  looking  j^eaky 
from  a  cold,  but  otherwise  well.  — Ticknor^s  Life  and  Letters,  Letter  from  Sir 
E.  Head,  Vol.  II.  p.  429. 

Pealer.    1.  A  dashing,  go-ahead  person  or  thing;  a  rouser. 

Miss  Asphyxia's  reputation  in  the  region  was  perfectly  established.  She  was 
spoken  of  with  applause  as  a  staver,  a  pealer,  a  roarer  at  work.  —  Mrs.  Stowe, 
Oldtown  Folks,  p.  117. 

2.  A  policeman.    See  Peeler, 

Peanut.  The  common  name  for  the  fruit  of  the  Arachis  hypogcea.  It 
is  also  called  Ground-nut  and  Earth-nut,  from  its  growing  under 
ground. 

The  Negroes  of  Florida  call  them  pinders.  In  Texas  and  Louisi- 
ana, they  are  known  as  goobers,  ground-peas,  and  goober-peas.  See 
Goohej's. 

The  indigenous  Mexican  name  is  Cacahuatl. 

That  man  who  has  good  peanuts. 

And  will  give  his  neighbors  none, 
He  shan't  have  any  of  my  peanuts. 

When  his  jjeanuts  are  gone. 

College  Songs,  Hamilton,  p.  143. 

Pearl  Tapioca.  A  common  factitious  tapioca  made  from  potatoes. 
Dunglison^s  Med.  Diet. 

Peart.    See  Peert. 

Pea-Time  or  Pea-Pickin'.  "  She  looks  like  the  last  of  pea-pickin'," 
means  that  she  is  all  run  down,  faded,  sickly:  we  all  know  how 
unsatisfactory  and  poor  the  last  peas  are. 

Pecan-Nut.  (Carya  olivceformis.)  A  tree  of  beautiful  form  and 
appearance,  useful  for  building  and  for  making  rails.  Its  nut  is 
long,  cylindrical,  and  olive-shaped,  with  a  shell  comparatively  soft. 
The  meat  lies  in  two  oblong  lobes,  is  easily  taken  out  entire,  and 
excels  all  other  nuts  in  delicacy  of  flavor.  —  Flinty  Geogr.  of  the 
Miss.  Valley. 


456 


PEC— PEE 


Peccary.  (Dicofyles  )  The  native  American  hog,  common  in  South 
AnK'rica,  but  found  also  in  Central  America,  and  as  far  North  as 
New  Mexico  and  Texas.  In  its  habits,  it  is  closely  allied  to  the 
common  hog;  its  gait  is  the  same,  it  roots  up  the  earth  in  a  similar 
manner,  and  expresses  its  feelings  by  the  same  disagreeable  grunt. 
It  differs  from  it  mainly  in  having  under  the  skin  on  the  middle  of 
the  loins  a  gland  which  secretes  a  fluid  of  a  very  offensive  smell. 

Peckerwood.    Western  for  Woodpecker. 

Peculiar  Institution.  Negro  slavery,  so  called  as  being  peculiar  to 
the  Southern  States. 

The  dangers  which  at  present  threaten  the  peculiar  domestic  institutions  of  the 
South  make  it  necessary  that  all  strangers-  from  the  North  should  be  examined 
and  their  business  ascertained.  —  South  Carolina  Gazette. 

Urgent  appeals  were  sent  to  the  sympathizers  of  Senator  Douglas  in  Missouri 
to  attend  and  do  honor  to  the  champion  of  the  peculiar  institution  at  the  meeting 
in  Quincy,  Illinois.  —  N.  Y  Tribune,  Oct.  19,  1854. 

Peeler.  1.  A  crab  just  before  shedding  and  becoming  soft,  when  his 
shell  is  loose,  so  that  it  can  he,  peeled  off  with  the  fingers,  is  called 
peeler.  It  is  the  favorite  bait  for  salt-water  fishing,  in  Maryland 
and  Virginia;  being  attractive  to  all  kinds  of  fish,  from  the  minute 
crocus  up  to  rich  bay  perch,  the  high-flavored  rock,  the  sea  trout, 
and  the  gigantic  drum  fish. 

2.  A  term  sometimes  given  policemen.  So  called  from  Sir  Robert 
Peel,  originally  applied  to  the  Irish  constabulatory  force,  which  was 
established  by  Sir  Robert  Peel.  —  Did.  of  Slang. 

The  vigilant  eyes  of  the  j^eeZers,  placed  on  the  turnpike  for  the  purpose,  arrested 
several  young  men  for  fast  driving.  — Providence  Press. 

To  peel  it.  To  run  at  full  speed.  "  Come,  boys,  peel  it  now,  or 
you  '11  be  late." 

Peert  or  Peart.  Brisk ;  lively.  An  old  word,  still  provincial  in  some 
parts  of  England,  and  probably  a  corrupt  pronunciation  of  pert. 
The  phrase,  "  peert  as  a  lizard,"  is  sometimes  heard.  It  is  used 
in  a  good  as  well  as  a  bad  sense,  and  especially  of  one  who  is  recov- 
ering, or  "looking  up,"  after  a  fit  of  sickness.  In  Virginia,  they 
say  the  wind  blows  quite  joeer^,  i.  e.  briskly. 

Be  modeste  in  yche  assemble,  and  rather  be  rebuked  of  light  felowes  for 
maideii-lyke  shamefastnes,  than  of  yowr  sad  friends  for  j9ert?-fe  boldnes.  —  Sir 
Philip  Sidney,  Letter  in  Life  and  Times  qf',  Boston,  1859,  p.  11. 

Give  your  play-gull  a  stoole,  and  my  lady  her  foole, 

And  her  usher  potatoes  and  ir)arrow  ; 
But  your  poet,  were  he  dead,  set  a  pot  on  his  head, 

And  he  rises  as  peart  as  a  sparrow. —  Bibl.  Brit.,  II.  167. 
I  gave  her  the  best  bend  I  had  in  me,  and  raised  my  bran-new  hat  as  peert 
and  perlite  as  a  minister.  —  Mobb,  Squatter  Life. 


PEE— PEM 


457 


That  fellow  must  think  we  were  all  raised  in  a  saw-mill,  he  looks  so  peert 
whenever  he  conies  in.  —  Hoffman,  Winter  in  the  West. 

Mary's  Y\tQpiert,  and  her  child  is  making  a  monstrous  good  beginnin'  in  the 
world.  —  Major  Jones's  Courtship,  p.  200. 

Well,  I  starts  off  pretty  considerable  peert  and  brisk,  considering  I  was  weak. 
Carlton,  The  New  Purchase,  Vol.  I.  p.  178. 

Knocking  round  the  place,  I  came  upon  one  of  these  fellers  that  grinds  music 
out'n  a  mahogany  box.  He  had  a  little  monkey  along,  —  the  peartest,  least  bit 
of  a  critter  you  ever  seed.  —  Widow  Bayly's  Husband. 

Now  she 's  what  I  call  a  gal,  —  ez  pretty  and  plump  as  a  quail; 
Teeth  ez  white  ez  a  hound's,  and  they 'd  go  through  a  ten-penny  nail; 
Eyes  that  can  snap  like  a  cap.    So  she  asked  to  know  "  whar  I  was  hid  ?" 
She  did !    Oh,  it 's  just  like  her  sass,  for  she  ''s, peart  ez  a  Katy-did. 

Bret  Harte,  LuTce. 

Peet-Weet,  Pewit.  (Tringoides  jnacularius.)  The  spotted  Sandpiper 
or  Sandlark  of  ornithologists,  but  better  known  among  the  people 
by  the  name  of  Peet-weet,  in  allusion  to  its  note ;  or  of  Teeter  and 
Tilt-up  or  Tip-up,  from  its  often  repeated  grotesque  jerking  motions. 

Peevy.  A  strong  lever  of  wood,  the  heavier  end  bound  with  an  iron 
ring  and  armed  with  a  pike.  About  eighteen  inches  from  that  end 
is  a  second  ring,  to  which  is  attached  a  cant-hook.  Used  by  lumber- 
men in  "  breaking  jams,"  and  to  lift  and  roll  lumber.  The  name 
comes  from  Peevy,  its  inventor. 

Pee-Wee.  The  name  given  by  boys  to  a  little  marble.  Algonkin 
(Pewe,  peawe),  small,  little.  —  Cotton'' s  Vocab. 

Peg.  "  To  take  one  down  a  peg  "  is  to  lower  him  in  the  estimation  of 
another;  or,  to  use  another  slang  expression,  "to  take  the  starch 
out  of  him." 

To  peg  away.  To  be  industrious;  to  keep  at  work  continuously;  to 
make  persistent  efforts. 

Pegged  out.    Used  up;  to  be  reduced  to  impotence  or  beggary. 

Pekan.  (Mai'tes  Canadensis.)  The  Algonkin  name  of  the  Fisher; 
Abenaki,  Pekane.  —  Rasles.  Called  also  Woolyneag  and  Wood- 
shock,  q.  V. 

Pelican  State.    The  State  of  Louisiana. 

Pelt.  To  throw.  "  He  pelted  me  with  snow-balls."  A  blow. —  Grose. 
Used  only  in  familiar  language,  and  chiefly  by  boys. 

Pembina.  The  fruit  of  the  Viburnum  edule,  which  Michaux  and 
Gray  regard  as  a  variety  of  the  V.  opulus,  or  Cranberry  Tree  of 
Maine  and  Canada.  So  called  by  the  voyageurs,  who  have  given 
its  name  to  many  rivers  and  lakes  of  the  North.   It  is  the  nipiminam 


458 


PEM— PEO 


(i.  e.  water-berry)  of  the  Crees. — Sir  J.  Richardson^  Arctic  Boat 
Voyage,  Vol.  II.  p.  298-9. 
Pemmican.  A  far-famed  provender  of  man,  in  the  wilds  of  North 
America,  formed  by  pounding  the  choice  parts  of  the  meat  very 
small,  dried  over  a  slow  fire  or  in  the  frost,  and  put  into  bags  made 
of  the  skin  of  the  slain  animal,  into  which  a  portion  of  melted  fat 
is  then  poured.  The  whole,  being  then  strongly  pressed  and  sewed 
up,  constitutes  the  best  and  most  portable  food  for  the  "  voya- 
geurs,^^  and  one  which,  with  proper  care,  will  keep  a  long  time.  Fifty 
pounds  of  meat  and  forty  pounds  of  grease  make  a  bag  of  pemmi- 
can. Sweet  pemmican  is  another  kind,  made  chiefly  of  bones.  — 
Dunnes  Oregon,  p.  59.  See  Mackenzie's  Voyage,  cxxi-ii.  In  the 
far-distant  regions  of  the  North-west,  the  Indians  make  a  Jish 
pemmican,  composed  of  dried  fish  pounded  and  mixed  with  sturgeon 
oil.  — Hind,  Canadian  Red  Rioer  Exp.  o/1857.  Vol.  I.  p.  487. 

While  we  were  discussing  our  usual  dinner  of  hard  dried-meat  and  jyemmican, 
a  hunter  burst  into  the  room  with  the  glad  tidings  that  he  had  killed  a  moose.  — 
Back,  Arctic  Journal. 

If  pemmican  be  the  order  of  the  dav,  the  lean  meat,  after  being  dried,  is 
pounded  into  dust,  and,  being  put  into  u  bag,  is  enriched  with  nearly  an  equal 
weight  of  fat.  —  Sir  G.  Simpsoti's  Journey,  Vol.  I.  p.  92. 

A  correspondent  of  the  "  New  York  Post,"  Sept.  29,  1877,  says:  — 

The  Hudson's  Bay  Co.  send  buffalo  flesh  in  the  shape  of  jjemmican  and  dried 
meat  to  nearly  every  fort  in  the  territory.  It  forms  the  food  of  thousands  of 
voynyeurs  in  their  employ,  their  rations  being  confined  to  pemuiican  and  tea. 

Penny.    A  cent.    See  Copper. 

Pennyroyal.  1.  This  very  English  name  is  given  in  this  country  to 
a  different  plant,  although  the  color  and  taste  of  both  are  nearly 
alike.  The  true  English  pennyroyal  is  a  mint;  the  American  is 
Hedeoma  pulegioides. 

2.  Used  as  an  adjective  to  designate  very  common  stock,  as  a 
pennyroyal  steer  or  bull.  Western. 

Pent-Way.    A  road,  not  public,  and  generally  kept  closed.    A  few 
such  ways  remain  in  New  England.  * 
A  pent-way  with  a  turn-stile  and  gate  at  each  end.  —  Calkins,  Hist.  Norwich. 

Peon.  (Span.)  A  day-laborer.  These  laborers  are  very  often  bond- 
men for  debt;  which,  as  Gregg  describes,  is  thus  brought  about. 
"  They  labor  for  fixed  wages,  it  is  true;  but  all  they  can  earn  is 
hardly  sufficient  to  keep  them  in  the  coarsest  clothing,  and  pay  their 
contingent  expenses.  Men's  wages  range  from  two  to  five  dollars  a 
month,  and  those  of  women  from  fifty  cents  to  two  dollars,  in  pay- 


PEO— PER 


459 


ment  of  which  they  rarely  receive  any  money,  but  instead  thereof 
articles  of  apparel  and  other  necessaries  at  the  most  exorbitant 
prices.  The  consequence  is  that  the  servant  soon  accumulates  a 
debt  which  he  is  unable  to  pay,  his  wages  being  often  engaged  a 
year  or  two  in  advance.  Now,  according  to  the  usages,  if  not  the 
laws  of  the  country,  he  is  bound  to  serve  his  master  until  all  arrear- 
ages are  liquidated ;  and  is  only  enabled  to  effect  an  exchange  of 
masters  by  engaging  another  to  pay  his  debt,  to  whom  he  becomes 
in  like  manner  bound." 

"  If  I  was  going  far  into  Mexico,"  said  the  guide,  "  I  would  always  hire  a 
Mexican  fellow  to  go  with  me,  so  I  could  dress  mean  and  make  him  do  all  the 
business,  so  I  would  be  thought  to  be  his  peon.''''  —  Olmsted^ s  Texas,  p,  33G. 

The  whole  town  was  in  an  uproar,  and  no  one  seemed  to  know  what  it  was 
about.  At  length,  it  was  ascertained  that  one  of  the  herders  was  a^^eon,  and  a 
man  wished  to  seize  and  imprison  him  till  he  could  l>e  restored  to  his  original 
state  of  servitude.  —  Captain  Whipple's  Explorations  to  the  Pacific,  p.  62. 

Peonage.    The  system  of  treatment  pursued  towards  the  laboring 

classes  in  Mexico. 
Pepperidge.    (Ni/ssa  muUiJlora.)    A  name  given  in  the  South  and 

West  to  the  Black  or  Sour  Gum,  also  called  Tupelo.    It  has  a  very 

tough  wood,  which  is  difficult  to  split. 

Periauger.    (Span,  piragua.)    1.  A  canoe  formed  of  one  large  tree. 

Getting  into  a  perio<jue,  I  paddled  oft"  to  a  part  of  the  Green  River  where  there 
was  sand  and  clay.  —  W.  Irciny,  WolferVs  Roost,  p.  2G9. 

At  night,  the  barges  [of  the  British]  were  heard  rowing  up  and  down  the 
river  on  mysterious  errands;  perriauyers  also  paid  them  furtive  visits  occasion- 
ally. —  Irviny's  Washinyton,  Vol.  II.  p.  272. 

Our  skipper  rowed  to  an  oyster-bank  just  by,  and  loaded  his  periauya  with 
oysters.  —  Westover  Papers,  p.  13. 

This  word  is  frequently  corrupted  to  petti/auger. 

On  the  8th,  the  French  crossed  the  Missouri  in  a  pettyauyer,  the  Indians  on 
floats  of  cane,  and  the  horses  were  swam  over.  —  Du  Pratz,  Louisiana,  Vol.  I. 
p.  108. 

2.  A  small  schooner  without  a  bowsprit,  and  with  a  lee-board, 
formerly  much  used  in  the  waters  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey. 

Steamboats,  lighters,  periauyers,  scows,  clam-boats,  and  nondescript  water- 
witches  of  every  sort,  have  arrived  hourly  fmrn  quarantine,  loaded  with  almost 
entire  villages  of  men,  women,  and  children  [German  and  Irish  emigrants]. — 
N.  Y.  Commercial  Advertiser. 

Perk.  Lively;  brisk;  holding  up  the  head. —  Webster.  This  old 
word,  still  provincial  in  England,  is  used  in  the  interior  of  New 
England,  and  is  commonly  pronounced  peark  (the  ea  as  in  pear). 
Pickering.    See  Peert. 


4G0 


PER— PES 


Pernickity.    Fastidious,  over-particiilar.    Heard  in  some  parts  of 

New  England- 
Persimmon.  (Virginia-Indian.  Diospyros  Virginiana.)  This  tree  is 
unknown  in  the  north-eastern  parts  of  our  country;  but  south  of 
latitude  42°  it  is  found  throughout  the  United  States.  It  varies 
exceedingly  in  size,  being  sometimes  sixty  feet  in  height,  with  a 
trunk  twenty  inches  in  diameter,  but  more  frequently  does  not 
attain  half  these  dimensions.  The  fruit  is  about  an  inch  in  diam- 
eter, and  is  powerfully  astringent  wlien  green ;  but,  when  fully  ripe, 
the  pulp  becomes  soft,  palatable,  and  very  sweet.  The  wood  is 
very  hard,  and  is  used  for  large  screws,  mallets,  shoe-lasts,  wedges, 
&c.  In  clearing  the  forests,  the  persimmon  is  usually  preserved ;  and 
it  is  probable  that  the  quality  of  the  fruit  might  be  improved  by 
cultivation.  —  Encyclopcedia  Americana. 

"  The  longest  pole  knocks  down  the  persijnmons,^'  is  a  proverbial 
saying,  meaning  that  the  strongest  party  gains  the  day. 

Plums  there  are  of  three  sorts.  The  red  and  white  are  like  our  hedge  plums; 
but  the  other,  which  they  call  Putchamins,  grow  as  high  as  a  Palmeta,  the  fruit 
is  like  a  Medler,  it  is  first  green,  then  yellow,  and  red  when  it  is  ripe.  If  it  be 
not  ripe,  it  will  draw  a  man's  mouth  awry,  with  much  torment;  but,  when  it  is 
ripe,  it  is  delicious  as  an  apricot.  —  Smith'' s  Virginia  (1632),  Book  II. 

Fersimenas,  and  other  dainty  fruits. — Description  of  New  Albion,  (1648). 
Putchiinon,  Pitchumon,  or  Persimon.  —  Clayton,  Flora  Viryinica  (1743),  p.  43, 
156. 

My  worthy  friends,  to  make  sure  of  happiness,  you  must  be  honest,  kind  to 
one  another,  and  cling  to  the  belief  in  a  better  world  to  come  like  a  "  possum  to 
di persimmon  tree."  —  Dow's  Sermons,  Yo\.  II.  p.  292. 

Persimmon  Beer.    A  kind  of  domestic  beer  whose  principal  ingre- 
dient is  persimmons. 
Pert  End  up.    Better;  more  cheerful.  —  Sherwood^ s  Georgia. 
Peskily.    Confoundedly;  very;  extremely.    I  know  not  the  origin  of 
this  Xew  England  word. 

Skeered,  says  he,  sarves  him  right;  he  might  have  known  how  to  feel  for 
other  folks,  and  not  funkify  them  so  peskily.  — Sam  Slick  in  Enyland. 
I 'm  peskily  sorry  about  that  mare.  — Ibid.,  ch.  28. 

The  post-office  accounts  were  the  next  bother;  and  they  puzzled  all  on  us 
peskily.  —  Major  Doivniny^s  Letters,  p.  139. 

Pesky.    1.  Plaguy,  confounded. 

I  found  it  [looking  for  houses]  a  pesky  sight  worse  job  than  I  expected. 
Downiny,  May-day  in  New  York,  p.  36. 

Orphy  should  have  been  at  home  long  ago,  if  that ^JesZ:^  wheel  hadn't  come 
off  his  Avagon.  —  Fanny  Fern. 

A  couple  of  Yankee  girls  put  a  bullfrog  in  the  hired  man's  bed,  to  see  if  they 
couldn't  get  him  to  talk.    Daniel  threw  the  frog  out  of  the  window,  and  never 


PET 


461 


said  a  word.  Soon  after,  he  put  a  half  a  bushel  of  chestnut-burrs  in  the  girls' 
bed ;  and  about  the  time  he  thought  they  Avould  make  the  least  shadow,  Daniel 
went  to  the  door  and  rattled  the  latch  furiously.  Out  went  the  candle,  and  in 
went  the  girls;  but  they  didn't  stick,  though  the  burrs  did.  Calling  on  them,  he 
begged  them  to  be  quiet,  for  he  only  wanted  to  know  if  they  had  seen  any 
thing  of  that  pesky  bullfrog.    He'd  a  gin  five  dollars  to  find  it.  — Ntwspnper. 

2.  Confoundedly,  excessively. 

Don't  be  so  pesky  starch.  I'll  be  dod-fetched  if  I  meant  any  harm.  I  only 
spoke  of  the  caltj  and  you  went  a  streak  higher  and  talked  of  the  garter.  —  Sam 
Slick,  Human  Nature,  p.  195. 

I  wonder  how  he 's  on 't  for  face-cards ;  ha !  ha !  So  2>e^ky  slow,  we  shan't  get 
through  to-night.  —  Marcjaret,  p.  305. 

The  thing  of  it  is,  people  has  got  to  be  so  pesky  proud  and  polite.  —  Ibid.,  p.  lil. 

To  peter.  To  run  up  a  thing  at  an  auction  sale.  Petering  is  by- 
bidding. 

To  peter  out.    To  exhaust ;  to  run  out. 

The  speculator  recommended  a  gentleman,  Avho  held  stock  in  the  Consolidated 
Virginia,  to  sell  out  at  any  sacrifice,  as  the  mines  were  petered  out. — Boston 
Post,  May  5,  1876. 

The  influence  of  the  Hon.  ,  formerly  a  Democratic  politician  of  some 

prominence,  seems  to  have  <\m.tQ petered  out.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Feb.  28,  1877. 

Peter  Funk.  At  the  petty  auctions,  a  person  is  employed  to  bid  on 
articles  put  up  for  sale,  in  order  to  raise  their  price.  Such  a  person  is 
called  a  Peter  Funk ;  probably  from  such  a  fictitious  name  having 
frequently  been  given  when  articles  were  bought  in.  At  the  "  mock- 
auctions,"  as  they  are  called  in  New  York,  this  practice  of  having 
by-bidders  is  carried  to  a  great  extent;  and  strangers,  unacquainted 
with  their  tricks,  are  often  cheated  by  them.  Grose  describes  a 
person  similarly  employed  in  England,  under  the  name  of  "  puffer." 

The  Peter  Funk  of  New  York  is  a  small-souled  pickpocket;  he  does  not 
exactly  cut  through  your  coat  or  pants,  but  under  specious  pretences  he  induces 
3'ou  to  hand  over  your  purse  to  him,  thus  virtually  making  a  cat's  paw  of  your 
owniist;  he  steals  your  cash,  but  does  it  under  a  flimsy  show  of  business;  he 
inveigles  you  into  an  offer,  and  then  either  sells  you  one  article  and  delivers  you 
another  which  is  inferior,  or  multiplies  the  price  you  have  offered  and  the  quan- 
tity you  engaged  to  take. —  Tricks  and  Traps  of  New  York  City. 

Pet  Lamb.    A  cant  term  for  a  Zouave,  which  see. 

A  Pet  Lamb  astonishes  the  Secessionists.  The  Richmond  papers  tell  of  a  Fire 
Zouave  who  was  caught  and  taken  to  Fairfax.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  18G1. 

Petticoat-Trowsers.  Trowsers  very  short,  but  of  great  width,  worn 
by  fishermen.  Massachusetts. 

Petticoat-trowsers  of  striped  linsey-woolsey,  the  leg  short  and  loose,  were  a 
customary  article  of  e very-day  dress  among  the  common  people.  —  Connecticut 
Records. 


462 


PET— PIC 


To  pettifog.  Some  newspaper  writers  use  this  verb  transitively,  in 
the  sense  of  to  advocate  in  the  manner  of  a  pettifogger;  as,  "  He 
pettifogs  his  client's  cause." 

That  was  the  work  of  the  traitors  whose  case  "The  Express  "  thus  skulkingly 
pettifixjs.  —  N.  Y.  Tiibune. 

Pewit  or  Pewee.    See  Phoebe-Bird  and  Peet-Weet. 

Pheasant.  The  popular  name  in  some  of  the  States  for  the  "  ruffled 
grouse." 

Pheese.  A  fit  of  fretfulness.  A  colloquial,  vulgar  word  in  the 
United  States.  —  Worceste?\  The  adjective  pheesy,  fretful,  queru- 
lous, irritable,  sore,  is  provincial  in  England.  —  Forb/j.  Also  writ- 
ten/ee2:(?,  which  see. 

Philadelphia  Lawyer.  "  That  beats  a  Philadelphia  lawyer."  "He 
knows  as  nmch  as  a  Philadelphia  lawyer."  These  are  common 
sayings,  whence  it  is  to  be  inferred  that  the  bar  of  the  Quaker  city 
are  distinguished  for  their  learning  and  shrewdness. 

Phillipena.    See  FiUipeen. 

Philosophy.  Purpose,  method,  and  means  of  attaining  a  desired  end; 
mode  of  operation;  intent.       The  philosophy  of  it  is,"  &c. 

Phoebe-Bird.  (Sayornis  fuscm.)  The  Pewit  or  Pewee,  so  called  from 
a  fanciful  resemblance  in  the  name  to  the  sound  made  by  this  bird. 

Another  of  the  feathered  visitors  who  follow  close  upon  the  steps  of  winter  is 
the  Pewit,  Peewee,  or  Phoebe-bird.  —  Irvinff,  WolftrVs  Roost,  p.  31. 

Pi  and  Pe.  A  weight  (a poise)  as  of  steelyards.  New  London,  Con- 
necticut. 

Picacho.  (Span.,  augmentation  of  pico,  peak.)  A  prominent  peak  or 
elevation  rising  abruptly  above  a  mountain  or  chain  of  mountains. 
They  are  common  landmarks  in  New  Mexico  and  Arizona. 

Almost  due  north  of  the  Sierra  Verde  lies  the  picacho  of  the  Sierra  del  Babu- 
quibari,  one  of  the  orographical  phenomena  of  the  country,  its  peculiarity  being 
such  as  to  iittract  especially  the  attention  of  the  red  men.  — SchotVs  Geological 
Obs.  Mexican  Boundary,  p.  70. 

The  march  before  us  must  be  made,  and  the  sooner  the  picacho  was  reached 
the  better. — Bartlett,  Personal  Narratice,  1852,  Vol.  II.  p.  287. 

Picayune.  The  name  for  the  Spanish  half-real  in  Florida,  Louisiana, 
&c.    See  Federal  Currency. 

Picayune  or  Picayunish.    Sixpenny;  and  hence  small,  mean. 

There  is  nothing  picayune  about  the  members  of  St.  George's  [Cricket]  Club; 
for  the  love  of  sport,  they  will  almost  invariably  enter  upon  matches  tiiat  other 
clubs  would  not  accept.  —  N.  Y.  Herald. 


PIC 


463 


"  Wall,  mister,"  he  said,  " it 's  your  business,  not  mine;  but  I  know  something 
of  that  boat.  She  belongs  to  that  darn  picayunish  old  coon,  Jim  Mason,  and  he  '11 
run  her  till  she  sinks  or  busts  up,  and  then  God  help  the  crowd  " — Notes  on 
Canada,  &c.,  Blackwood's  Mag. 

Pick.  In  mercantile  usage  and  among  manufacturers,  a  pick  is  a 
tiiread.  The  relative  quality  of  cotton  cloth  is  denoted  by  the 
number  of  picks  it  has  to  the  inch. 

To  pick.  In  the  South,  to  pick  the  banjo  or  guitar  means  to  play 
upon  these  instruments.    Comp.  the  French  p)incer. 

Pickaninny.  (Span,  pequeno  nino,  little  child.)  Generally  applied  to 
a  negro  or  mulatto  infant  in  the  Southern  States.  Negroes  apply 
the  same  term  to  white  children. 

I  jest  sauntered  in  as  he  was  puttin'  up  the  pickaninny  yaller  gal,  about  five 
years  old.  — Robb,  Squatter  Life. 

You  can't  be  too  warm,  nor  too  guarded  your  head, 

To  'scape  the  mosquito's  whim  ; 
And  a  nice  pickaninny  that 's  been  well  fed 

Is  a  capital  meal  for  him.  —  Ethiopian  Melodies. 

Pickerel  Weed.  (Pontideria  cordata.)  An  aquatic  plant  bearing  a 
spike  of  blue  flowers,  common  on  the  roadsides  and  in  ditches  in  the 
Middle  States. 

Pickery.    "  Cotton  presses  and  pickeries."  Alabama. 

Pickings  and  Stealings.  The  perquisites  of  office,  not  always  hon- 
estly obtained ;  alike  common  in  England  and  in  the  United  States. 

There  is  an  Irish  M.  P.  here,  —  a  certain  O'Shea,  — who  tells  me  there  are  a 
variety  of  things  [appointments]  to  give  in  the  West  Indies,  with  what  he  calls 
pickings^ — meaning,  I  suppose,  stealings.  Why  not  look  for  one  of  these V  — 
C.  Lever,  One  of  Them,  ch.  xv. 

Pickle.    1.  To  apply  brine  to  sores  made  by  whipping.    See  Paddle. 
2.  To  tear,  or  cut  and  cook,  small  pieces,  as  to  pick  up  salted 
codfish.    New  England.    To  hace  a  rod  in  pickle  is  to  have  ready  or 
in  preparation  the  means  of  checking  or  punishing  one  who  has 
done  an  injury. 

Pick-up.  A  pick-up  dinner,  called  also  simply  a  pick  up,  is  a  dinner 
made  up  of  such  fragments  of  cold  meats  as  remain  from  former 
meals.    The  word  is  common  in  the  Northern  States. 

The  Queen  regretted  that  she  could  not  invite  me  to  stay  to  dinner,  cause  'twas 
washin'  day  in  the  palace,  and  they  only  had  a  pick-up  dinner.  —  Major  Down- 
ing in  London. 

You  tell  Miss  Astor  from  me  that  she  needn't  make  no  fuss  about  dinner  at  all. 
I  will  eat  a picked-up  dinner.  I  had  just  as  lives  as  not.  I  didn't  come  down  here 
to  put  her  out  or  make  any  trouble.  —  Betfy  Bobbet,  p.  302. 


464 


PIC— PIK 


To  pick  up  a  Room  is  to  put  it  in  order.    New  England. 

To  piece.    To  eat  pieces  of  bread  and  butter,  to  eat  between  meals. 

"  He  hasn't  eaten  much  dinner,  because  he 's  been  a  piecin'  on 't  all 

the  mornin'."  Pennsylvania. 
Pie-Plant.    Rhubarb.    {Rheum  rhaponticum.) 
Piert.    Brisk,  lively.    See  Peert. 
Pig- Fish.    See  Sea-Robin. 

Pig-Nut.  (Carya  porcina.)  A  small  species  of  hickory  nut.    The  nuts 

bitter  and  unpalatable. 
Pig-Plum.    See  Hog-Plum. 

Pig- Weed.    A  rank  weed  often  found  about  pig-sties. 

Pig's  Whistle.    "  I'll  do  so  in  less  than  a  pig''s  whistle,^^  that  is,  in 

less  than  no  time.    Pig^s  whisper  occurs  in  "Pickwick"  in  the 

same  sense. 

Pigwick.  A  small  species  of  duck,  very  numerous  in  the  coves  and 
rivers  of  the  eastern  shore  of  Maryland.  It  has  remarkably  red 
eyes,  feeds  on  fish,  keeps  near  the  shore,  and  is  a  great  diver. 

Pig- Yoke.  Among  seamen,  the  name  for  a  quadrant,  from  its  resem- 
blance to  a  pig-yoke. 

Pigeon-Berry.    See  Partridge-Berry. 

Pigeon-Roost.  1.  The  social  and  gregarious  habits  of  pigeons  incline 
them  to  roost  together,  and  their  places  of  resort  are  called  pigeon- 
roosts.^^  In  these  places,  they  settle  on  all  the  trees  for  a  considera- 
ble distance  round,  in  such  numbers  as  to  break  olf  the  branches.  — 
Flint^s  Mississippi  Valley. 

We 've  more  to  do  than  fright  a  Plrjeon-Roost, 
Or  start  a  timorous  Flock  of  Running  Deer. 

Major  R.  Royers,  Ponteach  (Lond.,  1766),  p.  60. 
The  pigeon-roost  in  Decatur  County,  Indiana,  extends  over  a  distance  of 
twenty -eight  miles ;  it  is  about  fourteen  miles  wide.  The  birds  have  not  nested 
at  this  roost  for  thirty  years  until  this  spring.  Over  this  vast  extent  of  country 
every  tree  has  from  ten  to  fifteen  nests,  and  every  nest  at  least  one  bird.  The 
young  are  now  hardly  able  to  fly,  and  the  shooting  is  mere  slaughter.  The  old 
birds  leave  early  in  the  morning  in  search  of  food,  and  return  in  the  evening.  — 
(  Washington)  States,   May  15,  1858. 

2.  A  multitude.  "  A  whole  pigeon-roost  of  undreamed-of  fancies." 
Mrs.  H.  B  Stowe  in  The  Independent. 
Pigeon  Woodpecker.    See  Clape. 

Pike.  The  name  given  in  California  to  the  migratory  Southern  poor 
whites,  said  to  have  originated  from  the  supposition  that  the  first 
of  the  class  came  from  Pike  County,  Missouri.    Next  the  name  was 


PIL 


465 


applied  to  all  emigrants  from  Missouri,  and  finally  to  all  poor  people 
from  the  Southern  States. 

The  true  "  PiX-e,  however,"  writes  Mr.  Nordhoff,  "  in  the  Cali- 
fornia sense  of  the  word,  is  the  w^andering,  gypsy-like.  Southern 
poor  white.  This  person  often  lives  with  his  family  in  a  wagon ; 
he  rarely  follows  any  steady  industry ;  he  is  frequently  a  squatter  on 
other  people's  lands ;  '  he  owns  a  rifle,  a  lot  of  children  and  dogs,  a 
wife,  and,  if  he  can  read,  a  law-book,'  said  a  lawyer,  describing  this 
character  to  me;  he  moves  from  place  to  place,  as  the  humor  seizes 
him,  and  is  generally  an  injury  to  his  neighbors.  He  will  not  work 
regularly;  but  he  has  a  great  tenacity  of  life,  and  is  always  ready 
for  a  law-suit.  .  .  .  When  it  was  proposed  to  build  a  school-house 
in  a  village  where  there  was  none,  the  Pikes  objected,  on  the  ground 
that  the  ringing  of  the  school-house  bell  would  scare  the  deer  away. 
'  As  soon  as  he  hears  a  piano,'  said  an  old  resident,  '  the  Pike  sells 
out  and  moves  away.  .  .  .  Well,  the  Pike  is  the  Chinaman's  enemy. 
He  does  little  work  himself,  and  naturally  hates  the  patient  indus- 
try of  the  Chinese.  Of  course,  if  you  ask  him,  he  tells  you  that  he 
is  '  ruined  by  Chinese  cheap  labor.'  "  —  California^  p.  137. 

i*ile.    1.  (Dutch,  pyl.)  An  arrow.    This  word  is  still  retained  by  the 
boys  of  New  York. 

2.  A  term  first  used  at  the  gaming-table,  and  next  by  our  Cali- 
fornia adventurers,  signifying  a  quantity  of  money.  Hence,  "to 
make  one's  pile  "  is  to  make  one's  fortune.  The  term  seems  to  be 
the  revival  of  an  old  one  used  by  Dr.  Franklin  in  his  ' '  Poor  Rich- 
ard's Almanac  "  for  April,  1741,  where  he  says:  — 

Rash  mortals,  ere  you  take  a  wife, 

Contrive  your  jnle  to  last  for  life. 
Alanthus  Bug  was  planted  in  the  world  as  a  pedler  of  peanuts,  then  gradually 
grew  into  a  grocery  man,  then  budded  into  a  broker,  and  next  into  the  full  blos- 
som of  a  banker;  and  now,  by  the  closest  economy,  he  has  amassed  a  million, 
and  can  point  to  his  pile  with  proud  satisfaction,  and  say,  "  Alone  I  did  it!  "  — 
Cairo,  City  Times 

Since  writing  to  you  last,  I  have  returned  from  Fraser  River  to  San  Francisco, 
having  been  gone  about  four  months.  During  this  time,  with  my  own  hands  I 
dug  S25  worth  of  gold  dust,  and  my  expenses  were  about  $300;  however,  I  have 
clung  to  the  "/n7e,"  and  intend  to  keep  it  as  a  memorial  of  my  trip.  —  T,eMe,r  in 
N.  Y.  Tribune,  Oct.  25,  1858. 

See  Make  one^s  Pile. 

Pill.    1.  A  conceited  man;  a  bore.    Cant.  At  Yale  College,  it  means 
a  silly,  disagreeable  fellow. 

2.  A  bullet  or  cannon-ball.  Cant. 

30 


466 


PIL— PIN 


Pill-Bottle.    A  bottle  for  holding  pills.    In  cant,  a  fire-arm. 

We  almost  vowed  that  the  champagne  made  as  much  noise  as  the  reports  )f 

Uncle  Sam's  '■'■jnll-bottles.''^ 

Pillow-Slip.    A  pillow-case.    New  England. 

Pimping.  Little,  petty;  as,  "  A  pimping  thing. —  Skinner.  Used  in 
the  interior  of  New  England. 

"  Was  I  little  ?"  asked  Margaret.  "Yes,  and  pimpin'  enough.  And  I  fed 
your  marm  with  rue  and  conifrey-root,  or  ve  never 'd  come  to  this."' —  Marrjartt, 
p.  19. 

Pimplo,  I.  e.  Pin-Pillow.  The  name  given  in  Barbadoes  to  the 
Prickly  Pear. 

Pinch.  To  be  in  a  pinch  is  to  be  in  a  tight  place;  to  be  hard  up  for 
money.  Western. 

Pinders.    Peanuts.    South  Carolina. 

Pindling.    Unthrifty;  becoming  gradually  weaker. 

Pine-Barrens.  A  term  applied  to  level,  sandy  tracts,  covered  with 
pine-trees  in  the  Southern  States.  —  Worcester. 

The  road  which  I  had  to  travel  lay  through  a  drear}"-  and  extensive  forest  of 
pine-trees,  or,  as  it  is  termed  by  the  Carolinians,  a  pine-barren,  where  a  habita- 
tion is  seldom  seen,  except  at  intervals  of  ten  or  twelve  miles.  —  Lan>i>trt'i 
Travels,  Vol.  II.  p.  226. 

Pine-Knot.  A  knot  of  the  pitch-pine  tree  (Pinus  rirjida),  which, 
when  biu'ned,  gives  a  bright  light.  These  knots  were  much  used 
by  the  early  settlers  of  New  England,  and  are  still  used  by  the 
Negroes  and  poorer  classes  in  the  South. 

'Twas  on  the  inner  bark  stripped  from,  the  pine, 

Our  Father  pencilled  this  epistle  rare  : 
Two  blazing y;me-A;fto^s  did  his  torches  shine, 
Two  braided  pallets  formed  his  desk  and  chair. 

Durfte,  Whatcheer,  Canto  II.  Ixi. 

The  pilot  stopped  the  engines.  Flash !  from  the  depths  appeared  two  great 
pine-lcnot  torches,  which,  with  the  pine-fire  on  shore,  made  the  whole  as  light  as 
day.  —  E.  E.  Hale,  Adv.  of  a  Pullman,  p.  111. 

Pine-Nut.    The  edible  nut  contained  in  the  cones  of  pine.    See  Pinion. 

Pine-Top.    A  name  given  in  Maryland  to  common  whiskey. 

Pine-Tree  Money.  Money  coined  in  Massachusetts  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  so  called  from  its  bearing  a  figure  resembling  a  pine- 
tree.  —  Wehsler. 

Pine-Tree  State.    The  State  of  Maine. 

Pinery.  In  the  Western  States,  a  place  where  pine-trees  grow,  or  a 
forest  of  pines.  A  Wisconsin  paper,  in  speaking  of  emigration, 
says : — 


PIN 


467 


We  have  noticed  squads  of  hardy  suckers  from  Illinois,  with  their  baggage 
slung  upon  their  backs,  making  their  way  due  north  for  the  2)ine7-ies. 

One  cannot  Avell  imagine  what  that  forest  of  timbers  cost  from  the  time  they 
were  felled  in  the  joineries  beyond  Washoe  Lake.  —  Mark  Tivain,  Roughing  It, 
p.  379. 

The  early  thaw  has  stopped  logging  business  throughout  the  Wisconsin  piner- 
ies, and  no  more  work  will  be  done  this  winter. —  PhUadelphia  Ledger. 

Ever  since  the  first  settlement  of  the  West,  many  have  followed  the  business 
of  running  rafts  from  the  pineries  down  the  Mississippi.  —  Sketches  of  the  West. 

Piney  Woods.  The  name  given  at  the  South  to  a  large  track  covered 
with  pines,  especially  in  the  low  country. 

Pinion.  (Span,  pinon.)  A  species  of  pine-tree  (Pinus  eduUs), 
growing  on  the  head- waters  of  the  Arkansas;  common  to  that 
region  as  well  as  to  New  Mexico,  the  Rocky  Mountains,  &c.  Wild 
turkeys  frequent  groves  of  these  trees  for  the  sake  of  their  nuts, 
which  are  sweet  and  palatable.  Bears  and  other  animals  also  feed 
on  them.    The  Indians,  too,  make  much  of  them.    See  Pine-Nut. 

Two  species  of  pine  grow  on  the  mountains  [of  NeAV  Mexico],  one,  the  so-called 
pinon,  contains  the  cone's  seed  of  small  nuts,  that  are  roasted  and  eaten.  —  Wiz- 
litzemis,  Memoir  on  Northern  Mexico,  1847,  p.  26. 

Upon  each  side  of  the  Zufii  River  are  extensive  forests  of  small  cedars  and 
piUons.  —  Captain  Whipple's  Explorations  to  the  Pacific,  p.  72. 

Pink-Root.  (^Spigelia  Marilandica.)  A  well-known  vermifuge,  the 
plant  being  remarkable  for  its  beautiful  flowers.  It  is  also  known 
as  the  Carolina  Pink. 

Pink-Stern.  (French,  pinque.)  A  vessel  with  a  narrow  stern;  hence 
all  vessels  so  formed  are  called  pink-sterned .  —  Chambers.  This 
species  of  craft  is  very  common  in  the  waters  of  New  England.  See 
Chehacco  Boat. 

Pinky.  {Dntoh,  pink.)  1.  The  little  finger.  A  very  common  term  in 
New  York,  especially  among  small  children,  who,  when  making  a 
bargain  with  each  other,  are  accustomed  to  confirm  it  by  interlock- 
ing the  little  finger  of  each  other's  right  hands,  and  repeating  the 
following  doggerel :  — 

Pinky,  pinky,  bow-bell, 
Whoever  tells  a  lie 
Will  sink  down  to  the  bad  place. 
And  never  rise  up  again. 

2.  A  New  England  vessel  with  bow  and  stern  equally  sharp;  a 
pink-stern.  A  story  is  told  of  a  stranger  accosting  a  fisherman  on 
a  wharf,  and  pointing  to  a  pinky,  said,  "  Does  it  make  any  differ- 
ence which  way  that  boat  sails?"  The  man  replied,  "It  don't 
make  any  difference  to  me." 


468 


PIN—PIP 


Pinole.  (Span.)  Parched  corn,  ground  and  mixed  with  sugar  and 
spices.  This,  mixed  with  water,  is  a  palatable  food,  and  is  much 
used  in  Texas  and  by  parties  crossing  the  plains. 

"  Give  me  a  pack-mule,"  says  Ross  Brown,  "a  shot-i^un,  and  a  sacK  of  pmole, 
with  such  a  climate  [as  that  of  the  desert  of  Colorado],  and  take  your  brick 
deserts  on  Fifth  Avenue  and  be  happy  with  them.  —  Adventures  in  the  Apache 
Country^  p.  49. 

Pinxter.  (Dutch,  pinkster.)  AVhitsunday.  On  Pinxter  Monday,  the 
Dutch  Negroes  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  elsewhere,  consider 
themselves  especially  privileged  to  get  as  drunk  as  they  can. 

Pinkster  fields  and  pinkster  frolics  are  no  novelties  to  us,  sir.  as  they  occur  at 
every  season;  and  I  am  just  old  enouf^h  not  to  have  missed  one  of  them  all  for 
the  last  twelve  years. —  Cooper,  Satanstoe,  Vol.  I.  p.  90. 

Pinxter  Blumachies,  i.  e.  Whitsuntide  flowers.  (Dutch.)  A  famil- 
iar name  in  the  State  of  New  York  for  the  Swamp  Honeysuckle  and 
other  early  flowers. 

To  pipe.    To  follow;  to  waylay. 

It  is  the  business  of  all  policemen  to  make  themselves  familiar  with  the  haunts 
of  burglars,  thieves,  and  gamblers,  to  pipe  or  follow  them,  and  be  ready  at  any 
moment  to  nab  them  in  the  act  of  crime.  — N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Pipe  of  Peace.  Among  the  North  American  Indians,  "  to  smoke  the 
pipe  of  peace  "  is  to  cease  fighting;  to  make  peace;  or,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  aborigines,  "to  bury  the  hatchet."  See  Smoke  the 
Pij)e  of  Peace. 

To  plant  the  tree  of  peace  is  another  poetical  expression  of  the 
Indians,  conveying  the  same  idea. 

Pipe-Layer.    1.  One  who  lays  a  pipe,  as  a  gas-pipe. 
2.  A  trickster.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Pipe-Laying.  This  term  in  political  parlance,  means  any  arrangement 
by  which  a  party  makes  sure  of  a  certain  addition  to  its  legitimate 
strength  in  the  hour  of  trial,  —  that  is,  the  election.  In  other  words, 
to  lay  pipe  means  to  bring  up  voters  not  legally  qualified. 

It  were  too  long  a  story  to  tell  the  origin  of  the  term  at  length. 
In  brief,  it  arose  from  an  accusation  brought  against  the  Whig 
party  of  this  city  (New  York)  some  years  ago,  of  a  gigantic  scheme 
to  bring  on  voters  from  Philadelphia.  The  accusation  was  made  by 
a  notorious  Democrat,  of  not  very  pure  political  character,  who  pro- 
fessed to  have  derived  his  information  from  the  agent  employed  by 
the  Whigs  for  the  service.  This  agent  had  actually  been  employed 
by  certain  leaders  of  the  ^ATiig  party,  but  on  a  service  deemed  legiti- 
mate and  proper  in  the  art  of  electioneering.    He,  however,  tm-ned 


PIP— PIT 


469 


traitor,  and,  as  was  alleged  by  the  Whigs,  concocted  a  plot  with  the 
notorious  Democrat  to  throw  odium  upon  the  Whigs.  A  mass  of 
correspondence  was  brought  forward  in  proof,  consisting  mainly  of 
letters  written  by  the  agent  to  various  parties  in  New  York,  appar- 
ently describing  the  progress  and  success  of  his  operations.  In  these 
letters,  as  if  for  the  purpose  of  concealment,  the  form  of  a  mere 
business  correspondence  was  adopted, — the  number  of  men  hired 
to  visit  New  York  and  vote  being  spoken  of  as  so  many  yards  of 
pipe,  — the  work  of  laying  down  pipe  for  the  Croton  water  being  at 
that  time  in  full  activity. 

The  Whig  leaders  were  indicted  on  the  strength  of  these  pseudo 
revelations,  and  the  letters  were  read  in  court;  bat  the  jury  believed 
neither  in  them  nor  in  the  writer  of  them,  and  the  accused  were 
acquitted. 

The  term  ''^pipe-laying,''''  however,  was  at  once  adopted  as  a 
synonyme  for  negotiations  to  procure  fraudulent  votes.  —  [/.  Inman.'] 

The  result  of  the  Pennsylvania  election  would  not  be  in  the  least  doubtful,  if  we 
could  be  assured  of  fair  play  and  no  pipe-laying.  — N.  Y.  Tribune,  Oct.  30,  1848. 

There  is  a  magnificent  scheme  of  pipe-laying  and  log-rolling  going  on  in  Penn- 
sylvania.—  iV^.  Y.  Herald,  Sept.,  1856. 

Pipsissewa.  (Chimaphila  umbellata.)  A  popular  domestic  remedy, 
much  used  by  the  Indians,  and  now  of  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia. 
Also  called  Prince's  Pride  and  Wintergreen. 

Pirogue.    See  Periauger. 

Pistareen.  1.  The  Spariish  peseta  Sevillana,  or  one-fifth  of  a  dollar. 
A  silver  coin,  formerly  common  in  the  United  States,  of  the  value 
of  twenty  cents.    They  have  now  gone  entirely  out  of  use. 

2.  While  coming  into  disuse,  they,  worn  out  and  defaced,  depre- 
ciated rapidly,  and  thence  became  a  symbol  of  small-minded,  penu- 
rious men;  hence,  mean,  little.    See  Picaijune. 

Breeders  of  the  best  imported  stock  will  not  and  ought  not  to  sell  at  the  prices 
offered  by  our  pistareen  farmers.  — N.  Y.  Observer,  June  10,  1862. 

Pit.  (Dutch,  pit,  a  kernel.)  The  stone  of  a  fruit,  as  of  a  cherry  or 
peach.    Mostly  confined  to  New  York  State. 

You  put  an  apple-seed  or  a  peach-y>i7  into  the  ground,  and  it  springs  up  into 
the  form  of  a  miniature  tree.  — Professor  Bash  on  the  Resurrection. 

Pita.  (Pron.  peeta.)  The  name  given  to  the  fine  fibres  produced  by  the 
agaves  and  kindred  plants,  used  for  sewiug  and  other  delicate  pur- 
poses. The  name  is  also  applied  to  the  plants  which  furnish  tlie 
fibre.  The  coarse  fibres  (like  Sisal  hemp)  from  the  same  family  of 
plants  is  called  cahuya. 


470 


PIT— PLA 


Pitahaya.  (Cereus  giganteus.)  A  gigantic  cactus  found  in  New 
Mexico,  and  which  appears  in  the  greatest  perfection  in  the  sterile 
deserts  bordering  on  the  river  Gila,  where  it  reaches  the  height  of 
fifty  and  sixty  feet.  It  bears  a  delicious  fruit,  resembling  the  fig  in 
taste,  whence  it  is  sometimes  called  the  Indian  Fig,  which  see. 

Pitch  and  Toss.    A  game  of  pitching  cents. 

As  soon  as  the  affray  was  over,  the  belligerents  went  quietly  back  to  old-slt-dirf". 
seven-up,  pitcJi-and-toss,  chuck-a-luck,  and  the  turkey  match.  —  Gilmore,  J/j 
Suuthern  Friends,  p.  69. 

To  pitch  in.    To  attack ;  to  abuse. 

Utah  and  the  "  Latter  Day  Saints  "  are  like  Joseph,  the  youngest  son  of  Israel : 
all  the  elder  brothers  are  pitching  into  him  ;  and  the  general  governnieni  says, 
"Go  ahead,  hit  him  again,"  and  poor  Utah,  like  Joseph,  takes  it  quietly. — 

Newspaper. 

Pitching  Track.  A  term  applied  in  the  Far  North-west  to  an  Indian 
trail  from  one  part  of  the  country  to  another. 

This  ridge  resembled  the  Big  Ridge  of  the  Assinniboine,  .  .  .  our  Indian  guide 
told  us  it  extended  for  many  days' journey.  It  forms  the  j^itchiny  track  at  the 
foot  of  the  Riding  Mountain.  .  .  .  West  of  Manitobali,  the  jntching  track 
follows  the  ridge  above  described.  .  .  .  This  jritchinrj  track  is  connected  with  the 
Ridge  pitching  track.  —  Hitid's  Canadian  and  Bed  River  Exp.  of  1858,  Vol.  I. 
p.  51. 

Pitpan.  In  the  West  Indies  and  Central  America,  a  very  long,  narrow, 
flat-bottomed,  trough-like  canoe,  with  thin  and  flat  projecting  edges. 

Pity.  To  think  a  pitg  of  a  person  is  to  take  pity  on  him.  It  is  a  pitg 
of  one  means  he  is  to  be  pitied. 

*'  'Tis  pity  of  him,  too,"  he  cried; 
"  Bold  can  he  speak,  and  fairly  ride, 

I  warrant  him  a  warrior  tried."  —  Scott,  Marmion,  Canto  YI. 

To  place.  To  place  a  person  is  to  remember  the  place  wliere  he 
belongs  or  was  born. 

Placer.  (Span.)  A  locality  where  gold  is  found  to  exist  in  the 
"  dust  "  or  scaly  form.  The  Hispano- Americans  apply  the  term  to 
deposits  of  sand  formed  by  the  action  of  water,  the  currents  of 
rivers,  &c.,  or  what  geologists  would  call  diluvium  or  drift.  Our 
people  use  the  word  to  signify  a  rich  mine  of  minerals  or  of  any 
thing  else  that  is  valuable. 

The  Homer  of  Chapman  is  so  precious  a  gift  that  we  are  ready  to  forgive  ^Ir. 
Smith's  [the  publisher's]  shortcomings,  in  consideration  of  it.  It  is  a  vast  phcer, 
full  of  nuggets  for  the  philologist  and  lover  of  poetry.  — Atlantic  Monthly,  April, 
1858. 

The  Washington  Market  question,  involving  a  cojitest  between  the  State  and 
the  city,  furnishes  a  perfect  jilacer  in  the  shape  of  fees  for  some  of  our  leading 
lawyers.  — iV.  Y.  Herald,  May  18,  1858. 


PLA 


471 


To  placer.  To  live  together  as  husband  and  wife  without  marriage. 
Louisiana  (Xew  Orleans).  —  Olmsted. 

Placer-Diggings.  Localities  w^here  gold  is  found  scattered  all  through 
the  surface  dirt. 

Placer-Mining.    See  Gulch- Alining. 

Plaguy  Sight.  This  is  a  very  common  expression  in  the  colloquial 
language  of  New  England,  and  means,  a  great  deal. 

"  Squire,"  said  Slick,  "I'd  a  plaguy  sight  sooner  see  Ascot  than  any  thing  else 
in  England."  —  Sam  Slick  in  England,  ch.  19. 

Plane-Tree.  Another  name  for  the  Sycamore  or  Button-wood  tree. 
See  Button-  Wood. 

Planing-Machine.  A  machine  operated  by  steam  or  water-power  for 
smoothing  boards. 

Plank.  A  platform  in  a  political  sense  is  a  constitution ;  and  as  plat- 
forms are  literally  composed  of  planks,  so,  in  the  same  figurative 
sense,  planks  are  the  several  political  principles  which  appertain  to 
a  party.    See  Platform,  No.  2. 

Tile  Free-Soil  party  regard  evevy  plank  and  splinter  of  the  Buffalo  platform  as 
a  relic  of  untold  value.  — Providence  Journal. 

To  plank.  To  lay,  to  put;  generally  applied  to  money:  as,  "He 
planked  doion  (or  planked  up)  the  cash." 

I've  had  to  pl'ink  down  hdiWdi^omQ,  and  do  the  thing  genteel;  but  Mr.  Land- 
lord found  he  Iiad  no  fool  to  deal  with,  neither.  —  Sam  Slick  in  England. 

"Why,  says  he,  shell  out,  and^^^aw^  down  a  pile  of  dollars.  —  Ibid. 

During  the  last  war,  he  planked  up  more  gold  and  silver  to  lend  the  government 
than  Benton  ever  counted.  —  Crockett,  Tour,  p.  59. 

Com^,  plank  vp  X\\e  i\n.  I '11  show  you  that  Jim  Borland  ain't  a  goin'  to  be 
backed  oiit  by  mere  bragging.  —  Southern  Sketches,  p  1G3. 

Planked  Shad.    A  shad  nailed  to  a  plank  and  roasted. 

Did  you  ever  eat  a  planked  shadf  Then  you  have  something  yet  to  live  for, 
—  your  dish  of  enjoyment  is  not  yet  full,  until  you  have  a  shad  caught  tresh 
from  the  water,  cleaned,  and  crucified  to  an  oak  plank,  which  is  held  to  the  lire, 
and  seasoned  properly  with  salt,  pepper,  and  l)utter,  and  served  up  hot.  It  is, 
of  all  fish  dishes,  the  daintiest,  richest,  and  most  satisfactory  in  an  appetitital 
point  of  view.  —  B  dtimore  Sun,  April  30,  1855. 

Plank  Road.  A  road  made  with  a  flooring  of  planks  laid  across  the 
track,  a  substitute  for  turnpikes,  where  timber  is  cheap. 

Plantain.  (Span,  p/a/awo.)  The  fruit  of  the  Musa  paradisiaca,  im- 
ported from  the  West  Indies. 

Plantation.  An  estate  appropriated  to  the  production  of  staple  crops, 
as  tlie  sugar-cane,  cotton,  rice,  tobacco,  coffee,  &c.,  by  slave  labor. 


472 


PLA 


Planter.  1.  A  proprietor  of  land  in  the  Southern  States  who  culti- 
vates staple  crops  by  slave  labor. 

2.  In  Newfoundland,  a  person  engaged  in  the  fishery, 

3.  A  term  applied  to  a  piece  of  timber  or  the  naked  trunk  of  a 
tree,  one  end  of  which  is  firmly  planted  in  the  bed  of  a  river,  while 
the  other  rises  near  the  surface  of  the  water.  This  is  the  most  dan- 
gerous among  the  "snag  and  sawyer"  family  to  which  vessels 
navigating  the  Western  rivers  are  exposed.    See  Sncuj  and  Sawyer. 

4.  A  first  settler;  as,  "  the  planters  of  Guilford  and  New  Haven." 
Connecticut. 

5.  A  first  settler  of  Massachusetts  Colony,  as  contradistinguished 
from  the  "  Pilgrim  Fathers  "  of  Plymouth  Colony. 

To  plat.    To  divide  into  plats ;  to  make  a  plat. 

When  every  man  shall  be  at  libert}^  to  make  a  quarter-section  of  the  public 
lands  his  own,  upon  paying  merely  the  cost  of  surveying,  platting,  and  making 
out  the  necessary  papers. — N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Platform.  1.  In  some  parts  of  the  New  England  States,  an  ecclesias- 
tical constitution,  or  a  plan  for  the  government  of  churches;  as,  the 
Cambridge  or  Saybrook  platform.  —  Webster.  The  same  use  of  this 
word  is  made  by  old  English  divines,  and  will  be  found  in  Tomson's 
revision  of  the  Geneva  Bible,  printed  in  1576,  as  well  as  in  later  edi- 
tions of  the  same,  where  in  the  head-note  to  1  Corinthians,  chap,  ii., 
we  read,  "  He  setteth  down    platform  of  his  preaching." 

Their  minds  and  affections  were  universally  bent,  even  against  all  the  orders 
and  laws  wherein  the  church  is  founded,  conformable  to  th.^ platform  of  Geneva. 
Hooker. 

A  Platform  of  Church  Discipline,  gathered  out  of  the  word  of  God,  and  agreed 
upon  by  the  elders  and  messengers  of  the  churches  assembled  at  the  synod  in 
Cambridge  in  New  England. —  Title  of  Book  printed  in  London,  1653. 

2.  Of  late  years,  the  word  has  got  into  very  common  use  through- 
out the  country,  to  denote  the  collection  of  principles  avowed  by  a 
political  party. 

The  people  should  distrust  a  bad  man,  even  if  put  upon  the  best  platform  that 
ever  was  constructed,  and  every  plank  of  which  could  be  stood  upon  by  every 
American  citizen.  In  like  manner,  they  will  trust  and  confide  in  a  man  whom 
they  believe  to  be  pure  and  honest  and  patriotic  and  capable,  without  regard  to 
the  platform  he  stands  upon,  and  without  caring,  in  truth,  whether  he  stands 
upon  one  at  all.  —  Lynchhury  Virginian,  Aug.,  1858. 

Playa.  (Span.)  A  beach;  a  strand;  a  shore.  In  the  plains  and 
deserts  of  the  interior,  a  broad,  level  spot,  where  water  accumulates 
after  rains,  and  which  afterwards  becomes  dry  by  evaporation. 
These  playas  are  prominent  features  in  the  toporgaphy  of  Texas, 
New  Mexico,  and  Arizona.    They  are  also  called  "salt  lakes," 


PLA 


473 


from  the  nitrous  efflorescence  with  which  they  are  often  covered 
when  dry  ;  and  which,  at  a  distance,  leads  the  traveller  to  believe 
they  are  basins  of  water. 

We  had  a  perfectly  smooth  road  to  the  playa,  which  at  present  is  a  hard, 
smooth,  and  apparently  level  area  of  about  fifteen  miles  in  length,  by  nearl}^  ten 
in  width,  without  a  particle  of  vegetation.  These  2)hyas^  in  my  opinii>n,  have 
no  outlet,  and  are  so  nearly  level  that  the  rain  and  drain  waters  are  spread  over  a 
large  surface;  and  there  being  but  little  absorption,  and  very  rapid  evaporiza- 
tion,  it  is  left  smooth  and  baked. — Lieutenant  Parke's  Report  of  Survey  for 
Pacific  R.  R.,  Official  Reports,  Vol.  II. 

Emerging  from  the  pass  into  the  plain,  our  eyes  were  greeted  with  the  sight  of 
a  long,  white  streak,  which  we  would  have  taken  for  a  lake,  had  it  not  been  called 
the  Playas.  This^^^cfyri  seemed  to  have  an  extent  of  twenty-tive  or  thirty  miles. 
The  surface  was  an  indurated  clay,  so  hard  that  the  wheels  of  our  wagons  scarce 
made  an  impression.  After  rain,  this  basin  receives  a  large  amount  of  water, 
which  seems  to  evaporate  before  vegetation  gets  a  foothold.  —  BartletVs  Personal 
Narrative,  Vol.  I.  p.  246. 

Play- Actor.  A  pleonastic  expression  for  the  English  term  player  or 
actor.  It  is  objectionable,  because  the  term  actor  is  itself  a  techni- 
cal word  which  expresses  the  full  meaning  conveyed  by  the  com- 
pound. 

That  which  was  Shakspeare's  specialty,  we  mean  his  wonderful  dramatic 
faculty,  was  not  discovered  by  himself  till  it  became  useful  to  him  in  his  busi- 
ness. For  Shakspeare's  avocation  was  that  of  a  play-actor,  and  subsequentl}',  as 
a  successful  one,  a  play-house  owner.  —  (Bait.)  Sun,  Nov.  12,  1858. 

Play-Actorin'.    The  profession  of  performing  at  theatres. 

Played  out.  Exhausted;  ended;  of  no  farther  use;  good  for  nothing; 
used  up.    Equivalent  to  the  Fr.  passe. 

If  you  happen  to  owe  a  man  a  bill, 

And  dodge  it  with  new  excuses  still, 

And  tell  him  you'll  pay  next  week,  no  doubt, 

He  11  quickly  reply,  "  Come,  that's  played  out  J  " 

Comic  Sony,  Played  out. 

The  "Xew  York  Tribune"  of  Feb.  18,  1876,  in  an  article 
entitled  "  Talent  taking  Crime  by  the  Hand  and  sharing  the 
Spoils,"  is  very  severe  upon  Mr.  David  D.  Field  for  his  defence  of 
Tweed,  who  plundered  the  city  of  New  York  of  millions,  and  in 
the  course  of  its  remarks  says :  — 

There  is  not  a  criminal  at  large,  or  awaiting  trial,  who  does  not  feel  safer  in  his 
deeds  when  he  thinks  tliat,  if  he  can  secure  Mr.  Field,  or  a  man  like  him,  justice 
is  practically  "■played  out.^^ 

Player-Men.    A  player;  an  actor. 

Accordingly,  the  actors  are  come;  and  the  Brooklyn  people,  for  the  first  time 
ia  their  lives,  are  seeing  tha  player-men.  — N.  Y.  Tribune,  Dec.  30,  18G1. 


474 


PLA— PLU 


To  play  'Possum.  "  He 's  playing  Opossum  with  you,"  is  a  common 
expression  at  the  South  and  West,  and  means  that  he  is  deceiving 
you.  The  opossum,  when  attacked  by  a  dog,  pretends  to  be  dead, 
and  thus  often  deceives  his  pursuers;  hence  the  expression. 

Thinks  I,  that  girl  is  jest  trying  of  me  :  'taint  no  use  of  playiny possum.  If  I 
don't  fetch  her  out  of  that  high  grass,  use  me  for  sausage  meat.  — N.  Y.  Spirit 
of  the  Times. 

I  will  play  possum  with  these  folks,  and  take  a  rise  out  of  them  that  will  aston- 
ish their  weak  nerves.  —  S.  Slick,  Nature  and  Human  Nature,  p.  14. 

That  are  stranger's  only  playin'' possum,  but  he  can't  pull  the  wool  over  tliis 
child's  eyes :  he 's  got  'em  both  skinned.  —  A  Stray  Yankee  in  Texas,  p.  9G. 

Play-Spell.    A  time  for  play ;  anmsement. 

"  If  he  has  a  jjlay-sjiell,  how  he  can  enjoy  it!  —  iV.  Y.  Tribune. 

Plaza.  (Span.)  A  public  square.  A  term  used  in  California  and 
other  countries,  recently  acquired  from  the  Mexicans. 

Plead  or  pled,  for  pleaded.  It  has  been  correctly  remarked  that  there 
is  no  such  word  as  p>led  in  the  English  language.  It  is  true  that  the 
preterite  and  past  participle  of  the  verb  to  read  is  pronounced  red ; 
but  there  is  no  analogy  between  the  two  verbs,  except  their  acci- 
dental similarity  of  sound.  The  former  is  the  Anglo-Saxon  verb 
rcedan,  and  is  conjugated  accordingly;  whereas  the  latter  is  the  old 
French  plalder,  and  therefore  cannot  admit  of  w^hat  philologists  call 
the  "  strong  inflexion."  This  vulgar  mistake  is  often  met  with  in 
our  reports  of  legal  proceedings  and  elsewhere.  But  it  is  not  of 
recent  origin,  nor  is  it  exclusively  American,  as  is  shown  by  the 
following  example  from  Spenser,  furnished  by  Richardson :  — 

With  him       ....  came 
Many  grave  persons  that  against  her  jyled. 

Spenser,  Fairy  Queen. 

An  old  offender  was  caught  last  night  in  a  warehouse,  with  a  dark  lantern  and 
all  the  other  implements  of  his  profession,  and  next  morning  innocently  ple'id 
"somnambulism,"  when  brought  before  the  magistrate  ;  having  no  recollection 
of  the  doings  of  the  night  since  he  went  to  bed,  early  in  the  evening,  and  found 
himself  in  the  watch-house  in  the  morning.  — New  York  paper. 

Pleasant-spoken.    "  He 's  a  pleasant-spoken  man,"  i.  e.  he 's  agree- 
able in  conversation. 
To  pleasure.    To  please.    North  Carolina. 

Pleurisy  Root.  (Asclepias  tuherosa.)  A  root  which  is  expectorant 
and  diaphoretic,  as  well  as  a  mild  tonic  and  stimulant. 

Plug.    1.  Applied  by  dentists  to  a  filling  of  gold  or  other  material 
inserted  in  a  tooth. 
2.  A  stick  of  tobacco. 


PLU 


475 


3.  Fire  plug  ;  the  hydrants  placed  at  the  corners  of  the  streets,  &c., 
to  which  hose  is  attached  in  case  of  fire. 

4.  A  tall  hat,  a  beaver  hat.  Sometimes  applied  to  a  horse  and 
a  man. 

Plug-Ugly.  A  term  assumed  by  a  gang  of  rowdies  in  Baltimore.  It 
originally  belonged  to  certain  fire  companies. 

The  Democrats  are  getting  up  a  soldiers'  convention  at  Indianapolis.  As 
Union  soldiers  are  scarce  in  the  Democratic  ranks,  many  are  recruited  from  the 
2)lu(/-u(/lies  of  Baltimore.  —  Provuhnce  Journal,  Sept.  30,  1876. 

The  disguise  of  Plug-uglies  and  Blood-tubs  in  the  garments  of  reform  reminds 
us  of  the  answer  made  bv  one  of  the  crew  of  the  "  Alabama,"  when  an  English 
officer  visited  her.  — New  York  paper. 

Plum-Muss.  Pkmis  boiled,  mashed  together,  and  dried  in  the  form 
of  a  sheet. 

Plumb,  often  written  Plum.  Directly,  exactly.  South-western.  In 
English  colloquial  language,  both  plump  and  plumh  (or  plum)  are 
used  in  this  sense. 

I  tole  the  boys,  if  they 'd  come  with  me,  I 'd  show  them  one  of  the  most  owda- 
cious  big  rattlesnakes  they 'd  ever  seen,  what  I  'd  jest  kilt.  Abel  said  he  was  the 
man  what  could  pack  him  plum  home  without  taking  a  long  breath. — N.  Y. 
Sjnritofthe  Times. 

I  levelled  my  rifle  at  the  bear,  and  shot  him  plumh  through  the  heart.  — 
Western  Sketches. 

He  came  up  and  looked  me  right  plwn  in  the  face,  as  savage  as  a  meat-axe, 
and  says  he,  "Give  us  your  paw."  —  Southern  Sketches,  p.  32. 

The  ninth  day  come,  and  we  struck  a  streak  of  good  luck,  —  a  horse  give  out, 
and  broke  down  plumb  in  the  centre  of  an  open  prairie.  —  G.  W.  Kendall,  Story 
of  Bill  Dean. 

The  original  signification  of  this  word  is,  as  the  plummet  hangs, 
perpendicular  to  the  horizon,  straight  down;  and  hence  its  secon- 
dary meaning  of  straightforward,  directly.  Both  uses  are  well  illus- 
trated in  the  following  examples.  This  term,  which  many  suppose 
an  original  Westernism,  is  found  in  several  English  writers.  Thus 
Milton  says :  — 

He  meets 

A  vast  vacuity,  all  unawares,  t 
Fluttering  his  pennons  vain,  plumh  down  he  falls. 

Paradise  Lost. 

Never  was  there  a  more  sensible  blunder  than  the  following.  We  recommend 
it  as  a  motto  to  gentlemen  in  the  army.  "The  best  way,'"  said  Sir  Boyle,  "to 
avoid  danger  is  to  meet  it plumb.''^  —  Barrington,  Sketches. 

Plumb-Centre.  Directly  at  the  centre,  in  shooting  at  a  mark.  Western. 

We 'd  been  a  watchin'  'em  all  day,  for  we  knowd  thar  war  somethin'  ugly 
afoot.  We  seed  'em  both  lire  acrost  the  gleed,  an'  right  plum-centre  at  young 
Kaiidolph.  —  Cajjtain  Mayne  Reid,  Osceola,  p.  415. 


476 


rLu— poc 


Plunder.  Personal  luggage,  baggage  of  travellers,  goods,  furniture, 
eft'ucts.  A  very  coninion  word  throughout  the  Southern  and  West- 
ern States,  corresponding  to  the  Norman  French  hutin  (booty,  goods), 
wliich  is  used  in  Canada  for  baggage.    Cf.  Ger.  Plunder. 

When  we  got  loaded  up,  I  was  afraid  old  Bosen  was  going  to  have  more  'n  his 
match  to  pull  us,  the}'  'd  put  in  so  much  plundtr.  Two  trunks,  band-boxes,  &c. 
Major  Jones's  CourtsJiip,  p.  165. 

"Help  yourself,  stranger,''  added  the  landlord,  "while  I  tote  your  j^lunder 
into  the  other  room."  —  Hoffman,  Winter  in  the  West,  Let.  33. 

The  steamboat  gun,  you  know,  is  the  signal  to  tell  us  when  to  look  after  our 
plunder.  —  Simms,  Wigwam  and  Cabin. 

To  ply.  To  sail;  to  go  and  come  from.  A  vessel  plies  between  two 
places. 

To  poach.    To  tread  soft  ground,  or  snow  and  water,  as  cattle,  whose 
feet  penetrate  the  soil  or  soft  substance  and  leave  deep  tracks.  Xew 
England.    From  Podfje,  Posh  (which  see). 
Pocket.    1.  Pocket  digfjings.    A  term  used  by  gold-miners  to  denote 
hollow  places  w"here  gold  is  concentrated  as  in  a  pocket. 

One  of  my  comrades  [at  the  mines],  a  victim  of  eighteen  years  of  unrequited 
toil  and  blighted  hopes,  was  one  of  the  gentlest  spirits  that  ever  bore  its  patient 
cross  in  a  weary  exile,  —  grave  and  simple  Dick  Baker,  pocket-miner  of  Dead- 
House  Gulch.  —  Mark  Twain,  Roughing  It,  p.  439. 

They  went  panning  up  the  hill,  and  found  what  was  probabl}'  the  richest  pocket 
yet  produced.    It  yielded  $120,000.  —  Ibid.,  p.  438. 

Mr.  Johnson  (counsel  in  the  case  of  the  Emma  mine  s^v^ndle)  said  that  in 
his  opinion  it  was  simply  a  pocket-mm^,  not  a  true  fissure,  and  that  it  had 
already  been  worked  out.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  March  2,  1876. 

2.  A  designation  applied  to  a  part  of  the  State  of  Indiana,  from 
the  form  and  position  of  said  part. 

The  General  Association  of  Indiana  met  at  Francisco,  Gibson  Co.,  in  the 
"PocA;e?,"  —  that  part  of  the  State  lying  south 'of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
Eailway.  —  The  Congregationalist. 

Pocket-Book  Dropper.  A  mode  of  deception  practised  by  city 
sharpers  on  country  flats,  at  steamboat  landings  aiid  other  places 
where  there  is  a  bustle,  is  for  one  of  the  rogues  to  drop  a  pocket- 
book  well  'filled  with  w'orthless  bank-notes.  This  his  confederate 
picks  up,  and  opens  directly  in  sight  of  the  victim.  He  regrets 
that  he  has  not  time  to  search  out  the  owner,  who  will  be  sure  to 
give  a  handsome  reward,  and  offers  to  surrender  the  prize  to  his 
rural  friend  for  say  ten  dollars.  All  ends  as  in  the  "Patent  Safe 
Game,"  which  see. 

No  man,  boy,  or  greenhorn  was  ever  yet  victimized  by  the  Pocket-book  Drop- 
pers, the  Thimble  Riggers,  or  the  Patent  Safe  men,  who  didn't  have  so  strong  a 
spice  of  the  scamp  in  his  own  composition  as  to  think  he  was  coming  a  sure  and 


POC— POK 


477 


profitable  swindle  upon  some  one  not  up  to  his  own  level  of  sharpness  and 
treachery.  —  Tricks  and  Traps  of  New  York  City,  p.  24. 

Pocket-Book  Dropping.  The  species  of  knavery  described  in  the 
preceding  article. 

Pocket-book  dropping  may  almost  be  considered  as  one  of  the  by-gones ;  it 
being  very  seldom  attempted  except  in  cases  of  very  aggravated  verdancy  on 
the  part  of  the  victim. —  Tricks  and  Traps  of  New  York  City,  p.  24. 

Pocoson  or  Poquoson.  Low  wooded  grounds  or  swamps  in  Eastern 
Maryland  and  Virginia,  mostly  dry  in  summer  and  covered  with 
water  in  winter.  They  are  covered  with  white  oak  and  other  timber. 
They  are  sometimes  distinguished  as  white  oak  or  cypress  pocoson.'^. 
Comp.  Pokeloken.  Percoarson  (and  Perkoson),  a  sort  of  low  land, 
.  .  .  affording  vast  cypress-trees. — Latvson^s  Voyage  to  Carolina 
(1709),  p.  9,  57. 

We  rowed  up  an  arm  of  the  sound,  where  we  were  stopped  by  a  miry  pocason, 
through  which  we  were  obliged  to  draggle  on  foot,  up  to  our  knees  in  mud.  — 
Byrd,  History  of  the  Dividing  Line,  p.  15. 

Podge.    See  Poach. 

Pohagen  or  Pauhagen.    1.  A  species  of  sea-fish.    See  Menhaden. 

2.  The  term  is  also  applied  to  a  kind  of  paste-bait  for  mackerel, 
&c.,  made  of  damaged  and  frequently  putrid  fish,  chopped  or  ground 
in  a  cutting-mill. 

Point.  A  fact  or  a  theory  based  on  reliable  information  connected 
with  stocks,  upon  which  one  bases  a  speculation,  or  upon  which 
a  purchase  of  a  particular  stock  is  made. 

"  The  first  element  in  speculation  is  the  point.  If  the  operator  has  a  good 
point,  he  has  a  sure  thing.  ...  In  other  words,  the  point  is  a  bit  of  secret  infor- 
mation concerning  a  stock,  whether  it  be  that  an  extra  dividend  is  to  be  declared, 
a  bull  movement  is  organizing,  an  emission  of  new  shares  is  to  take  place,  or 
some  other  cause  is  at  work,  or  likely  to  be  at  work,  which  will  seriously  affect 
prices."  —  Medbery,  Men  and  Mysteries  of  Wall  Street,  p.  83. 

There  are  brokers,  according  to  rumor,  who  from  time  to  time  fee  iialf  the 
clerks  in  Wall  Street,  in  order  to  hold  every  2)oint  which  a  knowledge  of  ofiice 
books  would  afford,  who  favor  club  men  with  choice  opportunities  of  speculation. 
Ibid.,  p.  121. 

Poke.  1.  A  bag.  I  have  heard  this  old  word  used  by  some  persons 
here  in  the  compound  term  cream-poke  ;  that  is,  a  small  bag  througli 
which  cream  is  strained.  —  Pickering. 

2.  In  New  England,  a  machine  to  prevent  unruly  beasts  from 
leaping  fences,  consisting  of  a  yoke  with  a  pole  inserted  pointing 
forward.  —  Webster. 

3.  A  lazy  person,  a  dawdle;  as,  "  What  a  slow  poke  you  are!  "  A 
Woman's  word. 


478 


POK 


4.  Poke-weed.  (Phytolacca  decandra.)  A  common  plant, 
known  also  by  the  names  of  Garget,  Cocum,  Jalap,  &c.  It  is  a 
violent  emetic.  The  young  shoots  are  commonly  eaten  like 
asparagus. 

To  poke.    To  put  a  poke  on;  as,  to  poke  an  ox.  —  Webster. 

Poke-Berry.  The  berry  of  the  Phytolacca,  from  which  a  rich  purple 
juice  is  extracted,  and  used  as  a  dye.  Also  called  Pigeon-berry 
and  Pocan. — Rnjinefique,  Yo\.  11.  p.  251.  See  Puccoon.  It  is  a 
favorite  food  for  tame  mocking-birds. 

Poke-Bonnet.  A  long,  straight  bonnet,  much  worn  by  Quakers  and 
^Methodists. 

To  poke  Fun.  To  joke;  to  make  fun.  To  poke  fun  at  is  to  ridicule, 
make  a  butt  of  one.    Colloquial  in  England  and  America. 

0  fie !  Mister  Noakes.  —for  shame,  Mr.  Noakes ! 
To  be  poJcinr/  yom  fan  at  us  plain-dealing  folks. 
Sir,  this  isn't  a  time  to  be  cracking  your  jokes. 
And  such  jesting  your  malice  but  scurvily  cloaks. 
And  we  know  very  well  your  story 's  a  hoax! 

Ingoldsby  Legends.  Vol.  I.  p.  280. 

I  thought  3-ou  was  poTcin'  fun  at  me;  for  I  am  a  poor  ignorant  farmer,  and 
these  people  are  always  making  game  of  me.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature, 
p.  124. 

The  widow  admonished  Nimrod,  and  said,  "You  had  better  not  be  polcin'  your 
fu7i  about."  —  Margaret,  p.  49. 

Jeames,  if  you  don 't  be  c{\\\t  jiokingfun  at  me,  I  '11  break  your  mouth,  as  sure 
as  you  sit  there.  —  NeaVs  Charcoal  Sketches. 

How  streaked  a  captain  feels  when  he  sees  a  steamboat  a  cHppin'  it  by  him 
like  mad,  and  the  folks  on  board pokin''  fun  at  him,  and  askin'  him  if  he  has  any 
word  to  send  home  !  —  Sam  Slick. 

Pokeloken.  An  Indian  word,  used  by  hunters  and  lumbermen  in 
Maine  and  Xew  Brunswick,  to  denote  a  marshy  place  or  stagnant 
pool,  extending  into  the  land  from  a  stream  or  lake.  The  equivalent 
of  Chippewa  pokenogun,  and  related  to  ^o^^e(70?na  Rnd -gomig,  a  recess 
or  one-side  lake,  connected  with  the  principal  lake  or  with  a  river 
by  a  short  outlet.    See  Oicenh  Geol.  Survey  of  Wisconsin,  p.  280. 

The  wild  fowl  are  amazing  fond  of  pokelokens.  —  Sam  Slick. 

Crocodiles  can  cry  when  they  are  hungry;  but,  when  they  do,  it's  time  to 
vamose  the  pokelokens.  —  TbifJ..  Human  Nature,  p.  331. 

Xow  and  then  we  passed  what  IMcCauslin  called  a pokelogan,  an  Indian  term 
for  what  the  drivers  might  have  reason  to  call  a  poke-logs-in,  an  inlet  that 
leads  nowhere.  If  you  get  in,  you  have  got  to  get  out  again  the  same  way.  — 
Thoreau's  Maine  Woods,  p.  51. 


POK— POL 


479 


I  had  unawares  pushed  the  canoe  into  a  poTcclol-en  and  was  aground,  remember- 
ing too  late  the  half-breed's  admonitions,  who  warned  me  against  these  mysteri- 
ous poTcelokens.  —  Murrai/s  Letters. 

Poke-Nose.    Offensively  intrusive ;  unpleasantly  inquisitive. 

Among  the  articles  which  the  [U.  S.]  Senate  refused  to  tax  are  watches,  plate, 
and  dogs.  The  main  reason  for  this  refusal  is  the  large  expense  of  collecting, 
and  the  poke-nose  scrutiny  involved  in  levying  such  taxes.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune, 
June  7,  18G2. 

Poker.  1.  (Dan.  po/Jjer;  Welsh, a  hobgoblin.)  Any  frightful 
object,  especially  in  the  dark;  a  bugbear.  A  word  in  common  use 
in  America.  —  Webster. 

2.  A  favorite  game  of  cards  among  Western  gamblers. 

At  a  court  in  ,  Kentucky,  the  case  of  Smith  vs.  Brown  was  called  up. 

"  Who 's  for  the  plaintiff  V  "  inquired  the  judge,  impatiently, 

]\ray  it  please  the  court,"  said  a  rising  member  of  the  legal  fraternity,  "  Pil- 
kins  is  for  the  plaintiff;  but  I  left  him  just  now  over  in  the  tavern  playing  a  game 
of  poker.  He 's  got  a  '  sucker'  there,  and  he  is  sure  to  skin  him,  if  he  only  has 
time.  He 's  got  the  thing  all  set  to  ring  a  '  cold  deck,'  in  which  case  he  '11  deal 
for  himself  four  aces  and  his  opponent  four  queens;  so  that  your  honor  will  per- 
ceive he  must  '  rake  the  persimmons.'  " 

"  Dear  me ! said  the  judge,  with  a  sigh, ' '  that 's  too  bad !  It  happens  at  a  very 
imfortunate  time.  I  am  very  anxious  to  get  on  with  these  cases.'* 

A  brown  study  followed,  and  at  length  a  happy  idea  struck  the  judge. 

"  Bill."  said  he,  addressing  the  friend  of  the  absent  Pilkins,  who  had  spoken, 
"  you  understand  poker  about  as  well  as  Pilkins.  Suppose  you  go  over  and  play 
his  hand  "  —  Western  paper. 

Pokerish.  Frightful;  causing  fear,  especially  to  children.  A  childish 
or  colloquial  word.  —  Worcester. 

A  curious  old  convent  [in  Naples],  with  chapels  above  and  below,  —  a  pokemsh- 
looking  place,  fit  for  treasons,  stratagems,  and  spoils. — N.  Y.  Literary  World. 

Pokey.    Dull,  stupid. 

That's  the  way  we  girls  studied  at  school,  except  a  few  pokey  ones,  who 
wanted  to  be  learned.  —  Mrs.  Stowe,  Dred,  Vol.  I.  p.  138. 

A  pokey  old  house  like  ours.  —  Miss  FuUerton,  Grantley  Manor. 

Policy.  Combined  with  the  sale  of  lottery  tickets,  there  is  carried  on 
an  extensive  game  known  by  the  name  of  Policy.  To  policy  is  to 
bet  on  certain  numV)ers  coming  out  in  lottery  drawings.  A  person 
can  take  any  of  the  numbers  in  the  scheme  and  policy  them.  Three 
numbers  are  called  a  "gig,  "  two  numbers  a  "  saddle,"  four  num- 
bers a  "  horse,"  either  of  which  pays  its  own  rate,  which  is  from 
$2  to  8000  for  $1  staked;  a  saddle,  however,  is  only  paying  a 
small  advance. 

Political  Capital.  Political  stock  in  trade  means  of  political  ad- 
vancement. 


480 


POL— POX 


All  who  feel  an  interest  in  the  peace  of  the  country,  and  who  are  not  disposed 
to  turn  every  thinj?  into  politicnl  capilnl^  must  feel  rejoiced  over  the  result  in 
Kansas.  —  N.  Y.  Times,  Oct.  14,  1857. 

To  politicate.    To  make  a  trade  of  politics. 

He  [Senator  Hunter]  proposes  to  put  all  new  clerks  into  the  lower  offices,  and 
to  promote  them  for  services  rendered  and  for  efficiency.  Nobody  can  doubt 
that  this  is  a  most  admirable  plan.  It  would  stop  the  rjuadrenniql  rush  to  Wash- 
inf^ton,  and  make  many  a  citizen  quit  politicatinf/  and  turn  to  hard  work.  — Eich- 
mond  Wlii(/,  July,  1858. 

Pollack.  A  name  applied  by  fishermen  in  New  England  to  the  Mer- 
langus  purpureus  and  the  M.  carbonarius.  Immense  numbers  of 
these  fish  are  taken  annually  in  the  waters  of  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut.  —  Store7'\^  Fishes  of  Massachusetts. 

Polt.    A  blow;  a  thump.    "  Give  him  a po/^. "   New  England. 

To  polt.    To  knock;  to  beat;  to  give  blows  to.  Ibid. 

Polygamatical.    Polygamous;  allowing  the  practice  of  polygamy. 

Why  not  insert  [in  the  platform  of  a  proposed  political  party]  a.  polygamatical 
plank,  and  rope  in  Brigham  Young  V  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  May  19,  1862. 

Pomme  Blanche.    (Psoralea  esculenta.)    A  native  of  the  prairies  and 

mountains,  oval-shaped  and  about  three  and  a  half  inches  in  cir- 
cumference. It  is  encased  in  a  thin,  fibrous  tegument,  which,  when 
removed,  exposes  a  white,  pulpy  sul)stance,  and  in  taste  resembles  a 
turnip.    Called  also  Pomme  de  Prairie  and  Indian  Turnip. 

Pompion.  A  pumpkin.  The  name  by  which  the  plant  was  formerly 
known. 

He  found  in  that  towne  [Apalache,  in  Florida]  great  store  of  maiz,  french 
beans,  and  pompions,  which  is  their  foode,  and  that  wherwith  the  Christians 
there  sustained  themselves.  —  Hakliiyt,  Virginia  Richly  Valued  (1609),  p.  36. 

Pompion  Berry.  Another  name  for  the  fruit  of  Celtis  occidentalis. 
See  Hacldierry. 

Pond.  We  give  this  name  to  collections  of  water  in  the  interior 
country,  which  are  fed  by  springs,  and  from  which  issues  a  small 
stream.  These  ponds  are  often  a  mile  or  two  or  even  more  in  length, 
and  the  current  issuing  from  them  is  used  to  drive  the  wheels  of 
mills  and  furnaces.  —  Webster. 

There  were  streams  meandering  among  hills  and  valleys  ;  little  lakes  or  ponds, 
as  they  were  erroneously  called  in  the  language  of  the  country,  dotted  the  sur- 
face—  Cooper,  Saianstoe,  Yol.  I.  p.  144. 

To  pond.    To  accumulate  water  in  the  form  of  a  pond. 

Pone.  Bread  made  of  the  meal  of  Indian  corn,  with  the  addition  of 
eggs  and  milk.    Southern.    William  Penn,  in  his  account  of  Penn- 


PON 


481 


sylvania,  published  in  1683,  says  pone  was  the  Indian  name  for 
bread. 

Captain  J.  Smith  describes  the  process  of  bread-making  from 
pounded  and  sifted  corn,  baked  in  the  ashes:  this  "  bread  they  call 
ponap.^*  Of  the  grouts  and  pieces  of  corn  remaining,  by  boiling  in 
water,  they  make  "  an  ordinary  food,  [which]  they  call  vstatah- 
B,men.''  —  Hist,  of  Virginia  (1624),  B.  ii.  p.  29. 

This  word  is  a  corrupt  form  of  the  pass,  participle  of  the  verb  to 
bake,  or,  more  exactly,  to  bake  by  placing  in  hot  cinders:  apwou  or 
appoo  (Eliot),  "he  bakes;"  appooun,  "baked;"  Abn.  aharin^he 
bakes,  and  abarin,  bread  (Rasles) ;  modern  Abenaki,  ahon,  a  cake. 
J.  H.  Trumbull. 

In  a  poetical  work,  called  the  "  Sot- weed  Factor,  or  a  Voyage  to 
Maryland,  London,  1708,"  the  author  thus  describes  the  tables  of 
the  planters :  — 

While  pone  and  milk,  with  mush  well  stored. 

In  wooden  dishes  graced  the  board ; 

With  homine  and  cyder  pap. 

Which  scarce  a  hungry  dog  would  lap. 

We  all  clustered  around  the  fire,  the  landlady  alone  passing  through  our  semi- 
circle, as  she  prepared  the  pone  and  fry  and  coffee  for  supper.  —  Olmsted's  Texas. 

Pony.  1.  A  college  word.  A  translation  of  a  classical  text-book. 
So  called,  it  may  be,  from  the  fleetness  and  ease  with  which  a  skil- 
ful rider  is  enabled  to  pass  over  places  which  to  a  common  plodder 
may  present  obstacles.  — HalVs  College  Words. 

Their  lexicons,  ponies,  and  text-books  were  strewed  around  their  lamps  on  the 
table.  —  A  Tour  thrmyh  College,  1832,  p.  30. 

In  the  way  of  pony  or  translation  to  the  Greek  of  Father  Griesbach,  the  New 
Testament  was  wonderfully  convenient.  —  New  England  Mag.,  Vol.  III.  p.  208. 

We  gladly  bid  a  last  adieu 

To  scenes  through  which  we 've  past. 
And  thank  our  stars,  a.\-\6.  ponies  too. 

That  we  are  through  at  last. 

Songs  of  Bowdoin,  Carmina  Collegensia. 

Then  long  live  ponies,  great  and  small! 
Who  rides  them  well  will  never  fall. 

Sonys  Coll.  of  New  Yoi-k,  Ibid.,  p.  227. 

2.  A  small  glass. 

To  pony.    To  use  a  translation.  —  Hairs  College  Woi'ds. 

We  learn  that  they  do  not  pony  their  lessons.  —  Yale  Tomahawk,  May,  1852. 

Pony-Purse.  A  subscription  collected  upon  the  spot,  or  from  a  few 
persons. 

31 


482 


POX— POO 


To  pony  up.    A  vulgar  phrase,  meaning  to  pay  over  money.  Ex.: 

"  Come,  Mr,  Brown,  jnmy  np  that  account;  "  that  is,  pay  over  the 
money.  Grose  gives  a  phrase  similar  to  it,  "  post  the  powj,^'  i.  e. 
lay  down  the  money. 

It  was  my  job  to  pay  all  the  bills.  "  Salix,  ponij  up  at  the  bar,  and  lend  us  a 
Iev3'." — J.  C.  Neat,  Sketches. 

The  Washington  correspondent  of  the  "  N.  Y.  Herald,"  March 
16,  187G,  in  speaking  of  the  sale  of  post-traderships  by  men  in  high 
official  position,  accuses  General  Rice,  of  Iowa,  of  receiving  large 
sums  therefrom,  adding  that  — 

General  Rice  is  a  bachelor  of  expensive  habits.  He  must  have  his  codfishing 
in  summer,  and  his  trip  to  Florida  in  winter,  and  you  nmatpony  up  and  keep  him 
going,  for  he  can't  live  on  less  than  $10,000  a  year. 

"We're  coming,  Ancient  Abram.  severial  hundred  strong: 

We  hadn't  no  $300,  and  so  we  come  along  ; 

We  hadn't  no  rich  parients  to  pony  up  the  tin, 

So  we  went  unto  the  Provost,  and  there  were  mustered  in. 

Hymn  by  a  Portland  Conscript. 

To  pool.  To  aggregate;  to  join  per  average,  as  funds,  risks,  &c. 
In  Wall  Street  slang,  a  combination  of  speculators  formed  for  the 
purpose  of  buying  up  any  particular  stock,  and  thereby  advancing 
the  price,  or  to  carry  through  a  corner. 

The  plan  is  for  the  railroads  centring  at  St.  Louis,  the  elevator  companies,  .  .  . 
to  pool  the  risks  by  combination,  and  send  cargoes  to  Liverpool  and  other  Euro- 
pean ports. 

Pooquaw.  (Narragansett  Ind.,  poquawhock,  or  perhaps  from  the 
Delaware  poc-que-u.  Zeisberger.)  The  round  or  hard  clam,  so 
called  in  Xantucket.  In  other  parts  of  Xew  Kngland,  it  is  shortened 
to  Quahaug. 

The  PoquauhocJc  is  a  little,  thick  shell-fish  which  the  Indians  wade  deepe  and 
dive  for;  and,  after  they  have  eaten  the  meat  there  (in  those  which  are  good), 
they  breake  out  of  the  shell  about  halfe  an  inch  of  a  blacke  part  of  it,  of  which 
they  make  their  Suckauhock,  or  black  money,  which  is  to  them  pretious.  — Ro<jtr 
Williams,  in  R.  I.  Hist.  Coll.,  Vol.  I.  pp.  lOi,  130. 

Poor  Doe.  Among  the  Texan  hunters,  the  term  poor  doe  is  applied, 
regardless  of  gender,  to  any  deer  that  may  happen  to  be  lean.  — 
G.  W.  Kendall 

In  less  time  than  it  takes  us  to  record  it,  the  veteran  hunter  had  cut  a  shoulder 
and  some  of  the  more  delicate  and  eatable  portions  from  the  deer;  nnd  then, 
rolling  the  remainder  and  larger  portion  out  of  the  way  with  his  foot,  remarked 
that  it  was  but  "^joor  t/oe."  I  told  him  that  it  was  no  doe  at  all,  but  a  3'oung 
buck,  —  I  could  not  say  much  as  to  its  fatness.  He  gave  another  half- laugh,  &c. 
Kendall's  Santa  Fe  Exped.,  Vol.  I.  p.  35. 


POO— POP 


483 


Poor  Folksy.    Like  or  after  the  fashion  of  poor  people.  Southern. 

Poorly.    Badly;  ill. 

Poorly  off.    Not  well  off ;  not  rich. 

Poor  White  Folks.  A  term  applied  by  the  blacks  to  the  poor  white 
population  of  the  South,  also  called  the  Mean  Whites.  A  common 
and  still  moi-e  contemptuous  appellation  is  Poor  White  Trash.  See 
White  Trash. 

Poor  White  Folksy.  Like  or  after  the  fashion  of  the  Poor  White 
Folks.  Southern. 

As  for  making  up  my  mind  to  like  my  new  master,  yon  may  preach  till  your 
hair  turns  gray,  and  I  won't  do  it.  For  all  his  shiny  boots  and  spick-span  broad- 
cloth, he  looks  dreadful poor-white-Jblksi/  to  me.  —  The  Hidden  Path. 

Pop.    A  pistol. 

To  pop  Corn.  To  parch  or  roast  Indian  corn  until  it  "  pops  "  open. 
The  corn  is  laid  over  the  fire  on  a  shovel  or  wire  gauze  made  for  th^ 
purpose,  until  it  bursts,  when  it  curls  up,  swells  to  treble  its  size, 
and  exposes  its  white  interior. 

One  autumn  night  when  the  wind  was  high, 

And  the  rain  fell  in  heavy  plashes, 
A  little  boy  sat  by  the  kitchen  fire, 

A  popping  corn  in  the  ashes. 
And  his  sister,  a  curly-haired  child  of  three, 

Sat  looking  on,  just  close  to  his  knee. 

Pop,  pop !  and  the  kernels  one  by  one 

Came  out  of  the  embers  flying  ; 
Thejjoy  held  a  long  pine  stick  in  his  hand, 

And  kept  it  busily  plying. 
He  stirred  the  corn,  and  it  snapped  the  more. 

And  faster  jumped  to  the  clean  white  floor.  —  Anonymous. 

Pop-Corn.  A  kind  of  Lidian  corn  which  easily  "pops"  or  bursts 
open,  when  roasted  in  the  manner  above  described.  It  is  of  a  dark 
color,  and  has  small  grains.  In  many  railway  cars,  pop-co7m,  put 
up  in  paper,  is  sold  by  boys,  usually  at  five  cents  a  package.  It  is 
stated  that  the  managers  of  the  Centennial  Exhibition  at  Philadel- 
phia gave  the  exclusive  privilege  of  selling  pop-corn  on  the  grounds 
for  $7,000. 

Pop-eyed.    Having  prominent  eyes.  Southern. 
Poplar.    See  Tulip-Tree. 

Poppycock.  Pretences  made  for  mere  effect;  false  representation. 
A  term  of  contempt  for  a  statement  made. 


484 


POP— POS 


Pop-Squirt.    An  insignificant,  but  pretentious  fellow. 

Popular.  Conceited;  aristocratic.  Pop'lar  as  a  hen  with  one 
chicken. — Lowell,  Biglow  Papers. 

Popular  Sovereignty.  The  rule  of  the  people,  the  right  of  the 
people  to  form  the  constitution  under  which  they  are  to  live. 

He  [Senator  Douglas]  has  only  vindicated  the  South' s  doctrine  against  the 
impending  success  of  a  dishonest  attempt  to  secure  for  the  South  the  supposed 
benefit  of  the  doctrine  oi popular  sovereignty.  —  Richmond  Examiner,  July,  1858. 

Porgy  or  Paugie.  (Narrag.  Indian,  scup ;  pi.  scuppaug,  R.  Williams's 
Key,  1643.)  A  fish  of  the  Sparus  family,  common  in  the  waters  of 
New  England  and  New  York.  It  is  singular  that  one-half  the 
aboriginal  name,  scup,  should  be  retained  for  this  fish  in  Rhode 
Island  and  Eastern  Connecticut,  and  the  other  half,  paug,  changed 
into  paugie  or  porgy,  in  New  York.  The  entire  Indian  name, 
however,  is  still  common  in  many  parts  of  New  England.  See 
Scuppaug. 

Daniel  Web.ster,  who,  it  is  well  known,  was  a  zealous  disciple  of 
Walton's,  in  writing  to  his  friend  Mr.  Blatchford,  from  Wood's  Hole, 
says :  — 

In  the  afternoon,  I  went  out  in  the  boat  and  caught  some  fish,  namely,  tautog 
and  scuppog,  the  same,  I  suppose,  as  are  called  porgy  in  New  York.  —  Private 
Correspondence,  Vol.  II.  p.  33. 

John  Hardie,  in  his  "  Description  of  the  last  Voyage  to  Bermudas 
in  the  Ship  Marygold,"  London,  1671,  thus  alludes  to  a  fish  of  the 
same  name  in  the  waters  near  that  island :  — 
Plentv  of  Fish  is,  which  the  people  store, 
As  Pilchards,  Sinnets,  Gruats,  and  Salmon  Peal, 
With  Rock-fish,  Forgoes,  and  the  slippery  Eel. 
Porkopolis.    A  cant  name  for  Cincinnati,  as  having  eminence  in  the 

pork-packing  business. 
Pork-Scraps.    Same  as  cracklings.    New  England. 
Portaal.    (Dutch.)    A  portal,  lobby.   Used  by  people  of  Dutch  descent, 
in  New  Jersey  and  New  York,  for  a  small  passage  or  entry  of  a 
house.    The  principal  entrance  they  call  the  gang ;  also  Dutch. 
Portage.    A  carrying-place  over  land  between  navigable  waters,  or 
along  the  banks  of  rivers,  round  water-falls  or  rapids,  &c.  — Picker- 
ing.   This  word  has  been  adopted  by  geographers,  and  is  universal 
throughout  North  America.    The  Portage  Railroad  in  Pennsylvania 
is  a  line  over  the  Alleghany  Mountains  connecting  two  lines  of 
canal. 

Posey- Yard.    A  garden ;  a  court  near  a  dwelling. 

The  sweet  bells  jingled  all  night  in  the  posey-yard,  'mid  altheas.  honeysuckles, 
and  roses,  —  soldiers  with  bayonets  keeping  them  from  mischief.  —  Virginia 
Cor.  N.  r.  Tribune. 


POS 


485 


Posh,  Podge.    A  wet  place ;  sludge.    New  England.    See  Splosh. 

Position.  "  Defining  one's  position  "  is  a  political  practice  of  modern 
days,  generally  resorted  to  either  by  gentlemen  who  have  no  other 
good  chance  or  prospect  of  bringing  themselves  to  the  special  notice 
of  the  public,  as  a  sort  of  advertisement  that  they  are  in  the  market, 
or  by  other  gentlemen  who  contemplate  making  a  dodge  from  one 
side  in  politics  to  the  other.  It  is  done  either  orally  or  in  writing ; 
by  a  speech  in  Congress  or  at  some  public  meeting ;  or  by  a  long 
letter,  published  in  some  newspaper,  the  editor  of  which  is  always 
glad  of  something  to  fill  his  columns.  The  highest  art  in  "  defining 
one^s  position  is  to  leave  it  more  indefinite  than  it  was  before,  so 
that  any  future  contingency  may  be  taken  advantage  of. 

The  Barnburners'  Mass  Meeting,  to  mw-respond  to  the  nominations  of  Cass 
and  Butler,  will  take  place  in  the  Park  at  five  this  afternoon,  and  be  addressed 
by  John  Van  Buren,  B.  F.  Butler,  Sedgwick,  Field,  General  Nye,  «Scc.  We  regret 
that  unavoidable  absence  at  Philadelphia  will  deprive  us  of  the  pleasure  of  hear- 
ing these  gentlemen  define  their  position,''^  especially  Prince  John,  who  has  the 
reputation  of  being  the  most  straightforward,  plain-spoken,  flat-footed  'Burner  iu 
the  country. — N.  Y.  Tribune,  June  6,  1848. 

Possum.  A  common  contraction  of  Opossum,  as  in  the  Negro's  elo- 
quent appeal  to  his  mistress :  — 

Possum  up  a  gum-tree,  cooney  in  de  holler; 
Come  along  wid  me,  my  dear,  I  '11  gib  you  quarter  dollar. 
When  the  hickory  nuts  begin  to  drop, 
Then  the  possum  fills  his  winter  shop ; 
He  lives  beneath  a  blown-up  tree. 
But  he  don't  love  too  much  company. 

Hunt  the  poss:um  up  the  tree,  &c.  —  Comic  Song. 

To  possum.  To  feign,  dissemble.  An  expression  alluding  to  the 
habit  of  the  opossum,  which  throws  itself  on  its  back  and  feigns 
death  on  the  approach  of  an  enemy.  This  is  also  and  more  com- 
monly called  playing  possum  ;  sometimes  possuming. 

In  the  common  parlance  of  the  country,  any  one  who  counterfeits  sickness,  or 
dissembles  strongly  for  a  particular  purpose,  is  said  to  be  possuming.  —  Flint's 
Geogr.  of  Mississippi  Valley,  p.  67. 

To  post.  To  post  or  post  up  a  person  is  to  bring  his  knowledge  up  to 
date,  to  make  him  acquainted  with  recent  occurrences ;  so  that  a 
person  well  posted  is  one  who  is  well  informed.  The  phrase  is  bor- 
rowed from  the  counting-house. 

Mrs.  Fudge  has  kept  a  close  eye  upon  equipages,  hats,  cloaks,  habits,  churches, 
different  schemes  of  faith,  and  of  summer  recreation.  She  is  well  posted  up  in  all 
these  matters.  —  Ik  Marvel,  Fudge  Doings. 

Posted.  Well-informed.  '*  He 's  well  posted  on  the  state  of  the 
money  market,"  i.  e.  thoroughly  conversant  with  it. 


486 


POS— POT 


Postal  Card,  Postal.  In  England  and  Canada,  they  are  called  Post- 
cards. 

Postal  Currency.  Postage-stamps  in  circulation  as  currency  during 
the  early  part  of  the  late  civil  war.    See  SUtmps. 

Post  Note.  In  commerce,  a  bank-note  intended  to  be  transmitted  to 
a  distant  place  by  mail,  payable  to  order.  In  this  it  differs  from 
a  connnon  bank-note,  which  is  payable  to  bearer.  —  Webster. 

Post-notes  differ  in  other  respects  from  bank-notes.  The  latter 
are  payable  on  demand;  the  former  are  often  drawn  on  time,  with 
or  without  interest,  sometimes  six  or  twelve  months  after  date. 
This  species  of  currency  was  i-esorted  to  by  many  banks  during  the 
great  commercial  revulsions  in  1838-37,  and  contributed  greatly  to 
the  expansion  of  credits  which  proved  so  disastrous  to  the  country. 

Potato  Grant.  A  patch  of  land  for  growing  vegetables,  formerly 
granted  by  the  owner  to  each  of  his  slaves.    West  Indies. 

Potash.  Place  and  arrangements  for  making  potash.  New  England 
early  settlements.  The  practice  was  continued  until  about  1830, 
or  as  long  as  the  manufacture  was  continued. 

Potash  Kettles.  A  term  applied  in  the  West  to  roundish  elevations 
and  depressions  in  the  earth  near  the  great  lakes.  They  are  attrib- 
uted to  the  decay  and  washing  away  of  the  soft  and  easily  decom- 
posed limestone  by  which  the  ridges  where  they  are  found  are 
probably  underlaid. 

Pot-Hole.  In  many  parts  of  the  country  are  found  circular  holes  of 
various  diameters  and  depths,  formed  by  the  action  of  water  in  roll- 
ing a  small  boulder  in  what  was  at  first  a  natural  depression  of  the 
rock.  It  is  a  common  notion  in  the  West  that  these  were  made  by 
the  Indians  to  pound  corn  in,  whence  they  are  often  called  "  Indian 
mortars." 

Y.yevy  little  torrent  has  its  furrowed  channel,  and  often  its  deep  pot-holes^  as  a 
result  of  the  action  of  the  water;  and  it  would  be  most  strange  if  the  great  flood 
of  Niagara  should  rush  on  its  course  for  ages,  and  produce  no  appreciable  effect. 
R.  Bakewell,  in  Sill.  Journ.,  Vol.  XXIII.  p.  86. 

Pot-Pie»  A  pie  made  by  spreading  the  crust  over  the  bottom  and 
sides  of  a  pot,  and  filling  up  the  inside  with  meat,  i.  e.  beef,  veal, 
mutton,  or  fowls. 

An  enormous  pot-pie,  and  piping  hot,  graced  our  centre,  overpowering,  with 
its  fragrance  and  steam,  the  odors  and  vapors  of  all  other  meats ;  and  pot-jne  was 
the  wedding  dish  of  the  country,  par  excellence  !  The  pie  to-day  was  the  doughy 
sepulchre  of  at  least  six  hens,  two  chanticleers,  and  four  pullets !  What  pot 
could  have  contained  the  pie  is  inconceivable.  Why,  among  other  unknown  con- 
tributions, it  must  have  received  one  half  peck  of  onions!  And  yet  it  is  to  be 
feared  that  many  would  he pot-pieless.  —  Carlton,  The  New  Purchase. 


POT— POW 


487 


To  potter.    1.  To  potter  round.    To  busy  one's  self  with  trifles;  to 

move  about  work  in  a  purposeless  way,  instead  of  taking  hold 

energetically.    We  also  hear  "  to  putter  round.'''' 

2.  To  tread  upon  floating  ice,  or  to  leap  from  one  piece  to  another. 
Potty-Baker.    (Dutch-,  pottehakker.)    A  potter.    This  Dutch  word  is 

still  common  in  New  York.   Potter's  clay  is  there  called  potty-haker'' s 

clay. 

Pot- Walloper.    A  scullion.    The  English  word  denotes  a  house- 
holder, literally  a  pot-boiler.  — Wright,  Prov.  Die. 
Pot- Wrestler.    A  scullion.  Pennsylvania. 

Pound-Party.  An  assemblage,  usually  the  parishioners  of  a  country 
clergyman  whose  salary  is  inadequate  to  his  support,  which  on  an 
evening  agreed  upon  meets  at  his  house,  carrying  tea,  coffee,  and  other 
articles  of  necessity  put  up  in  pound  packages,  as  contributions  to 
him. 

Sometimes  these  Pound-Parties  are  for  the  benefit  of  public 
charities.    See  Donation-Party. 
Pout.    A  New  England  name  for  Catfish  (Pimelodus)  Eel-pout ,  the 
common  name  of  the  Lota  maculosa  of  the  lakes.    See  Catfish. 

These  ^ere pouts  ain't  to  blame  for  bein'  fish,  and  ye  ought  to  put  them  out  of 
their  misery.  Fish  has  their  rights  as  well  as  any  on  us.  — 3frs.  Stowe,  Oldtown 
Folks,  ch.  iv. 

Powder-Post.  "The  hoops  are  all  powder-post,^^  i.  e.  eaten  by  a 
worm  which  leaves  its  holes  full  of  powder.  It  is  generally  found 
in  sapwood  and  hickory. 

Power  and  Certificate.  During  the  time  the  books  of  a  company 
are  closed  for  the  payment  of  a  dividend,  for  an  election,  or  for  any 
purpose,  there  can  be  no  transfer  of  stock,  or  the  issue  of  a  new 
certificate.  Most  of  the  sales  of  stock  made  during  the  closing  of 
the  books  are  deliverable  on  the  opening;  all  contracts,  whether 
buyer's  or  seller's  option,  that  mature  during  the  same  time,  are 
carried  forward  to  the  opening;  but  occasionally  a  sale  is  made, 
where  the  buyer  requires  immediate  delivery.  In  that  case,  the  old 
certificate  is  delivered,  with  a  power  of  attorney  attached,  for  the 
transfer  on  or  after  the  opening  of  the  books.  These  transactions 
are  reported  in  the  stock-list,  with  the  letters  p  and  c,  which  means 
power  and  certificate.  Sales  for  cash,  made  during  the  closing  of 
the  books,  not  marked  p  and  c,  are  for  the  opening  of  the  books, 
and  are  marked  opg.  — HunVs  Merchants  Mag..,  Vol.  XXXVII. 

Powerful.  Great;  very,  exceedingly.  A  vulgar  use  of  the  word  in 
some  parts  of  the  country. 


488 


POW 


This  piano  was  sort  o'  fiddle  like,  —  only  bigger,  — and  with  a  powerful  heap 
of  wire  strings.  It  is  called  a  forty  piano,  because  it  plays  forty  tunes.  —  CarU 
ton's  New  Pur-chase^  Vol.  11.  p.  8. 

Yes,  Mr.  Speaker,  I 'd  a  powerful  sight  sooner  go  into  retiracy  among  the  red, 
wild  aborigines  of  our  wooden  country,  nor  consent  to  that  bill.  —  Caiiton,  The 
New  Purchase,  Vol.  I.  p.  74. 

It  may  be  said  generally  of  husbands,  as  the  old  woman  said  of  hers,  who  had 
abused  her,  to  an  old  maid,  who  reproached  her  for  being  such  a  fool  as  to  marry 
him :  "  To  be  sure,  he 's  not  so  good  a  husband  as  he  should  be,  but  he 's  a.  power- 
ful sight  better  than  none."  — N.  Y.  Sunday  Dispatch. 

Mrs.  S.    Hoarhound  and  sugar 's  amazin'  good. 

M7'S.  B.    Mighty  good,  mighty  good. 

Mrs.  R.  Powerful  good.  I  take  mightily  to  a  sweat  of  sugar  tea  in  desperate 
bad  colds.  —  Georgia  Scenes,  p.  193. 

I  hated  powerful  bad  to  part  with  the  horse.  —  Simms,  Wigwam  and  Cabin, 
p.  85. 

"  John,"  sa^'s  father,  when  I  was  leavin',  "you 've  been  out  in  the  world,  seen 
the  sights,  and  have  got  to  be  considdeble  smart;  now,  John,  look  out  for  your 
brother,  he 's  so  powerful  green,  'tain't  safe  for  him  to  come  near  the  cows,  for 
fear  they  might  eat  him."  — N.  Y.  Spiiit  of  the  Times. 

You  can  work  when  you  're  a  mind,  Tom.  .  .  .  But  it 's  powerful  seldom 
you  're  a  mind  to,  I 'm  bound  to  say.  —  MarTc  Twain,  Tom  Sawyer,  p.  34. 

Pow-Wow.  This  is  the  name  given  by  the  early  chronicles  to  the 
feasts,  dances,  and  other  public  doings  of  the  red  men,  preliminary 
to  a  grand  hunt,  a  council,  a  war  expedition,  or  the  like.  It  has 
been  adopted  in  political  talk,  to  signify  any  uproarious  meeting  for 
a  political  purpose,  at  which  there  is  more  noise  than  deliberation, 
more  clamor  than  counsel. 

A  murder  was  recently  committed  upon  a  Sioux  by  two  Chippewas.  The  body 
of  the  murdered  Indian  was  taken  to  the  fort,  where  a  most  terrific  pow-wow  was 
held  over  it  by  the  friends  of  the  deceased,  three  hundred  in  number.  —  Western 
newspaper. 

As  I  live,  the  savages  scent  the  whiskey !  There  is  a  rush  towards,  and  a  pow- 
wow in  and  about,  the  shed.  —  Cooper,  Oah  Openings. 

I  was  in  Philadelphia  when  the  Know-Nothings  were  holding  their  grand 
national  pow-wow  there,  and  laying  it  on  thick  that  "Americans  shall  rule 
America."  —  Letter  in  N.  Y.  Herald,  June  22,  1855. 

The  students  are  forbidden  to  occupj^  the  State  House  steps  on  the  evening  of 
presentation  day;  since  the  Facultv  design  hereafter  to  have  a pow-ioow  there,  as 
on  the  last.  —  Burlesque  Catalogue,  Yale  College,  1852-53. 

To  pow-wow.  To  perform  a  ceremony  with  conjurations  for  the  cure 
of  diseases  and  other  purposes,  with  noise  and  confusion. 

At  a  distance,  with  my  Bible  in  my  hand,  I  was  resolved,  if  possible,  to  spoil 
their  [the  Indians']  spirit  of  pow-ivotving.  and  prevent  their  receiving  an  answer 
from  the  infernal  world.  —  Brainerd,  Indian  Narrative,  1745. 

The  Angekok  of  the  Esquimaux  —  the  prophet,  as  he  is  called  among  our 
Indians  —  is  the  general  counsellor.   He  prescribes  or  pow-wows  in  sickness  and 


POZ— PRA 


489 


over  wounds,  directs  the  policy  of  the  little  State,  and  is  really  the  power  behind 
the  throne. — Kane,  Arctic  Explorations,  Vol.  II.  p.  118. 

Pozo.  (Span.)  A  spring  or  well.  A  word  in  use  on  the  frontier  of 
Mexico. 

Prairie.  (French.)  An  extensive  tract  of  land,  mostly  level,  destitute 
of  trees,  and  covered  with  tall,  coarse  grass.  These  prairies  are 
numerous  in  the  United  States,  west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains, 
especially  between  the  Ohio,  Mississippi,  and  the  great  lakes.  — 
Webster.  See  also  Rolling  Prairie,  Salt  Prairie,  and  Soda  Prairie. 
In  the  North-west,  universally  called  pet-airy. 

These  are  the  gardens  of  the  desert,  these 

The  unshorn  fields,  boundless  and  beautiful. 

For  which  the  speech  of  England  has  no  name,  — 

The  Prairies.  Bryant,  The  Prairies. 

Prairie  Bitters.  A  beverage  common  among  the  hunters  and  moun- 
taineers. It  is  made  with  a  pint  of  water  and  a  quarter  of  a  gill  of 
buffalo  gall,  and  is  considered  an  excellent  medicine.  —  Scenes  in 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  p.  133. 

Prairie-Dog.  {Cynomys  Ludovicianus.)  A  variety  of  the  marmot.  It 
has  received  the  name  of  Prairie-dog  from  a  supposed  similarity 
between  its  warning  cry  and  the  barking  of  a  small  dog.  These 
animals  live  in  large  communities;  their  villages,  as  they  are  termed 
by  the  hunters,  sometimes  being  many  miles  in  extent.  The  en- 
trance to  each  burrow  is  at  the  summit  of  the  mound  of  earth 
thrown  up  during  the  progress  of  the  excavation  below.  This  mar- 
mot, like  the  rest  of  the  species,  becomes  torpid  during  the  winter, 
and,  to  protect  itself  against  the  rigor  of  the  season,  stops  the  mouth 
of  its  hole,  and  constructs  a  cell  at  the  bottom  of  it,  where  it  re- 
mains without  injury. 

Prairie-Hen.  (^Tetrao  pratensis.)  A  bird  seen  in  great  numbers  in 
the  prairies  of  Missouri  and  Illinois,  in  the  autumn.  It  is  rather 
smaller  than  the  domestic  fowl.  In  flight,  it  appears  like  the  pheas- 
ant and  partridge,  and  is  a  beautiful  bird.  —  Plinths  Mississippi  Val- 
ley.   It  is  also  called  Heath-hen  and  Pinnated  Grouse. 

We  saw  great  flights  of  prairie  hens  or  grouse,  that  hovered  from  tree  to  tree, 
or  sat  in  rows  on  naked  branches.  —  Irving''s  Tour  on  the  Prairies. 

Prairie-Itch.  A  cutaneous  eruption  caused  by  the  friction  of  the  fine 
red  dust  of  prairie  countries  in  summer. 

Prairie-Squirrels.  (Genus  Spermophilus.)  These  are  with  great 
propriety  called  "  Prairie-squirrels  ;  "  for  their  true  home  is  on  the 
prairie,  where  they  replace  the  "arboreal"  squirrels,  from -which 


490 


PRA— PRE 


they  differ  in  organization,  to  suit  their  necessarily  different  mode 
of  life.  While  the  true  squirrels  are  designed  to  live  in  trees,  and 
to  subsist  upon  their  fruits,  the  spermophiles  are  fitted  to  inhabit 
the  grassy  plains  which  cover  much  of  the  Western  part  of  our 
Union,  their  food  being  the  prairie  plants  with  their  roots  and  seeds. 
The  form  of  these  squirrels  is  adapted  only  to  locomotion  on  the 
ground.  The  body  is  thick  and  heavy,  with  short  legs;  and  in 
place  of  the  long  toes  and  sharp,  hooked  nails  by  which  the  arboreal 
squirrels  cling  to  the  trees  so  readily,  they  have  shorter  toes,  with 
longer  and  straighter  nails,  for  digging  burrows  in  the  earth.  The 
long,  flexible,  and  bushy  tails,  which  aid  the  squirrels  in  their  bold 
leaps,  and  keep  them  warm  in  their  holes  in  winter,  would  here  be 
useless,  and  soon  worn  ragged  by  dragging  through  their  burrows. 
The  spermophiles,  therefore,  have  smaller  tails,  that  are  carried 
straight  behind  them.  They  have  cheek-pouches  in  which  to  carry 
food;  and  two  species,  at  least,  convey  roots,  seeds,  &c.,  to  their 
burrows  to  be  eaten.  — R.  Kennicott. 
Prairie-State.    The  State  of  Illinois. 

Prairie-Wolf.  (Canis  latrans.)  The  small  wolf  of  the  prairies,  the 
Coyote  of  the  Mexicans.  Its  range  extends  from  Fort  Riley,  Kan- 
sas, to  the  Pacific,  and  from  the  Upper  Missouri  to  the  Rio  Grande 
of  Texas. 

the  prairie-wolf 
Hunts  in  their  meadows,  and  his  fresh-dug  den 
Yawns  by  my  path.  —  Bryant. 

Prairillon.     A  small  prairie. 

Interspersed  among  the  hills  are  frequent  openings  and  /» rair/Z/ons  of  rich  soil 
and  luxuriant  vegetation.  — Scenes  in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  p.  172. 

Prawchey.    (Dutch,  praatje.)    A  talk,  gossip.    New  York. 

Prayerfully.  Devoutly.  Ex.:  "We  may  he  prayerfully  disposed." 
Used  by  some  of  the  clergy.  —  Pickering. 

Prayerfulness.    The  use  of  much  prayer.  —  Webster. 
Prayerlessness.    Total  or  habitual  neglect  of  prayer.  —  Webster. 
To  preach  a  Funeral.    To  preach  a  funeral  sermon.  Western. 

This  and  the  two  preceding  words  are  not  in  the  English  diction- 
aries. 

Preacher's  Stand.  A  pulpit  in  a  church;  a  platform  for  a  preacher 
at  "Camp  Meetings."  The  latter  use  occasioned  the  former, 
among  certain  people.  Southern  and  Western  usage,  but  occa- 
sional in  New  England. 


PRE 


491 


Precinct.  1.  A  subdivision  of  a  county  or  city,  within  which  a  single 
poll  is  held  at  elections;  a  territorial  district  or  division. 

In  case  of  non-acceptance  [of  the  collector],  the  parish  or  precinct  shall  proceed 
to  a  new  choice.  — Laws  of  Massachusetts. 

In  Franklin  Co.,  Kansas,  they  had  no  county  commissioner  whose  duty  it  is  to 
appoint  \oiix\g  precincts  besides  the  county  seat.  — N.  Y.  Times,  Oct.  9,  1857. 

2.  A  town  whose  corporate  rights  did  not  include  sending  depu- 
ties to  the  colonial  Legislature.    Massachusetts  before  1776. 

To  predicate.    Is  constantly  confounded  with  predict. 

To  predicate  on  or  upon.  To  found  a  proposition,  argument,  &c.,  on 
some  basis  or  data.  This  sense  of  the  word,  said  to  be  purely 
American,  is  not  noticed  by  Dr.  Webster  or  the  English  lexicogra- 
phers. "Its  use,"  as  Mr.  Pickering  observes,  "is  very  common 
with  American  writers,  and  in  the  debates  of  our  legislative  assem- 
blies." 

It  ought  surely  to  predicated  v]jon  a  full  and  impartial  consideration  of  the 
whole  subject.  — Letter  of  John  Quincy  Adams. 

The  great  State  papers  of  American  liberty  were  all  predicated  on  the  abuse  of 
chartered,  not  of  absolute,  rights.  —  Gibbs,  Adminis.  of  Washington  and  J. 
Adams,  Vol.  I.  p.  3. 

Among  these  [projects  for  pecuniary  relief,  in  1740]  was  an  institution  known 
as  the  Land  Bank,  with  a  capital  of  £150,000,  predicated  on  real  estate.  — 
Stone's  Hidory  of  Beverly,  Mass. 
To  pre-empt.    To  secure  land,  by  being  the  first  settler  or  occupant 
of  it,  in  conformity  with  the  pre-emption  law. 

The  following  account  of  the  process  of  pre-empting  lands  is  from 
the  "  National  Intelligencer,"  Washington,  July  1,  1857  :  — 

The  laws  of  the  United  States  give  the  right  to  any  citizen  who  does  not  own 
three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  land  in  any  State  of  the  Union  (and  to  this  he 
is  required  to  make  oath)  to  pre-empt  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  by  fulfilling 
the  detailed  requirements  of  the  act.  These  requirements  are  that  he  shall  tile 
his  intention  in  the  land-office  to  enter  upon  and  improve  the  land,  either  by 
cultivating  it  or  erecting  thereon  a  home,  and  residing  upon  the  land  long  enough 
to  make  it  his  residence ;  which  time  is  variously  estimated  to  mean  one  or  five 
days,  just  as  the  Receiver  at  any  land-office  may  decide.  To  the  fact  that  he  has 
60  resided  and  made  said  improvements,  he  must  produce  a  witness,  who  testifies 
that  such  and  such  things  have  been  done,  and  that  the  pre-eniptor  has  resided  the 
required  time  in  the  house  on  the  land.  Upon  fulfilling  all  these  requirements 
and  paying  one  dollar  and  a  quarter  per  acre,  either  in  gold  or  a  land-warrant, 
and  the  fees,  he  receives  a  certificate  of  title.  A  duplicate  of  this  is  sent  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Interior  at  Washington,  who,  after  having  searched  the  records, 
and  finding  that  the  individual  has  wot  pre-empted  before,  issues  a  patent  direct 
to  him,  and  he  becomes  the  owner  of  his  farm  by  title  direct  from  the  govern- 
ment. 

Isaac  Lawrence,  of  New  York,  a  Negro,  addressed  Governor  Marcy 
a  note,  inquiring  if  he  could  pre-empt  government  laud  in  Miune- 


492 


PRE 


sota,  the  same  as  white  persons  could.  The  letter  was  referred  to 
Secretary  McClelland,  who  in  reply  said;  — 

I  have  to  state  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  laws  of  the  United  States  which 
would  prevent  you,  as  a  free  man  of  African  descent,  from  settling  upon  public 
land  in  the  territory  of  Minnesota,  and  acquiring  a  right  of  pre-emption. 

The  term  is  used  figuratively  to  denote  a  previously  occupied  field 
of  study.  Thus,  speaking  of  the  lectures  of  the  Rev.  Joseph  Cook, 
the  "  Providence  Journal  "  says:  — 

He  takes  old,  philosophic  ground,  that  has,  as  it  were,  been  pre-empted  by 
skeptics  and  materialists,  and  standing  there  claims  it  for  God  and  evangelical 
truth. 

Walter  F.  Brown,  in  his  amusing  "  Historical  and  Comical  Cen- 
tennial" (Providence,  1876),  thus  begins  his  poem:  — 

Mr.  Christopher  Columbus 

In  Palos  raised  a  rumpus, 
Then  went  bobbing  out  at  sea,  to  see  what  he  could  do. 

By  accident  he  landed. 

And  on  kissing  the  sand  did 
Pre-empt  this  mighty  continent  in  fourteen  ninety-two. 

Pre-emption  Right.  The  right  or  title  which  an  original  settler  or 
squatter  has  to  become  the  first  purchaser  of  unsurveyed  govern- 
ment land,  of  which  he  has  taken  possession.  To  maintain  this 
right,  he  must  have  erected  a  habitation,  or  taken  some  steps  towards 
the  cultivation  of  the  land.  This  terni  has  long  been  in  use,  as 
Imlay,  in  his  work  on  the  Western  Territory,  published  in  1797, 
says : — 

The  settlement  began  to  form  in  1780,  and  was  encouraged  by  settlements  and 
pre-emption  nghts.  —  p.  14. 

Among  the  public  acts  of  Congress  is  one  entitled,  — 

"An  act  to  appropriate  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  and  to  grant  ^7*6- 
emption  riyhts^ 

Pre-emptor.    One  who  has  a  pre-emption  right. 

Preferential.    Entitled  to  preference. 

No  party  has  any  such  preferential  rights  over  the  lines  of  the  American  Tele- 
graph Company.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Prehaps,  ior  perhaps.,  is  much  used  at  the  West  in  familiar  language, 
when  additional  force  is  to  be  given  to  the  word.  It  originated  in 
a  jocose  mispronunciation,  which  appears  to  be  becoming  a  fixed 
corruption. 

Prehaps  Parson  Ilyme  didn't  put  it  into  Pokerville  for  two  mortal  hours ;  and 
prehaps  Pokerville  didn't  mizzle,  wince,  and  finall}'  flummix  right  beneath  him! 
Field,  Drama  in  Pokerville. 

Prekel.    A  small,  flat  cake,  sugared  outside.  Pennsylvania. 


PRE 


493 


Present.  This  word  is  put  on  the  back  of  letters  to  persons  residing 
in  the  place  where  they  are  written,  and  which  are  not  to  be  sent 
through  the  mail.  Peculiar  to  the  United  States.  An  abbreviation 
of  the  old  English  form,  "  these  present."  An  earlier  form  (as  in 
the  "  Paston  Letters,"  15th  century)  was,  "To  A.  B.  be  this  deliv- 
ered," or  "be  this  given."  Such  letters  w^ere  sent  by  special  mes- 
sengers, or  intrusted  to  some  friend  or  traveller,  to  be  delivered  in 
person.  "These  deliver"  and  "these  present"  were  common 
forms  in  New  England  in  the  17th  century.  The  Spanish  equiv- 
alent, presente,  is  also  used  in  Central  America. 

Presidency.  1.  The  office  of  President.  "  Washington  was  elected 
to  the  presidency  of  the  United  States  by  a  unanimous  vote  of  the 
electors- ' ' 

2.  The  term  during  which  a  president  holds  his  office.  "  Presi- 
dent John  Adams  died  during  the  presidency  of  his  son." — Webster. 

President.    1.  The  chief  magistrate  of  the  United  States. 

The  executive  power  shall  be  vested  in  a  President  of  the  United  States  of 
America.  He  shall  hold  his  office  during  the  term  of  four  years,  &c.  —  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States. 

2.  The  chief  officer  of  a  college  or  university. 

Presidential.  Pertaining  to  a  president.  —  Webster.  In  this  sense, 
the  word  is  an  Americanism.  It  is  of  course  very  common  and 
indispensable  with  us,  and  is  sometimes  used  by  English  writers  in 
treating  of  American  affairs. 

The  friends  of  Washington  had  determined  to  support  Mr.  Adams  as  candidate 
for  the  presidential  chair.  —  Quarterly  Revie  w^  Vol.  X.  p.  497. 

Presidio.  (Span.)  A  military  post  on  the  Mexican  frontier.  Many 
of  these  places  are  now  within  the  United  States,  and  still  retain  the 
old  Spanish  name.  Sometimes  the  term  is  applied  to  a  fortress,  at 
others  to  the  entire  village  that  surrounds  it. 

The  viceroy  of  Mexico  sent  the  gallant  Onate  to  New  Mexico,  to  take  formal 
possession  of  the  country,  and  to  establish  colonies,  missions,  and  presidios.  — 
Wislizenus,  Northern  Mexico^  1848. 

To  prestidigitate.    To  handle;  to  trick  with. 

So  long  as  a  question  of  finance  is  but  a  question  of  here  or  there,  we  may 
prestidiyitate  it  harmlessly  enough,  making  the  burden  disappear  under  any 
pleasant  name  we  choose  —  The  Conyreyationalist,  Jan.  24,  18G2. 

Pretzel.    (Dutch.)    A  kind  of  brittle  cake;  a  cracknel. 

My  father  used  to  tell  of  a  woman  who  sold  crullers,  pretzels,  and  apples  on  a 
table  on  the  south  side  of  the  track,  who  was  so  beautiful  that  all  the  passengers 
clustered  on  that  side  to  see  her.  — E.  E.  Hale,  Adventures  of  a  Pullman,  p.  18. 


494 


PRE 


Pretty.    1.  Any  thing  pretty ;  an  ornament,  toy,  picture.  Western. 

Thinks  I,  this  is  all  talk  and  no  cider:  and  I  asked  if  any  lady  or  gentleman 
wanted  a  picture.  A  dead  silence  ensued,  then  a  titter.  At  length  one  of  the 
chaps  said  to  his  sweetheart :  — 

"Betty,  suppose  you  have  your  pretty  taken."  —  Dayuerreotyping,  Ev. 
{Wash.)  Star. 

2.  Well-disposed;  kind;  affable.    Northern  New  England. 

Pretty  Considerable.    1.  Of  some  consequence;  tolerable,  passable, 
middling.    Used  in  this  sense  in  England  as  well  as  America. 

To  the  faculty  of  law  was  joined  ajiretty  considerable  proportion  of  the  faculty 
of  medicine.  —  Burke,  Rejlections  on  the  French  Revolution. 

But  you  seem  to  have  something  j9?^e^^?/  considerable  in  the  right  pocket  of  your 
trowsers;  what  may  it  be?  Why,  that's  a  wee  bit  pewter  whiske^'-flask,  yer 
honor.  —  Scrope^s  Beer  Stalkiny,  p.  74. 

I  went  to  the  theatre  in  Boston,  where  the  acting  was  pretty  considerable,  con- 
sidering. —  Crockett's  Tour,  p.  87. 

2.  Tolerably,  passably,  middlingly. 

Dear  Col.  Crockett, — I  have  heard  of  you  a  great  deal  lately,  and  read  con- 
siderable of  your  writings;  and  I  feel  pretty  considerable  weU  acquainted  with 
you.  —  Major  Downing,  Letter  to  Crockett,  Tour,  p.  217. 

There  are  some  folks  who  think  a  good  deal,  and  say  but  little,  and  they  are 
wise  folks;  and  there  are  others  agahi  who  blurt  out  whatever  comes  uppermost, 
and  I  guess  they  are  pretty  considerable  superfine  fools.  —  Sam  Slick. 

I  went  into  the  business  of  pepper-pot  smoking,  and  went  ahead  pretty  consid- 
erable for  a  time;  but  a  parcel  of  fellows  came  into  it,  said  my  cats  wasn't  as 
g(jod  as  their'n,  when  I  know'd  they  was  as  fresh  as  any  cats  in  the  market,  and 
pepper-pot  was  no  go.  —  J.  C.  Neal,  Sketches. 

Pretty  Middling.    Tolerably  well. 

When  we  came  to  the  steep,  sandy  side  of  the  mountain  [Hecla],  it  would  be 
safe  to  believe  that  we  went  doAvn  pretty  middling.  — P.  Miles,  Rambles  in  Ice 
land,  p.  78. 

'•Ah,  Mr.  Weller,"  says  the  gentleman,  "glad  to  see  you,  sir;  how  are  you  ?" 
•'Wery  well,  thank  'ee,  sir,"  says  my  father;  "I  hope  you  "re pretty  middlin' 
Dickens,  Pickwick,  ch.  xiii. 

Pretty  Weather.    Pleasant  weather.    North  Carolina  and  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Preventative.    A  corruption  sometimes  met  with  for  preventive,  both 
in  England  and  America. 

A  cry  was  raised  for  the  establishment  of  a,  preventative  armed  police;  but  the 
madness  of  such  a  proposal  could  not  long  escape  observation.  — Edinb.  Annual 
Reg,  Vol.  V.  p.  99. 

Confidence  in  the  press,  and  a  belief  in  its  statements  concerning  this  cholera, 
are  the  most  powerful  2}}^eventatives  of  panic.  —  A''.  Y.  Escpress,  Aug.  6,  1849. 

The  most  effectual  physical  preventative  against  sleeping  in  church  is  to  take 
a  short  nap  just  before  going  to  chnvch..     Hall" s  Journal  of  Health,  July,  1859. 


PRI 


495 


The  telegrams  from  London  of  the  19  Sept.,  1877,  thus  give  the 
opinion  of  the  correspondent  of  the  "  London  Times,"  on  President 
MacMahon's  manifesto  to  the  French  people.  Commenting  on  the 
pa.ssage  beginning,  "  I  could  not  obey  the  mandates  of  the  dema- 
gogues," he  says: — 

Tliis  sentence  seems  to  be  a  kind  of  preventatice  aimed  at  spreading  irritation 
and  discouragement  throughout  the  nation. 

Prickly  Heat.    A  cutaneous  eruption  or  rash  which  appears  during 

the  excessive  heat  of  summer. 
Prickly  Pear.   (Opuntia  vulgaris.)  A  sort  of  flat,  jointed  cactus,  which 

is  found  in  sandy  fields  and  about  dry  rocks,  from  Massachusetts 

southward,  usually  near  the  coast. 
Prime.    In  a  first-rate  manner;  primely.    This  is  one  of  the  many 

English  adjectives  which,  in  our  vulgar  language,  are  transformed 

into  adverbs. 

After  a  little  practice  with  my  gun,  she  came  up  to  the  eye  prime,  and  I  deter- 
mined to  try  her  at  the  first  shooting-match.  —  Crockett,  Tour,  p.  175. 

Priming.  As  the  priming  bears  but  a  small  proportion  to  the  charge  of 
a  gun,  so  this  word  is  used  iu  the  West  to  denote  any  tiling  trivial, 
like  the  word  circumstance;  as,  "  Your  corn  crop  ain't  a  priming  to 
mine,"  i.  e.  is  very  small  in  comparison  with  it. 

Stranger,  \o\i  may  say  what  you  please  about  your  anacondy  sarpent  of  Cey- 
lon, in  South  America;  and  your  rael  Bengali  tiger  from  Africa ;  both  on  'em, 
heated  to  a  while  heat  and  welded  into  one,  Avould  be  no  part  of  a  p)riminy  to  a 
grizzl}'  bear  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  —  Crockett's  Adventures  icith  a  Grizzly 
Bear. 

Priminary.  A  predicament ;  difficulty.  Used  in  the  Southern  States. 
Sherwood\s  Georgia.  I  am  told  that  this  word  is  also  used  by  old 
people  living  on  Long  Island.  It  is  provincial  in  the  North  of 
England. 

To  primp  or  primp  up.  To  dress  up  in  a  finical  manner;  to  linger 
over  one's  toilet.    A  woman's  expression. 

Arter  suppei- 1  washed,  then  I  put  on  the  cleanest  sort  of  a  shirt  that  Aunt  Jane 
had  fixed  up  mity  nice  an'  smooth,  then  I  drawed  on  about  as  nice  a  set  uv  Sun- 
day harness  as  you  ever  seed  ;  and,  arter  marm  and  Aunt  Jane  had  pr-imped  up 
an'  fixed  my  har  an'  creevat,  I  was  reddy.  —  How  Sal  and  Me  Got  Married. 

Primpy.  Fastidious  in  the  duties  of  the  toilet;  finical.  A  woman's 
word. 

Prince's  Pride.    See  Pipsissewa. 

Printery.  An  establishment  for  printing  cottons,  &c. ;  print-works. 
Rare.  —  Worcester. 


496 


PRO 


Probabilities.  Old  Probabilities,  a  term  applied  to  the  superintendent 
of  the  bureau  at  Washington,  from  which  the  weather  reports  are 
issued.  "  What  says  Old  Probabilities  about  the  weather  to-day  ?  " 
Sometimes  called  "  clerk  of  the  weather." 

There  are  men  who  build  arks  straight  through  their  natural  lives,  ready  for 
the  first  sprinkle ;  and  there  are  others  who  do  not  watch  OlrJ  Probabilities  or  even 
own  an  umbrella.  —  Clarence  King,  Address  at  Yale  Coll.,  June  26,  1877. 

Processioner.  An  officer  in  Kentucky,  and  possibly  in  other  States, 
whose  duty  it  is  to  determine  and  mark  out  the  bounds  of  lands. 

Profanity.  This  word  is  in  common  use  here,  more  particularly  with 
our  clergy.  It  is  not  in  the  dictionaries,  and  I  do  not  recollect  ever 
meeting  with  it  in  English  authors.  The  Scottish  writers  employ 
it;  but  English  writers  use  the  word  profaneness.  — Pickering. 

In  a  revel  of  debauchery,  amid  the  brisk  interchange  of  profanity  and  follv, 
religion  might  appear  a  dumb,  unsocial  intruder.  —  Buckminster. 

Professor.  1.  One  who  makes  a  profession  of  any  thing.  —  Worcester. 
The  application  of  the  word  to  dancing-masters,  conjurers,  banjo- 
players,  &c.,  has  been  called  an  Americanism.  It  is  thought,  how- 
ever, that,  even  in  Yankee  land,  the  following,  copied  by  the  "  Nat. 
Intelligencer"  of  Nov.  11,  1858,  from  an  English  paper,  would  be 
"  hard  to  beat:  "  — 

A  great  shaving  match  against  time  was  performed  recently  at  Keighley,  near 
Leeds.  A  ^'■Professor  Carrodus,"  attended  by  three  latherers  and  five  stroppers, 
engaged  to  shave  seventy  men  in  sixty  minutes,  and  succeeded  in  performing  the 
task  four  minutes  within  the  specified  time. 

2.  One  visibly  or  professedly  religious.  —  Worcester.  One  who 
makes  a  public  profession  of  religion  in  those  churches  where  such  a 
rite  prevails  instead  of  confirmation.  A  very  odd  use  of  the  word 
to  those  not  accustomed  to  it. 

"Ah!"  said  Miss  Rayby,  "and  I  can  remember  the  time  —  of  course  I  was 
very  young  then,  but  still  I  can  remember  —  when  Caleb  Edmonds  swept  out  his 
own  shop !  " 

"  Dear  me !  And  now  he  has  the  upstart  impudence  to  send  his  girl  to  such  a 
school  as  that!  "  exclaimed  Miss  Sophia  Milwood,  the  spinster  who  had  not  yet 
spoken.    "Oh,  the  pride  of  human  nature !  " 

"  And  he  a  professor  too !  " 
Professor  !  "  said  Miss  Rayby.  "  Religion  does  not  teach  a  man  such  absurd 
pride  as  that!  " 

Miss  Phillip  shook  her  head,  and  began  to  lament  the  increase  of  false  profes- 
sors. —  The  Dream  of  Caleb  Edmonds. 

To  progress.  To  move  forward ;  to  pass. — Johnson.  This  is  not  a 
pure  Americanism,  as  some  suppose,  but  an  old  English  word  which 
had  been  suffered  to  become  obsolete.    It  was  revived  here  after 


PRO 


497 


the  Revolution  (see  Pickering),  and  has  lately  been  taken  into 
favor  again  in  England. 

The  Penny  Cyclopedia  (art.  Americanism)  says,  "  The  old  verb 
prSgresSj  which  the  Americans  use  very  often  and  pronounce  pro- 
gress, is  now  beginning  to  be  again  adopted  in  its  native  country, 
though  we  think  we  could  do  very  well  without  it." 

Let  me  wipe  off  this  honorable  dew, 

That  silverly  doth  prop-ess  on  thy  cheeks.  —  ShaJcspeare. 

 Although  the  popular  blast 

Hath  reared  thy  name  up  to  bestride  a  cloud, 

Or  progress  in  the  chariot  of  the  sun.  —  Ford,  Broken  Heart. 

Such  are  the  inconsistencies  of  a  flatterer,  progressing  from  his  butterfly  state 
into  the  vermicular  slime  of  a  libeller.  —  London  Quarterly  Review. 

Her  first  teacher  was  but  himself,  at  that  time  a  pupil ;  but  she  progressed 
under  his  tuition.  — Mary  Howitt,  People'' s  Journal. 

The  launch  of  the  "Leviathan  "  will  be  by  no  means  a  slapdash  affair  into  the 
"native  element,"  but  a  tedious  operation,  which  will  very  probably  occupy  two 
or  three  days.  On  these  points,  and  some  others  of  equal  interest,  we  shall  give 
our  readers  fuller  information  as  the  great  ship  progresses  towards  completion.  — 
London  Times,  April  30,  1857. 

They  progress  in  that  style  in  proportion  as  their  plans  are  treated  with  con- 
tempt, —  Washington's  Writings. 

After  the  war  had  progressed  for  some  time.  — Marshall's  Washington. 

Whether  this  word  was  used  in  the  time  of  Bacon  or  not,  I  can- 
not say,  yet  it  seems  he  employs  it  in  the  spirit  world ;  for,  in  the 
asserted  revelations  made  by  Judge  Edmonds,  the  philosopher 
says : — 

I  trust  that  your  own  hearts  will  respond  to  mine,  and  the  many,  very  many 
spirits  who  are  present,  till  all  our  souls,  like  one  spirit,  shall  unite  in  the  har- 
monies of  truth,  love,  and  the  earnest  desire  to  progress.  —  Spiritualism,  p.  333. 

Progressive  Friends.  A  name  recommended  at  a  convention  of 
Spiritualists  held  in  Illinois,  Sept.  7,  1857,  to  be  adopted  by  them, 
"as  being  a  cognomen  most  indicative  of  that  broad  liberality  of 
sentiment  which  they  desire  to  foster  and  maintain." 

Prohibition  and  Prohibitionist.  The  prohibition  by  law  of  the  sale 
of  alcoholic  beverages,  and  one  in  favor  of  such  prohibition. 

Prong.    A  branch  or  arm  of  a  creek  or  inlet.  Southern. 

Prong-Horn  Antelope.  {Antilocapra  Americana.)  The  Prong-horn 
Antelope  is  familiar  to  every  hunter  on  the  plains  west  of  the  Mis- 
souri River.  From  this  line  it  extends  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and 
ranges  from  Northern  Mexico  to  the  latitude  of  5S°  on  the  Saskatch- 
ewan. It  is  also  abundant  in  Minnesota.  The  antelope  is  highly 
prized  as  an  article  of  food.    It  runs  with  great  swiftness,  and 

32 


498 


PRO 


all  its  motions   are  characterized  by  ease  and  grace.  —  S.  F. 

Baird. 

To  pronounce.  In  Nantucket,  they  say,  "  How  does  your  horse  pro- 
nounce f^''  i.  e.  how  does  he  prove  or  perform  ? 

Pronouncement.  An  emphatic  declaration;  a  pronunciamento, — 
N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Proper.  Very,  exceedingly.  Colloquial  in  England  and  the  United 
States. 

The  day  was  gone  afore  I  got  out  of  the  woods,  and  I  got  proper  frightened.  — 
Sam  Slick  in  England,  ch.  18. 

Properly.    Very  much.    Common  in  New  England. 

leather  jest  up  with  the  flat  of  his  hand,  and  gave  me  a  wipe  with  it  on  the 
side  of  my  face,  that  knocked  me  over  and  hurt  me  properly.  —  Sam  Slich  in 
England,  ch.  26. 

Propios.  (Span.)  In  Spanish-American  law,  certain  portions  of 
ground  laid  off  and  reserved,  on  the  foundation  of  a  town,  as  the 
unalienable  property  of  the  town,  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  public 
buildings,  markets,  &c.,  or  to  be  used  in  any  other  way,  under  the 
direction  of  the  municipality,  for  the  advancement  of  the  revenues 
or  the  prosperity  of  the  place.  —  Peters^ s  Report'^,  Vol.  XII.  p.  442, 
note. 

Pro-Slavery.  In  favor  of  slavery.  An  expression  much  used  by 
political  speakers  and  writers,  and  but  recently  inserted  in  the 
dictionaries. 

It  takes  a  despot,  a  craven,  and  a  slave,  compounded  together,  to  make  a  Pro- 
slavery  legislator  in  a  free  State.  —  Anti-Slavery  Almanac. 

Pro-slavery  mQxx,  strike  for  your  altars!  strike  for  your  rights!  Sound  the 
bugle  of  war  over  your  land,  and  leave  not  an  abolitionist  in  the  country.  — Kick- 
apoo  Pioneer,  Jan.  18,  1856. 

The  intense  Pro-slnveryism  of  the  city  of  Baltimore  ...  is  simply  the  sign  of 
a  caste.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  July  15,  1861. 

To  prospect.    To  search  for  mines  of  gold  and  silver. 

■  Prospect.  Among  gold-miners,  what  one  finds  in  examining  the  first 
panful  of  earth.  Upon  its  result,  the  miner  determines  whether  it 
is  a  good  or  bad  proi<pect,  and  governs  himself  accordingly.  If  the 
show  of  gold  is  good,  he  perseveres;  if  not,  the  place  is  abandoned, 
perhaps  to  be  more  closely  scrutinized  and  worked  by  the  Chinese, 
who  are  content  with  less  for  their  labor. 

We  got  many  good  prospects ;  but,  when  the  gold  gave  out  in  the  pan  and  we 
dug  down,  we  found  only  emptiness.  We  then  shouldered  our  pans  and  shovels, 
and  struck  out  over  the  hills,  to  try  new  localities.  —  JIark  Twain,  Roughing  It, 
p.  443. 


I 


PRO 


499 


Prospecting.  Hunting  or  searching  for  lead,  gold,  or  other  metals. 
The  process  is  thus  described  in  a  sketch  of  Life  on  the  Upper 
Mississippi :  — 

The  chief  mart  of  the  lead  trade  is  in  the  town  of  Galena,  built  upon  a  small, 
slusjgish  sti-eam.  In  travelling  through  the  upland  prairie  of  this  neighborhood, 
you  will  see  many  hillocks  of  earth,  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  as  if  some  huge 
animal  had  been  burrowing  beneath,  and  had  thrown  up  the  dirt  in  that  manner ; 
but  you  may,  by  chance,  meet  two  or  three  men  with  a  bucket,  a  rope,  a  pick- 
axe, and  a  portable  windlass,  and  the  difllculty  is  explained.  This,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  country,  is  a  2'>^'0spectiny  party ;  which,  being  interpreted,  means 
that  they  are  on  the  look-out  for  ore,  if  it  is  to  be  found  within  ten  or  fifteen  feet 
of  the  ground.  — N.  Y.  Liter-ary  World,  June  3,  1848. 

Our  claim  [near  Hangtown,  Cal.]  did  not  prove  rich  enough  to  satisfy  us;  so  we 
abandoned  it,  and  vf ^nt prospecting.  —  Borthioick's  California,  p.  124. 

I've  gin  up  diggin'  and  prospectin\  It  don't  pay;  and  I  can  make  more  by 
tellin'  new  comers  whar  to  sink  their  shaft.  If  they  lind  gold,  I  get  half ;  and,  if 
they  don't,  I  charge  nothin'.  — Lett,  from  California,  N.  Y.  Times. 

Prospector.  A  searcher  for  spots  where  minerals  exist,  applied  alike 
to  the  precious  metals,  copper,  or  coal. 

A  prospector  goes  out  wi^li  a  pick  and  shovel  and  a  washpan;  and,  to  test  the 
richness  of  a  place,  he  digs  down  till  he  reaches  the  dirt  in  which  it  may  be  ex- 
pected gold  will  be  found.  —  Borthwick''s  California,  p.  ]24. 

Protracted  Meeting.  A  name  given  to  a  religious  meeting,  pro- 
tracted or  continued  for  several  days,  chiefly  among  the  Presby- 
terians, Congregationalists,  Methodists,  and  Baptists.  N'otice  is 
sometimes  given  that  a  protracted  meeting  will  be  held  at  a  certain 
time  and  place,  where  large  numbers  of  people  assemble.  In  the 
West,  they  are  called  "  big  meetings." 

A  religious  sensation  is  raging  terribly  in  my  neighborhood,  induced  by  the 
influence  of  the  expected  comet,  —  there  is  sl  protracted  meeting  round  the  corner, 
and.  high-pressure  prayer-meetings  on  every  side.  — Doesticks. 

I 'm  a  gentleman  that  calculates  to  hold  a  protected  meeting  here  to-night.  — 
Sam  Slick,  Nature  and  Human  Nature. 

You  don't  suppose  a  pedlar  that  had  experienced  religion  at  a  protracted 
vieetin'  would  cheat  a  clergyman?  What  an  idee! —  Widow  Bedott  Papers, 
p.  219. 

Proud.    Glad;  as,  "I  should  h%  proud  to  see  you." 

The  Eev.  Mr.  Brownlow,  the  facetious  editor  of  the  "  Jonesboro' 
Whig,"  in  an  article  on  his  own  obituary,  says:  — 

He  desires  it  stated  to  the  world  that,  if  he  had  his  life  to  live  over  again,  he 
could  imjjrove  it  in  many  respects.  He  leaves  no  apologies  to  bo  made  to  men  in 
this  life,  and  asks  no  favors  of  anybody  "on  the  other  side  of  Jordan,"  but  his 
God!  His  friends,  if  he  have  any  left  behind,  can  be  of  no  service  to  him;  his 
enemies,  he  is  proud  to  know,  "  can't  reach  him !  " 


600 


PRO—PUC 


Pro-Union.    Favorable  to  the  United  States. 

Jackson's  force  is  said  to  be  in  part  composed  of  Pro-Union  men  who  have  been 
impressed  into  the  rebel  service.  — N.  Y.  Tribune^  April  7,  1862. 

Prox  or  Proxy.  The  use  of  these  words  is  confined  to  the  State  of 
Rhode  Island.  Prox  means  the  ticket  or  list  of  candidates  at  elec- 
tions presented  to  the  people  for  their  votes.  By  a  law  of  the  colony 
of  Providence  Plantations,  passed  in  the  year  1647,  the  General 
Assembly  was  appointed  to  be  holden  annually,  "if  wind  and 
weather  hinder  not,  at  which  the  general  officers  of  the  colony  were 
to  be  chosen."  This  clause  made  it  convenient  for  many  to  remain 
at  home,  particularly  as  they  had  the  right  to  send  their  votes  for 
the  officers  by  some  other  persons;  hence  the  origin  of  these  terms 
prox  sind  proxy  votes ,  as  applied  to  the  present  mode  of  voting  for 
State  officers  in  Rhode  Island.  —  Staples'' s  Annals  of  Providence, 
p.  64. 

Mr.  Pickering  observes  that  this  word  is  also  used  in  Connecticut, 
as  equivalent  to  election  or  election-day.  He  quotes  the  following 
instances  from  a  Connecticut  newspaper:  — 

Republicans  of  Connecticut,  previous  to  Qxery  proxies^  you  have  been  assaulted 
on  every  side. 

On  the  approaching ^roaTies,  we  ask  you  to  attend  universally. 

Dr.  Webster,  with  whom  New  England,  or  rather  Connecticut, 
seems  to  have  been  a  synonyme  for  "  all  creation,"  says  the  word 
means,  in  popular  use,  an  election  or  day  of  voting  for  officers  of 
government." 

When  the  qualification  of  a  freeman,  as  formerly,  was  low,  the  proxies  or  voters 
never  exceeded  1,300;  at  present,  the  qualification  is  better,  and  the  proxies  are 
only  888,  — Douglass's  Summary,  1755,  Vol.  II.  p.  89. 

Pry.  A  large  lever  employed  to  raise  or  move  heavy  substances.  Used 
also  in  some  parts  of  England.  — Worcester. 

To  pry.    To  move  or  raise  by  means  of  a  large  lever.  — Worcester. 

Publishment.  A  publishing  of  the  bans  of  marriage,  which  is  re- 
quired by  law  in  some  parts  of  New  England.  "  Mr.  Doe  and  Miss 
'Roe^s  publishment  took  place  to-day." 

Any  persons  desiring  to  be  joined  in  marriage  shall  have  such  their  intentions 
published  ...  or  posted  up  bv  the  clerk  of  each  town  ;  and  a  certificate  of  such 
publishment  .  .  .  shall  be  produced  as  aforesaid  previous  to  their  marriage. — 
Statutes  of  Massachusetts,  1786. 

Puccoon.  An  Indian  name  for  various  plants  affording  coloring 
matter;  hence,  probably,  the  name  of  Poke-berry.  The  primary 
meaning  of  the  name  appears  to  be  "of  the  color  of  blood,"  or 
"  bloody." 


PUC— PUL 


501 


1.  The  Sanguinaria  Canadensis,  or  Blood-root.  The  juice  was 
much  used  by  the  India-ns  as  a  dye  or  stain,  as  on  the  old  basket 
ware  now  no  longer  to  be  seen. 

Pocones  is  a  small  root  that  groweth  in  the  mountains,  which,  being  dryed  and 
beaten  in  powder,  turneth  red,  &c.  —  Smith'' s  Virginia^  1632,  p.  27. 

They  have  the puccoon,  with  which  the  Indians  used  to  paint  themselves  red; 
and  the  shumach  and  sassafras,  which  make  a  deep  yellow.  —  Beverly''s  Virginia, 
Book  III.  (1705). 

2.  Yellow  puccoon.    Hydrastis  Canadensis,  or  Yellow  Root. 
Puccoon  is  an  Indian  name  for  all  roots  dyeing  red,  orange,  or 

yellow. — Rajinesque,  Med.  Flor.,  Vol.  I.  p.  253. 

Pucker.    1.  A  snarl  or  tangle  (from  v.  to  pucker). 

Bamplay.  Troth,  I  am  one  of  those  that  labor  Avith  the  same  longing  [to  hear 
the  right],  for  it  is  ahnost pucker' d  and  pulled  into  that  knot,  by  your  poet,  which 
I  cannot  easily  .  .  .  untie 

Boy.  Like  enough,  nor  is  it  your  office  to  be  troubled  or  perplexed  with  it, 
but  to  sit  still  and  expect.  —  Ben  Jonson,  The  Magnetic  Lady,  Act  iv.  Sc.  3. 

2.  A  state  of  perplexity  or  trouble;  agitation.  Provincial  in 
England. 

It  was  natural  enough  that  the  Squire's  wife  should  be  in  a  pucker  to  see  the 
Ladies'  Book  [which  contained  an  article  ridiculing  her].  — Widow  Bedott  Papers, 
p.  326. 

To  pucker  up.    To  dry  up;  i.  e.,  stop  talking.    A  vulgarism  equiva- 
lent to  shut  up. 
Pudjiky  or  Pujiky.  Fussy. 

She 's  dreadful pudjicky,  Sarah  Jane  is.  She  won't  have  any  thing,  without 
it 's  exactly  right.  —  A  Summer  in  Leslie  Goldthwaite^s  Life,  p.  37. 

Pueblo.    (Span.,  a  village.)    A  village  of  the  semi-civilized  Catholic 
Indians  of  New  Mexico. 

The  villages  of  the  christianized  Indians  in  New  Mexico  were  called  pueblos, 
in  opposition  to  the  wild  roving  tribes  that  refused  such  favors.  —  Wislizenus, 
New  Mexico. 

Pueblo  Indian.    A  Catholic  Indian  villager  of  New  Mexico. 

The  most  interesting  class  of  the  inhabitants  of  New  Mexico  are  those  known 
as  the  Pueblo  Indians.  They  are  the  descendants  of  the  ancient  rulers  of  the 
country,  and  are  so  called  because  they  dwell  in  villages  and  subsist  by  agricul- 
ture, instead  of  living  in  lodges  and  depending  upon  the  chase,  as  the  wild  Indians 
of  the  mountains  and  plains.  —  Davis,  El  Gringo,  p.  114. 

Puke.    1.  A  mean,  contemptible  fellow. 

2.  A  nickname  for  a  native  of  Missouri. 

Pull-back  Dress.    The  name  of  a  lady's  dress  now  (1877)  univer- 
sally worn. 


602 


PUL 


I  met  my  girl  on  Fulton  Street 

The  other  afternoon, 
With  her  dress  pulled  back  in  a  great  big  bunch,-— 

As  big  as  a  balloon ! 
When  I  asked  her  what  the  trouble  was, 

She  seemed  in  such  distress, 
Says  she,  —  "  O  Sam !  don't  be  a  fool, 

That 's  my  new  pull-back  di'ess." 

Says  she,  "  There 's  not  a  style,  you  know, 
I  ever  let  escape ! 
'  I  like  to  pin  my  jmll-bnck  tight,  — 
It  shows  my  handsome  shape." 

Song  of  the  Pull-bach  Dress. 

Pull  Dick,  pull  Devil.  An  expression  used  in  low  language,  synony- 
mous with  "  neck  and  neck,"  denoting  an  equal  contest  in  a  race. 

Pull-Doo.  A  small  black  duck  found  in  the  bays  and  inlets  of  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico.  It  seldom  flies,  but  relies  upon  swimming  and 
diving  to  evade  pursuit.  The  word  is  probably  a  corrui3tion  of 
poule  d^eau,  i.  e.  water-hen. 

Pull  down  your  Vest.  A  curious  flash  expression  of  recent  origin, 
without  meaning.  It  is  heard  on  all  occasions,  coming  alike  from 
the  lips  of  the  street-boy,  who  would  "  shine  your  boots,"  and  the 
fashionable  attendant  of  the  clubs ;  yet  no  man  can  tell  whence  it 
came.  It  is  without  parentage,  and  its  origin  is  "involved  in  the 
deepest  obscurity. ' ' 

Flash  sayings,  you  know,  now-a-days  are  the  rage,  — 

They  're  heard  in  the  parlor,  the  street,  on  the  stage,  — 

*'  You  're  too  fresh,"  and  "  Swim  out,  you  are  over  your  head; " 

But  a  new  one 's  been  coined,  and  the  old  ones  are  dead. 

"  A  Centennial  crank  "  is  one  that  is  new. 

And  "  Crawl  out  of  that  hat  "  is  quite  recent  too  ; 

But  the  latest  flash  saying  with  which  we  are  blest 

Is  to  tell  a  man  quietly,     Pull  down  your  vest.^^ 

H.  G.  Richmond  in  Burton's  Events  of  1875-76. 

To  pull  Foot.    To  walk  fast;  to  run.    Comp.  To  make  Tracks, 

I  look'd  up;  it  was  another  shower,  by  Gosh.  I  pulls  foot  for  dear  life. — 
Sam  Slick  in  England,  ch.  2. 

I  thought  I 'd  run  round  two  or  three  streets.  So  I  pulled  foot,  and  hunted 
and  sweat  till  I  got  so  tired  I  couldn't  but  just  stand.  — Major  Downing^s  May- 
day in  Ne  w  York. 

Pulling-Bone.  The  common  name  in  Maryland,  Virginia,  &c.,  for 
the  yoke-like  breast-bone  of  chickens,  by  pulling  which  till  it  breaks 
children  and  young  ladies  settle  which  will  be  the  first  married. 


PUL 


503 


The  shorter  piece,  which  decides,  is  placed  over  the  door;  and  the 
first  unmarried  man  who  goes  under  is  supposed  will  be  the  future 
husband.    It  is  also  called  the  merry-thought  and  wish-hone. 
To  pull  it.    To  run. 

And  how  a  man  one  dismal  night 

Shot  lier  with  silver  bullet, 
And  then  she  flew  straight  out  of  sight 

As  fast  as  she  could  ^jm/^  it. 

T.  G.  Fessenden,  Yankee  Boodle. 

Pullman  Car.  A  drawing-room  car;  so  called  from  the  name  of  the 
first  constructor  of  these  luxurious  railway  carriages,  otherwise 
known  as  Palace  and  Drawing-room  Cars. 

I  got  safely  off  in  a  big  arm-chair  in  the  Pullman  car,  with  my  parcels  all  put 
up,  and  my  novel  in  my  lap  waiting  till  I  was  tired  of  other  things. — Mrs. 
Whitney,  Si(jhts  and  Insights,  p.  2. 

To  pull  up,  among  travellers,  means  to  stop.  Alluding  to  the  act  of 
pulling  the  reins  of  a  horse,  in  order  to  stop  him. 

To  pull  up  Stakes.  To  pack  up  one's  furniture  or  baggage,  prepar- 
atory to  a  removal ;  to  remove.  The  allusion  is  to  pulling  up  the 
stakes  of  a  tent. 

The  expression  was  introduced  from  England.  Thomas  Lech- 
ford,  an  English  lawyer  who  was  in  Boston  in  1638-40,  in  a  letter 
to  a  friend  in  England,  July  28,  1640,  thus  writes:  — 

I  am  loath  to  hear  of  a  stay  [in  New  England],  but  am  plucking  up  stakes,  with 
as  much  speed  as  I  may,  if  so  be  I  may  be  so  happy  as  to  arrive  in  Ireland,  &c. 
MS. 

If  this  stranger  is  to  receive  countenance,  then  I  '11  pull  up  stakes  and  depart 
from  Tinnecum  for  ever.  — Knickerbocker  Magazine. 

Which  often  a  han'som  pictur  to  a  hungry  person  makes, 

But  it  don't  interest  a  feller  much  that 's  goin'  to  pull  up  stakes. 

Carlton,  Farm  Ballads,  p.  23. 

To  pull  Wool  over  the  Eyes. 

The  Tariff  project  for  reducing  the  revenue  is  a  humbug,  — a  trick  for  pulling 
ivool  over  the  eyes  of  innocent  people.  —  N.  Y.  Herald. 

That  'ere  stranger 's  only  playin'  possum,  but  he  can't  pull  the  wool  over  this 
child's  eyes;  he 's  got  'em  both  skinned.  —  A  Stray  Yankee  in  Texas. 

Pult,  for  pulse.  Some  country  doctors  think  pulse  is  plural,  and  say, 
"  A  very  good  pult,"  "  Youv  pulse  are  strong." 

In  the  report  of  a  medical  case  at  Hilton  Head,  South  Caro- 
lina, communicated  to  the  "  N.  Y.  Tribune,"  July  29,  1862,  the 
writer  says :  — 

Next  morning,  pult  quicker  and  weaker ;  .  .  .  the  disease  was  very  obstinate, 
pult  increasing  in  quickness  and  symptoms  more  aggravating. 


504 


PUM— PUN 


Puma.  {Felis  concolor.^  An  animal  known  also  under  the  name  of 
Cougar,  Panther,  and  American  Lion,  the  largest  of  the  cat  kind 
found  in  America.  Flint  describes  it,  under  the  name  panther,  as 
of  the  size  of  the  largest  dogs,  of  a  dark-grayish  color,  marked  vjiiYi 
black  spots.  It  is  in  shape  much  like  the  domestic  cat,  with  short 
legs,  large  paws,  and  long  talons.  It  conceals  itself  among  the 
branches  of  the  trees,  and  thence  darts  upon  its  prey. 

Puncheons.  A  term  which,  in  Georgia  and  the  adjoining  States, 
means  split  logs,  with  their  faces  a  little  smoothed  with  an  axe  or 
hatchet.    These,  being  laid  upon  sleepers,  make  a  puncheon-floor. 

The  Squire's  dwelling  consisted  of  but  one  room.  The  house  was  constructed 
of  logs,  and  the  floor  was  of  puncheons.  —  Georgia  Scenes,  p.  12. 

Bill  knew  him;  and,  if  the  old  serpent  himself  had  popped  up  his  head  through 
the  puncheons  and  claimed  him  for  his  brand,  he  couldn't  have  been  more  scared. 
N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

Pung.  A  rude  sort  of  sleigh,  or  oblong  box  made  of  boards  and 
placed  on  runners,  used  for  drawing  loads  on  snow  by  horses.  — 
Worcester.    Also  called  a  Jumper,  which  see. 

This  name  of  a  cutter  was  formerly  written  Tom  Pung,  as  in 
Dennie's  "  Spirit  of  the  Farmer's  Museum,"  p.  243. 

In  that  fam'd  town  [Roxbury]  which  sends  to  Boston  Mart 
The  gliding  Tom  Pung  and  the  rattling  cart.  * 

So  in  a  rhymed  letter  in  the  "New  Haven  Gazette,"  June  15, 
1786. 

These  were  sledges  or ^mw(/5,  coarsely  framed  of  split  saplings,  and  surmounted 
with  a  large  crockery-crate.  —  Margaret,  p.  174. 

Punk.  1.  Rotten  wood;  touchwood;  spunk.  A  word  in  common 
use  in  New  England,  as  well  as  in  the  other  Northern  States  and 
Canada.  Ash  defines  it  "  a  kind  of  fungus,  often  used  for  tinder." 
Pickering. 

Punk  is  the  Indian  ?  name  for  all  perennial  fungi  growing  on 
trees  and  of  a  spungy  nature,  useful  to  make  spunk  or  touchwood 
to  light  fire  easily  with.  —  Rafinesque,  Med.  Flora,  Vol.  II.  p.  187. 
2.  A  punch  or  blow  with  the  fist.    New  York. 
To  punk.    To  push  or  strike  with  the  fist;  to  punch.    New  York. 
Punkin-Seed.     (Pomotis  vulgaris.)     A  small  fresh-water  fish,  the 
Sun-Fish  and  Bream  of  our  fresh-water  ponds  and  lakes.    Its  shape 
is  that  of  a  pumpkin-seed,  whence  its  name. 

An'  I  've  ben  sence  a-visitin'  the  Judge, 

Whose  garding  whispers  with  the  river's  edge. 

Where  I  've  sot  mornin's  lazy  as  the  bream. 

Whose  on'y  business  is  to  head  up  stream 

(We  call  'em punkin-seed),  &c.  — Lowell,  Biglow  Papers. 


PUN— PUT 


505 


Punt  In  Maryland  and  Virginia,  a  small  boat  made  of  the  body  of  a 
large  tree.    In  England,  Si,  punt  is  a  flat-bottomed  boat. 

Pupelo.  A  name  for  cider-brandy,  formerly  manufactured  in  New 
England  to  a  great  extent. 

''Han't  they  got  any  of  the  religion  at  your  house?"  "No,  marm,  they 
drink  pupelo  and  rum." — Margaret,  p.  52. 

Pussy-Willow.  (Salix  discolor.)  The  swamp-willow,  the  blossoms 
of  which  are  as  soft  as  a  cat's  fur;  hence  their  name. 

Speaking  of  the  approaching  spring,  the  "  Providence  Journal  " 
says  :  — 

Cherry-trees  have  put  forth  their  blossoms,  pussy-icillows  have  donned  their 
silvery  catkins,  and  whole  armies  of  weeds  have  started  from  their  sheltered 
nooks. 

Put.  To  stay  put  is  to  keep  still,  remain  where  placed.  A  vulgar 
expression. 

The  levees  and  wharves  of  the  First  Municipality  won't  '■''stay  put.'"'  Last 
evening  that  part  of  the  levee  opposite  Custom-House  Street,  which  had  caved  in 
and  was  since  filled,  sunk  suddenly'  ten  feet. — N.  0.  Picayune. 

To  put.  To  start,  go,  decamp,  be  off.  "I  see  I 'm  not  wanted 
here;  so  I'll  pitf."    See  To  get. 

B  found  himself  by  mistake  in  the  ladies'  saloon  ;  a  fact  he  was  politely 

informed  of  by  one  of  the  occupants,  who  said,  "Guess  you  put  for  the  wrong 
pew,  mister."  —  Notes  on  Canada,  ^c,  Blackwood's  Mag. 

To  put  a  Head  on.  To  bruise  and  batter  one's  head,  causing  it  to 
swell ;  and,  figuratively,  to  silence  him ;  to  shut  him  up ;  to  thrash 
him. 

The  "  Providence  Journal "  (of  Oct.  22,  1877),  in  an  article  on 
the  quarrels  in  the  Democratic  party,  quotes  the  following  passage, 
which  he  recommends  their  reading,  taken  from  a  poem  with  which 
we  are  not  familiar :  — 

'Tis  not  a  proper  p^'an 
For  any  scientific  gent  to  whale  his  fellow-man. 
Or,  if  a  member  don't  agree  with  his  peculiar  whim. 
To  lay  for  that  same  member  for  to  put  a  head  on  him. 

To  put  into  Line.  To  arrange  orderly;  to  bring  into  line;  to  make 
accordant. 

Governor  Hicks  has  called  a  special  session  of  the  Legislature  [of  Maryland] 
to  meet  Nov.  27,  to  put  the  State  in  line  with  the  Union.  —  The  Congregation- 
alist,  Nov.,  1861. 

To  put  it  in  Strong.    To  express  one's  self  strongly  or  emphatically. 

The  missionaries  in  the  South  are  pretty  careful ;  they  put  it  in  strong  in  the 
catechism  about  the  rights  of  the  master.  —  Mrs.  Stowe,  Bred,  Vol.  I.  p.  193. 


506 


PUT 


To  put  off.    To  start,  set  out.    Originally  a  nautical  term. 

It  is  an  astonishing  fact  that  over  tifteen  thousand  persons  have  deserted  their 
homes  in  California,  and  off  by  every  means  of  conveyance  for  Fraser's 
River. — Nat.  Intellujencer,  July  22,  1858. 

To  put  out.  To  set  out;  to  be  off.  ■  A  Western  expression.  To  put 
is  used  in  the  same  sense. 

As  my  wife's  father  had  considerable  land  on  Blue  Fox  River,  and  as  we 
wanted  a  little  more  elbow-room,  I  says  one  day  to  Nancy,  "Nancy,"  says  I, 
"  I  dad,  s'pose  wejjut  out  and  live  there." — CarUon,  The  New  Purchase,  Vol.  I. 
p.  172. 

Well,  I  put  out  for  the  Planters  as  fast  as  I  could,  where  you  know  I  found 
you  at  last.  —  Major  Jones's  Courtship,  p.  63. 

There  was  goin'  to  be  a  raisin'  or  log-roliin'  a  good  piece  off,  and  the  old  man 
reckoned  he 'd  better />«^  out  in  the  evening,  and  stay  at  some  of  the  neighbor's 
houses  and  be  allowed  to  take  an  early  start  in  mornin'. — N.  Y.  Sjnrit  of  the, 
Times. 

La  Bontd  picked  up  three  mules  for  a  mere  song,  and  the  next  day  put  out  for 
the  Platte.  —  Ruxton,  Life  in  the  Far  West,  p.  66. 

"The  more  you  give  the  slaves,"  said  Jekyl,  "the  more  dissatisfied  they 
grow,  till  finally  they  put  for  the  free  States." 

"Very  well,"  said  Clayton;  ''if  that's  to  be  the  result,  they  may  put  as  soon 
as  they  can  get  ready."  —  Mrs.  Stowe,  Dred,  Vol.  I.  p.  195. 

Puts.  When  a  speculator  thinks  that  stocks  are  going  down,  and 
wishes  to  make  a  small  operation  without  incurring  much  risk,  he 
gives  a  small  sum  for  the  privilege  of  delivering  a  small  amount  of 
stock  at  a  certain  price.  For  instance,  if  the  cash  price  of  Erie 
was  fifty-seven  per  cent,  a  speculator  would  give  say  fifty  dollars,  to 
"  put  "  or  deliver  one  hundred  shares  at  fifty-six  and  a  half  percent, 
say  next  week,  ten  days,  or  any  short  time.  He  can  only  lose  his 
fifty  dollars,  if  the  market  should  go  up;  but,  if  it  goes  down  to 
fifty-six,  he  gets  his  money  back,  and  all  below  that  is  so  much 
profit.  Operations  of  this  kind  are  carried  on  principally  among 
the  curb-stone  brokers,  men  who  have  strong  speculative  propensi- 
ties and  very  little  capital.    See  Call  Contract. 

To  put  the  Licks  in.    To  exert  one's  self. 

You  had  better  put  the  licks  in  and  make  haste,  or  there  will  be  more  fiddling 
and  dancing  and  serving  the  devil  this  morning.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature, 
p.  164. 

To  put  through.  1.  To  carry  through,  effect,  accomplish,  a  piece  of 
business.  A  term  much  used  in  speaking  of  legislative  business; 
thus,  to  carry  a  bill  or  resolution  is  "  to  put  it  through.''^ 

He  wiped  the  sweat  from  off  his  brow: 

"These  drivin' wheels  will  do  ; 
A  better  engine  never  ran  ', 

She 's  bound  to  put  us  through.'^  —  Railroad  Ballad. 


PUT— QUA 


507 


The  expression  is  much  used  at  colleges :  a  teacher  jmts  his  pupils 
through  a  course  of  studies. 

First  Thacher,  then  Hadley,  then  Larned  and  Prex, 
Each  put  our  class  throuf/h  in  succession. 

Presentation  Sonr/s,  June  14,  1854. 

2.  To  carry  through  the  entire  length  of  a  route,  &c.  Of  stage- 
coachman's  vocabulary. 

To  putter.  To  be  engaged  in  fussy  work  which  does  no  special  good, 
when  you  are  not  called  upon  to  do  any  at  all.  "  She  's  puttering 
round."  The  English  word,  to  potter,  means  to  busy  or  perplex 
one's  self  about  trifles;  to  trifle. 

Putto.  (Fr.  poteau,  a  post.)  A  stake  firmly  set  in  the  ground,  to 
which  wild  cattle  and  horses  are  secured.  A  term  in  general  use  in 
the  grazing  regions  of  the  South-west. 

Putty-Root.  {Aplectrum  hi/menale.)  Also  called  "  Adam  and  Eve," 
from  the  bulb  of  the  preceding  year  being  always  connected  with  the 
new  one. 

To  puzzle  a  Philadelphia  Lawyer  is  considered  a  very  difficult 
undertaking,  the  Philadelphia  gentlemen  of  the  profession  being 
regarded  as  remarkably  keen-witted.    See  Philadelphia  Lawyer. 

Had  General  Taylor  not  confessed  himself  a  Whig,  it  would  have  puzzled  a 
Philadelphia  lawyer  to  have  detected  it.  —  Southern  Patriot. 

Q. 

To  quackle.  To  interrupt  in  breathing;  to  almost  choke;  to  suffo- 
cate. Provincial  in  England,  and  colloquial  in  America.  —  Wor- 
cester. 

Quadroon.  (Fr.  Quateron,  Span.  Cuarteron.)  The  offspring  of  a 
mulatto  woman  by  a  white  man.    See  Negro. 

All  their  desperate  prowess  vanished  like  a  mist  before  the  moon,  — 
Left  the  Creole  maid  and  matron,  even  left  the  dear  Quadroon. 

Ballad  of  the  Crescent  City. 
The  influence  of  the  quadroon  girls  is  a  most  powerful  factor  in  Louisiana 
affairs,  which  has  been  altogether  neglected.  — New  York  Post,  Feb.,  1877. 

Quahaug.  (Genus  Venus  mercenaria.)  In  New  England,  the  pop- 
ular name  of  a  species  of  clams  having  a  round  and  very  hard  shell. 
See  Pooquaw. 

The  laws  of  Rhode  Island  provide  that  any  person  who  shall 
take  any  quahaugs  or  clams  from  certain  beds  in  Providence  River 
between  May  and  September  shall  forfeit  twenty  dollars  for  each 
offence. 


508 


QUA— QUE 


If  in  your  account  of  the  Squantum  Club  you  had  said  that  qunhaugs  were 
better  than  clams,  or  that  Massachusetts  clam-bakes  were  better  than  Rhode 
Island  clam-bakes,  I  could  not  have  been  more  astonished.  —  Cor.  of  Providence 
Journal. 

Quaker,  Quaker  Gun.  An  imitation  of  a  gun  made  of  wood  or 
other  material,  and  placed  in  the  port-hole  of  a  vessel,  or  the  em- 
brasure of  a  fort,  in  order  to  deceive  the  enemy;  so  called  from  its 
inoffensive  character.  —  Webster. 

We  fancy  our  vessels  of  war  which  suffered  the  filibuster  Walker  to  escape 
were  armed  with  Quaker  guns.  —  Providence  Journal. 

The  fancied  impregnability  of  the  position  turns  out  to  be  a  sham.  .  .  .  some  of 
the  forts  have  maple  logs  painted  to  resemble  guns.  .  .  .  Some  of  our  soldiers 
cried  when  they  found  that  Quakers  were  mounted  on  the  breastworks.  —  Letter 
from  Manassas,  N.  Y.  Tribune,  March,  1862. 

Quaker  City.  The  city  of  Philadelphia;  so  called  from  its  founders 
having  been  Friends  or  Quakers. 

To  qualify.  To  swear  to  discharge  the  duties  of  an  office,  and  hence 
to  make  oath  of  any  fact;  as,  "I  am  ready  to  qualify  to  what  I 
have  asserted." 

Dr.  Tate,  of  Virginia,  the  new  Auditor  of  the  Treasury  for  the  Post-Office  De- 
partment, this  morning  quaUfed  and  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office.  — 
The  (Bait.)  Sun,  Oct.  1,  1857. 

Quamish,  or  Camus  Plant.  (Phalangium  esculentum.)  The  adopted 
name  of  a  plant  common  on  wet  prairies,  along  rivers  and  lakes  of 
the  West,  whose  root  (resembling  a  small  onion)  is  eaten  by  the 
Indians. 

Quarter.  A  twenty-five  cent  piece,  which  is  a  quarter  of  a  dollar,  is 
often  called  simply  a  quarter. 

Quarterage.    Entertainment  or  allowance ;  charge  for  keeping. 

For  quarterage  of  a  soldier,  5s.  per  week.  Pasturage  for  a  horse,  M.  per  day. 
Connecticut  Records,  Vol.  II.  p.  386. 

Quarters.  The  negro  huts  of  a  plantation  are  termed  the  negro  quar- 
ters, or  simply  the  quarters. 

Queen  City.    Queen  of  the  West.  Cincinnati. 

And  this  song  of  the  vine. 

This  greeting  of  mine, 
The  winds  and  the  birds  shall  deliver 

To  the  Queen  of  the  West, 

In  her  garlands  dressed, 
On  the  banks  of  the  beautiful  river.  —  Longfellow. 

Queer.    Counterfeit  paper  money;  the  English  flimsies,  —  the  Gipsy 
shoful  pitcher.    To  "  shove  the  queer  "  is  to  put  counterfeit  bills  in 


QUI— RAC 


509 


circulation.  Mr.  Hotten  calls  it  an  old  cant  word,  meaning  any 
thing  base  or  worthless.  —  Slang  Dictionary.  The  "Providence 
Journal,"  in  speaking  of  the  examination  of  three  men  for  passing 
counterfeit  money,  heads  its  article,  "Bound  over  for  Shoving  the 
Queer. ''^ 

Quid.    A  corruption  of  cud :  as,  in  vulgar  language,  a  quid  of  tobacco. 

In  Kent  (England),  a  cow  is  said  to  chew  her  quid ;  so  that  cud  and 

quid  are  the  same.  —  Pegge^s  Anonymia. 
Quiddling.    Unsteady,  uncertain;  mincing,  as  a    quiddling  gait.'^ 
Quilling.    A  piece  of  reed,  on  which  weavers  wind  the  thread  which 

forms  the  woof  of  cloth,  is  called  a  quill ;  an  old  English  word.  •  In 

New  England,  a  certain  process  of  winding  thread  is  called  quilling. 

The  child,  Margaret,  sits  in  the  door  of  her  house,  on  a  low  stool,  with  a  small 
wheel,  winding  spools ;  in  our  vernacular,  quilling.  —  Margaret,  p.  6. 

Quilting-Bee  or  Quilting  Frolic.  An  assemblage  of  women  who 
unite  their  labor  to  make  a  bed-quilt.  They  meet  by  invitation, 
seat  themselves  around  the  frame  upon  which  the  quilt  is  placed, 
and  in  a  few  hours  complete  it.  Tea  follows,  and  the  evening  is 
sometimes  closed  with  dancing  or  other  amusements.    See  Bee. 

Now  [in  the  days  of  Governor  Stuyvesant]  were  instituted  quilting-bees  and 
husking-bees,  and  other  rural  assemblages,  where,  under  the  inspiring  influence 
of  the  fiddle,  toil  was  enlivened  by  gayety  and  followed  up  by  the  dance.  — 
h-ving,  Knickerbocker. 

To  quit.    To  stop.    "  Now  you  ^wjV  teasing  me. " 

Quite  a  While.  "  He  stayed  quite  a  while,^^  i.  e.  a  considerable  time, 
a  period,  perhaps,  between  a  short  time  and  a  long  while.  It  is 
a  bad  expression.  The  expression  '•^  quite  a  house,"  '■'■quite  a 
party,"  "  quite  a  town,"  are  also  bad.  We  have  heard  a  lady  say, 
in  reply  to  the  question,  "How  long  did  Mr.  A —  stop,  when 
he  called?  "  "  Ohl  quite  a  little  while. 

R. 

Raccoon.  (Procyon  lotor.)  A  well-known  carnivorous  animal  found 
in  most  parts  of  North  America,  valuable  for  its  fur.  Vulgarly 
called  Coon,  which  see. 

There  are  Arocouns  and  Apossouns  in  shape  like  to  pigges,  shrowded  in  hollow 
roots  of  trees.  —  True  Declaration  of  Virginia  (1610),  p.  29. 

There  is  a  beast  they  call  Aroughcun.  much  like  a  badger,but  useth  to  live  on 
trees  as  squirrels  doe.  —  Smith's  Virginia  (1624),  B.  ii.  p.  27. 

Rahaughcums.  — Smithes  News  from  Virginia  (1608),  p.  14. 


510 


RAC— RAF 


To  race.    To  cause  to  run;  to  chase.    A  vulgar  use  of  the  word. 

Between  five  and  six  o'clock  on  Thursday  afternoon,  a  well-known  character 
named  Michael  Clark,  while  passinf^  the  corner  of  Cathedral  and  Franklin 
Streets,  espied  an  old  enemy  nanied  Edward  Gettier,  perched  on  a  scaffold  .swing- 
ing against  the  side  of  a  new  house,  busy  applying  a  painter's  brush  to  the 
structure,  and  regardless  of  all  things  below,  lioth  had  been  previously  con- 
cerned, on  oi)posite  sides,  in  several  street  affrays;  and  Clark,  thinking  it  a  good 
time  to  let  him  know  he  was  about  again,  slipped  up,  and  commenced  shooting 
at  Gettier  with  a  revolver.  After  several  shots  had  been  wasted,  one  of  the  l)alls 
took  effect  in  Gettier's  side,  wounding  him  slightly.  Clark  then  ran;  and  Get- 
tier, jumping  down,  raced  him  for  some  distance,  &c.  —  (Bait.)  Sun,  Aug.  7, 
1858. 

Another  party  was  raced  as  far  as  the  house  adjoining  the  bank.  — Baliiinor-e 
Americ(tn. 

Race-Track.    The  track  upon  a  race-ground. 

We  do  not  think  that  Tennessee  is  likely  to  be  much  of  a  battle-ground  here- 
after.   There 's  more  probability  of  her  being  a  race-track.  —  Louisville  Journal. 

Rack,  for  icreck.  As  in  the  expression,  "He's  gone  to  rack  and 
ruin." 

Rackabones.    A  lean  horse;  an  emaciated  creature 

He  is  afraid  that  this  mettlesome  charger  [upon  which  he  was  leading  another 
horse]  cannot  be  trusted  going  down  hill,  otherwise  he  would  let  go  of  the  old 
rackabones. 

Raddle.  In  New  England,  an  instrument  consisting  of  a  wooden 
bar,  with  a  row  of  upright  pegs  set  in  it,  which  is  employed  by- 
domestic  weavers  to  keep  the  warp  of  a  proper  width,  and  pre\'ent 
it  from  becoming  entangled  when  it  is  wound  upon  the  beam  of  a 
loom.  —  Webster.    It  is  an  English  term. 

Raft.  1.  A  frame  or  float,  made  by  laying  pieces  of  timber  across 
each  other. — Johnmn.  In  North  America,  rafts  are  constructed 
of  immense  size,  and  comprise  timber,  boards,  staves,  &c.  They 
are  floated  down  from  the  interior  to  the  tide-waters,  being  pro- 
pelled by  the  force  of  the  current,  assisted  by  large  oars  and  sails, 
to  their  place  of  destination.  The  men  employed  on  these  rafts 
construct  rude  huts  upon  them,  in  which  they  often  dwell  for  sev- 
eral weeks  before  arriving  at  the  places  where  they  are  taken  to 
pieces  for  shipping  to  foreign  parts. 

2.  This  term  is  also  applied  to  a  large  collection  of  timber  and 
fallen  trees,  which,  floating  down  the  great  rivers  of  the  West,  are 
arrested  in  their  downward  course  by  flats  or  shallow  places.  Here 
they  accumulate,  and  sometimes  block  up  the  river  for  miles.  The 
great  raft  on  Red  River  extended  twenty  miles,  and  required  an 
immense  outlay  of  money  to  remove  it  in  order  to  make  the  river 
navigable. 


RAF— RAI 


511 


It  was  over  this  raft  that  poor  Will  Harrod  fared  wheji  he  was  escaping  from 
the  Camanches.  And  what  is  left  of  the  raft,  and  what  the  pilot  explained  to 
them,  did  not  disappoint  them.  The  history  of  the  raft  can  be  made  out  clearh^ 
enough  by  any  traveller  who  passes  up  the  river.  —  E.  E  Hale,  Adventures  of 
a  Pullman,  p.  134. 

3.  A  large  number,  a  host.  Vulgar. 

We  have  killed  Calhoun  and  Biddle ;  but  there  is  a  raft  fellows  to  put  down 
yet.  — Major  Bowninfs  Letters,  p.  93. 

We 've  shoals  of  shad,  whole  rafts  of  canvas-back  ducks,  and  no  end  of  terra- 
pins. — Burton,  Wayyeries. 

Among  its  notices  to  correspondents,  an  exchange  paper  says:  "  Kraft  of 
original  articles  are  on  file  for  next  week."  We  hope  none  of  them  will  prove 
mere  lumber.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

The  Elder's  wife  was  a  sick-lookin'  woman,  with  a  whole  raft  o'  young  ones 
squalling  round  her.  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  210. 

To  raft.    To  transport  on  a  raft.  —  Webster. 

Rafting.    The  business  of  constructing  and  floating  rafts. 

Raftsman.    A  man  who  follows  the  business  of  rafting. 

Rag.  To  take  the  rag  off  the  bush,  or  simply  to  take  the  rag  off,  is  to 
bear  away  the  palm. 

I  had  an  everlastin'  fast  Narragansett  pacer.  I  was  considerable  proud  of  him, 
I  assure  you;  for  he  took  the  ray  off  the  bush  in  great  style.  — Sarn  Slick,  Human 
Nature,  p.  218. 

"  Don't  be  skeered,"  sais  I,  "Gineral,  don't  be  skeered.  I  ain't  a  goin'  for  to 
hurt  you,  but  jist  to  salute  you  as  my  senior  officer,  for  it  tante  often  two  such 
old  heroes  like  you  and  me  meet,  I  can  tell  you.  You  fit  at  Waterloo,  and  I  fit 
at  Bunker's  Hill;  3'^ou  whipt  the  French,  and  we  whipt  the  Kiiglish.  P'raps 
history  can't  show  jist  two  such  battles  as  them;  they  take  the  ray  off  quite.  "  — 
Sam  Slick  in  Enyland,  ch.  38. 

Rag  Carpet.  A  carpet  made  of  rags,  formerly  made  by  families,  but 
now  woven  by  hand,  the  rags  being  first  cut  into  strips. 

Rag  Money.    Paper  money. 

Raid.  A  hostile  or  predatory  incursion,  especially  an  inroad  or  incur- 
sion of  mounted  men.  A  Scottisli  word,  which  within  a  few  years 
has  come  to  be  much  used  in  the  United  States.  —  Webster.  A  hos- 
tile incursion.  —  Wright,  Prov.  Die. 

The  word  is  not  found  in  Johnson  or  Richardson,  but  appears  in 
Latham's  edition  of  the  former,  with  examples  of  its  use  from  liv- 
ing authors. 

There  are  permanent  conquests,  temporary  occupations,  and  occasional  raids.  — 
Herbert  Spencer,  Principles  of  Bioloyy. 


612 


RAI 


Jainieson  has  Ilade^  Raid.  An  invasion  properly  of  the  equestrian 
kind,  which  lie  derives  from  the  Ang.-Sax.  ridan,  to  ride.  He  also 
gives  early  examples  of  its  use.  —  Scottish  Die. 

Schyr  Andrew  syne  wyth  stalwort  hand 

Made  syndry  radis  in  Ingland.  —  Wyntown,  viii.  34,  34. 

Rail.  A  piece  of  timber,  cleft,  hewed,  or  sawed,  inserted  in  upright 
posts  for  fencing.  The  common  rails  among  farmers  are  rough, 
being  used  as  they  are  split  from  the  chestnut  or  other  trees.  — 
Webster. 

Rail-Car.    A  car  for  transporting  passengers  on  railroads. 
To  rail  it.    To  travel  by  railroad. 

From  Petersburg!!,  I  railed  it  through  the  North  CaroHna  pitch,  tar,  turpentine, 
and  lumber  country,  to  the  great  Ajnerican  pitch,  tar,  turpentine,  and  lumber 
depot,  —  Wilmington.  The  prospect  is,  from  the  car-windows,  continuously  an 
immensity  of  pine,  pine,  nothing  but  pine-trees,  broken  here  and  there  with  open- 
ings of  pine  under-brush.  —  Letter  in  N.  Y.  Tribune,  May  22,  1848. 

Railroad  Nomenclature.  In  all  that  appertains  to  railroads,  loco- 
motives, and  travelling  by  rail,  we  use  quite  different  terms  from 
the  corresponding  ones  used  in  England,  as  will  be  seen  by  the 
following:  — 

In  the  U.  S.  we  say  Railroad;  In  England,  Railway. 

Railroad  Depot;                  „  Railway  Station. 

Cow-catcher  or  Pilot;           „  Plough. 

Engineer;                          ,,  Engine-driver. 

Fireman;                           ,,  Stoker. 

Conductor;                          ,,  Guard. 

Ticket  Office ;                     „  Booking  Office.. 

Baggage ;                            „  Luggage. 

Baggage  Car ;                     „  Luggage  Van. 

Passenger  Car;                    „  Carriage. 

Track;                               „  Line. 

Turn-out;                           „  Siding. 

Frog;                                „  Crossing  Plate. 

Switches;                            ,,  Points. 

Check  Rails ;                      „  Guard  Rails. 

Trucks  (under  the  Cars);      „  Bogies. 

Switching  ofF;                      „  Shunting. 

Freight  Train ;                    „  Goods  Train. 

To  railroad.    To  be  a  conductor  on  a  railroad.  Pennsylvania. 
Raise.    To  make  a  raise  is  a  vulgar  American  phrase,  meaning  to  make 
a  haul,  to  raise  the  wind. 

The  chances  were  altogether  favorable  for  making  a  raise,  without  fear  of 
detection.  —  Simon  Suggs,  p.  48. 

I  made  a  raise  of  a  horse  and  saw,  after  being  a  wood-piler's  apprentice  for  a 
while. — Neal,  Sketches. 


RAI 


513 


To  raise.  1.  To  cause  to  grow;  to  procure  to  be  produced,  bred,  or 
propagated:  as,  to  razi-e  wheat,  barley,  hops,  &c. ;  to  raise  horses, 
oxen,  or  sheep.  — Webster. 

To  raise  is  applied  in  the  Southern  States  to  the  breeding  of 
Negroes.  It  is  also  sometimes  heard  at  the  North  among  the  illit- 
erate; as,  "I  was  raised  in  Connecticut,"  meaning  brought  up  there. 
See  more  in  Pickering's  Vocabulary. 

You  know  I  was  raised,  as  they  say  in  Virginia,  among  the  mountains  of  the 
North. — Paulding,  Letters  from  the  South,  Vol.  I.  p.  85. 

Old  Negro  Bill,  belonging  to  Mr.  Sampson,  Hunt  Co.,  Virginia,  was  liaised 
there,  and  served  in  the  American  Revolution,  a  portion  of  the  time  as  a  servant 
to  Washington.  —  (  Wash.)  Ev.  Star,  Jan.  7,  1857. 

Miss  Asphyxia  had  talked  of  takin'  a  child  from  the  poor-house,  and  so  raisin* 
her  own  help.  —  Mrs.  Stowe,  Oldtown  Folks,  p.  98. 

2.  To  obtain  with  difficulty  or  in  a  discreditable  manner. 

3.  To  make  up,  fabricate,  invent;  as,  "That's  a  tale  they 've 
raised  on  me,"  meaning  some  ludicrous  or  disgraceful  anecdote 
invented  against  a  person.  Western. 

To  raise  a  Bead.  This  expression  is  used  at  the  West,  and  means  to 
bring  to  a  head,  to  make  succeed.  The  figure  is  taken  from  brandy, 
rum,  or  other  liquors,  which  will  not  "  raise  a  bead,"  unless  of  the 
proper  strength. 

The  result  was,  if  the  convention  had  been  then  held,  the  party  wouldn't  have 
been  able  to  raise  a  bead.  —  Letter  from  Ohio,  N.  Y.  Tribune,  1846. 

To  raise  a  Racket.    To  make  a  racket  or  noise. 

I  see  it  warn't  no  use  raisin'  a  racket ;  so  I  concluded  I 'd  have  satisfaction  out 
of  him,  and  began  shakin'  my  fist  at  him.  —  Southern  Sketches,  p.  36. 

To  raise  Cain.    To  cause  a  disturbance ;  to  make  a  row. 

Now  bring  Mexico  into  the  Union,  and  I 'd  like  to  know  which  of  the  great 
powers  would  undertake  to  dictate  to  her,  or  tell  her  what  she  must  do.  .  .  . 
There  wouldn't  be  any  struttin'  about,  and  talkin'  big,  and  threatenin'  to  raise 
Cain.'''  — Hammond,  Lakes  and  Forest  Scenes. 

"I'll  tell  you  what,  Solomon  Peters,"  said  Miss  Asphyxia,  "  I 'd  jest  as  soon 
have  the  red  dragon  in  the  Revelation  a  comin'  down  on  my  house  as  a  boy!  If 
I  don't  work  hard  enough  now,  I 'd  like  to  know,  without  havin'  a  boy  around 
raisin'  g'meral  Cain."— Afrs.  Stowe,  Oldtown  Folks,  p.  116. 

A  man  who  had  been  beating  his  wife,  and  was  raisin;/  Cain  with  a  white  woman, 
both  being  drunk,  was  arrested  and  locked  up.  — N.  Y.  Herald. 

To  raise  one's  Dander.    To  get  into  a  passion.    See  Dander. 

If  John  Bull  had  riz  our  dander 

Settin'  foot  on  yonder  shore, 
Then  we  should  have  holler'd  grander 

Than  the  broad  Atlantic's  roar. 

{London']  Punch,  Feb.  7, 1863. 

33 


514 


RAI— RAK 


Ever}'  time  I  come  up  from  Louisiana,  I  found  Jess  hangiii'  round  that  f^al, 
•  lookin'  awful  sweet,  and  a  fellow  couldn't  go  near  her  without  raisin''  Ids  dander. 
Rubb,  Squatter  Lift. 

To  raise  one's  Hair.  In  the  semi-barbarous  dialect  used  by  the  hunters, 
trappors,  and  others  who  traverse  the  great  plains  and  prairies  of 
the  West,  scalping  a  man  is  "  raising  (or  lifting)  his  hair.'' 

Kit  Carson  is  the  paragon  of  mountaineers:  to  look  at  him,  no  one  would  think 
that  the  mild-looking  being  before  him  was  an  incarnate  devil  in  an  Indian  fight, 
and  had  raised  more  hair  from  the  red-skins  than  any  two  men  in  the  Western 
country.  —  Euxton,  Life  in  the  Far  West,  p.  194. 

To  raise  the  Hatchet  means,  among  the  American  Indians,  to  pre- 
pare for  war;  "  to  dig  up  the  hatchet."    See  Hatchet. 

In  Major  Robert  Rogers's  "  Tragedy  of  Ponteac,  or  the  Savages 
of  America,"  (Loud.,  1766),  the  great  chief,  addressing  Governor 
Sharp,  said:  — 

We 'd  love  you,  treat  you  as  our  friends  and  brothers, 
And  raise  the  hatchet  only  in  your  cause. 

To  which  the  Governor  replied :  — 

Our  King  is  very  anxious  for  your  welfare, 
And  greatly  wishes  for  your  Love  and  Friendship ; 
He  would  not  have  the  Hatchet  ever  raised, 
But  buried  deep,  stamp'd  down,  and  cover'd  o'er.  —  p.  21. 
Thus  do  I  raise  the  Hatchet  from  the  ground, 
Sharpen'd  and  bright  may  it  be  stained  with  Blood.  — Ibid.,  p.  65. 

Raising-Bee  or  Raising.  In  New  England  and  the  Northern  States, 
the  operation  or  work  of  setting  up  the  frame  of  a  building.  — 
Webster. 

On  such  occasions,  the  neighboring  farmers  are  accustomed  to 
assemble  and  lend  their  assistance.  In  this  way,  the  framework  of 
the  largest  house  or  barn  is  set  up  in  a  few  hours. 

Raisiny-bees  were  frequent,  where  houses  sprang  up  at  the  wagging  of  the  fid- 
dle-stick, as  the  walls  of  Thebes  sprang  up  of  yore  to  the  sound  of  the  lyre  of 
Amphion  — Knickerhocher'' s  N ew  York. 

This  spectacle  of  a  raisinr/,  though  so  common-place  an  affair  elsewhere,  is 
something  worth  seeing  in  the  woods.  —  Mrs.  Clavers's  Forest  Life. 

Rake.    A  comb.    Western  German  population. 

Rake  down.  A  taking  down,  a  scolding.  Borrowed  from  the  gam- 
ing-table, and  the  rake  of  the  croupier.  "  That  rakes  down  my  pile," 
a  Californian  says  when  he  has  lost  his  venture  or  the  contents  of 
his  purse. 

I  have  expected  to  be  "'blow^n  up"  in  print  by  "S  1"  before  now,  but 

have  so  far  escaped,  much  to  the  disappointment  of  the  b'hoA's  about  here.  I 


RAM— EAS 


515 


would  submit  with  a  good  grace  to  a  ^'•raJce  down,''''  if  I  could  only  succeed  in 
starting  again  his  "gray  goose  quill."  — N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

Rambunctious.  Quarrelsome. 

Rampage.  To  be  riotous;  to  prance  about  in  a  riotous  manner. 
He 's  on  the  rampage,^^  i.  e.  he's  on  a  spree;  he  is  rioting.  Pro- 
vincial in  England. 

Rancher.    See  Ranchman. 

Rancheria.  (Span.)  The  place,  site,  or  house  in  the  country  where 
a  number  of  rancheros  collect  together.  The  collection  of  few  or 
many  huts  or  ranchos  into  a  small  village. 

Ranchero.  (Span.)  A  person  who  lives  in  a  rancho;  and  hence  any 
peasant  or  countryman. 

Ranchman.  A  word  made  from  the  Spanish  Ranchero.  An  owner, 
occupant,  or  manager  of  a  ranch. 

'T  is  a  record  prized  of  ranchmen, 

Shepherds,  tillers  of  the  soil; 
And,  among.-it  the  social  topics, 
Giveth  all  the  farm-hints  new. 
Wm.  Boyd,  Desc.  of  a  Model  Ne  ir^^papf  i\  Potter's  Am.  Monthhj,  June,  1877. 

Rancho  or  Ranch.  (Span,  rancho.)  A  rude  hut  of  posts,  covered  with 
branches  or  thatch,  where  herdsmen  or  farm-laborers  live  or  only 
lodge  at  night. 

Range.  1.  The  public  lands  of  the  United  States  are  surveyed  or 
divided  into  ranges,  which  designate  the  order  of  their  arrangement 
into  townships.  —  Bouvler's  Law  Diet. 

2.  In  Texas,  the  prairies  on  which  the  large  herds  of  cattle  graze 
and  range  are  called  cattle  or  stock  ranges. 

AVhen  any  person  may  hunt  estrays  in  another  Mock  range,  he  shall  notify  the 
owner  of  said  stock  of  his  intention.  —  Laws  of  Texas. 

The  herdsman  agrees  to  deliver  a  certain  number  of  beeves,  in  marketable 
order.  .  .  .  The  r<tnf/e  is  then  scoured,  and  the  requisite  number  obtained.  — 
Olmsted^s  Texas,  p.  371. 

Rapid.  The  part  of  a  river  where  the  current  moves  with  more  celeiity 
than  is  common;  a  sadden  descent  of  the  surface  of  a  stream  with- 
out actual  waterfall  or  cascade,  as  the  Lachine  rapids  of  the  St. 
Lawrence.  —  Webster.  The  word  is  not  in  the  latest  English  dic- 
tionary of  Pr.  Latham. 

Rastra.  (Span.)  A  sled;  a  drag.  An  instrument  used  by  the  Cali- 
fornia gold-miners,  consisting  of  two  heavy  stones  attached  by  a 
strap  to  a  horizontal  b<ar.  These  are  dragged  by  mule  power  slowly 
round  a  circular  trough,  through  which  a  small  stream  of  water  is 


516 


RAT— REC 


constantly  running.  The  gold-bearing  quartz  is  here  ground  into  a 
paste,  and  the  gold  aftei'wards  separated  by  means  of  quicksilver. 

Rat.  A  contemptuous  term  used  among  printers,  to  denote  a  man  who 
works  under  price. 

To  rat.    Among  printers,  to  work  under  price. 

Rat  Office.    A  printing-office  in  which  full  prices  are  not  paid. 

Ratoons.  1.  (Span,  retono.)  Sugar-cane  of  the  second  and  third 
year's  growth,  of  which  cuttings  are  made  for  planting  the  succeed- 
ing year. 

2.  The  heart-leaves  in  a  tobacco-plant.  —  Webster. 

Rattlesnake.  (Crotaliis  horridus.)  A  genus  of  serpents,  celebrated 
for  the  danger  which  accompanies  their  bite,  and  for  the  peculiar 
appendages  to  their  tail.  This  venomous  reptile,  of  which  there 
are  many  species,  is  exclusively  confined  to  America. 

Real  Glad.    "  I 'm  real  glad  to  see  you,"  i.  e.  very  glad. 

Rear  Horse.  (Pron.  rare.)  The  vulgar  name,  at  the  South,  for  the 
orthopterous  insect  called  the  Mantis,  Camel  Cricket,  or  Johnny 
Cock-horse. 

Re^ta.  (Span.)  A  rope  made  of  raw-hide  used  for  lassoing  horses 
and  mules;  a  rope  which  ties  one  horse  or  mule  to  another. 

Rebellionist.    One  who  favors  rebellion. 

A  very  large  vote  was  polled.  In  this  city,  it  reached  1,434,  which  is  only  80 
votes  less  than  the  rehdlionists  polled  in  the  wliole  county  a  week  ago. —  Wil- 
mington, Del.,  Journal,  1862. 

Reboso.  (Span.)  A  scarf  or  long  shawl  universally  worn  over  the 
head  and  shoulders  by  the  women  of  the  Spanish-American  States 
and  Territories. 

Receiptor.  A  person  to  w^hom  goods  levied  on  by  the  sheriff  are 
delivered,  on  his  undertaking  to  deliver  the  same  to  the  sheriff  on 
demand,  or  to  pay  the  amount  on  execution.  —  BurriWs  Law  Diet. 

RecoUember.    A  negroism  for  recollect  or  remember. 

To  reckon.  To  think;  to  imagine;  to  believe;  to  conjecture;  to 
conclude;  to  guess.  Used  in  some  parts  of  the  United  States  as 
calculate  is  in  New  England  and  elsewhere.  It  is  provincial  in 
England  in  the  same  sense,  and  is  noticed  in  the  glossaries  of  Pegge 
and  Brockett.  Mr.  Hamilton,  in  his  remarks  on  the  Yorkshire 
dialect,  says:  "  '  I  reclon  '  comes  out  on  every  occasion,  as  perhaps 
aliens  would  expect  from  this  country  of  'ready  reckoners.'"  — 
Nugce  Literarice,  p.  317. 


RE  C— RED 


51T 


"General,  I  guess  we  best  sav  notliin'  more  about  bribin',"  says  I.  "  Well," 
sa.ys  he,  "  Major,  I  reckon  you  're  right."  —  Major  J)ownin(j''s  Letters^  p.  208. 

I  sa}^!  what  do  you  guess  about  lending  me  your  axe  for  a  spell?  Do  you 
reckon  you.  can  spare  it  ?  —  Mrs.  Clavers's  Forest  Life,  Vol.  I.  p.  84. 

I  reckon  you  hardly  ever  was  at  a  shooting-match,  stranger,  from  the  cut  of 
your  coat.  —  Georgia  Scenes,  p.  198. 

Recommend.  A  commendatory  notice;  a  recommendation.  New 
England. 

To  recoupe.  (Fr.  recouper.)  To  diminish  a  claim  for  damages  by 
cutting  off  or  keeping  back  a  part ;  to  make  up  a  loss  in  general. 

This  old  word  has  been  revived  to  a  considerable  extent  in  modern 
law.  "  "Where  a  man  brings  an  action  for  breach  of  a  contract 
between  him  and  the  defendant,  and  the  latter  can  show  that  some 
stipulation  in  the  same  contract  was  made  by  the  plaintiff,  which 
he  has  violated,  the  defendant  may,  if  he  choose,  instead  of  suing 
in  his  term,  recoupe  his  damages,  arising  from  the  breach  committed 
by  the  plaintiff,  whether  they  be  liquidated  or  not.  The  law  will 
cut  off  so  much  of  the  plaintiff's  claim  as  the  cross-damages  may 
come  to.'' —  Cowen  in  Wendells  Reports,  Vol.  XXII.  p.  156. 

Recoupment.  Defalcation  or  discounting  from  a  demand.  A  keep- 
ing back  something  which  is  due,  because  there  is  an  equitable 
reason  to  withhold  it.  The  principle  of  recoupment  has  been  estab- 
lished in  the  State  of  New  York  in  several  cases  of  recent  occur- 
rence. —  BurriWs  Law  Diet. 

Red.    See  Nary  Red. 

Red.  To  red  up.  (Old  Eng.  red,  Ang.-Sax.  hreddan.)  To  clear 
away,  to  set  in  order.  —  Wedgwood.  This  is  nearer  the  Saxon 
origin  than  the  more  common  term  "  to  rid.^'  Jamieson,  however, 
gives  it  precisely  the  same  meaning  as  we  do.  He  says  "  to  red  up 
a  house  is  to  put  it  in  order,  to  remove  any  thing  that  might  be  an 
incumbrance." 

To  tell  that  these  things  be  redd  up  and  braw. 

Eoss's  Helenore,  p.  125. 

Red  Adder.    See  Copperhead. 

Red-Bud.  {Cercis  Canadensis.)  A  small  ornamental  tree,  noted 
for  its  pink  flowers,  which  at  a  distance  resemble  those  of  the 
peach-tree.  It  grows  on  rich  soil  from  New  York  to  Ohio,  Ken- 
tucky, and  southwards.    Also  called  Judas-tree. 

Red  Cent.    A  common  term  for  the  copper  cent. 

When  General  Washington  had  got  through  with  his  fightin',  .  .  .  govern- 
ment owed  him  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars,  and  hadn't  the  first  red  cent  to 
pay  with.  —  Hammond' s  Lake  and  Forest  Scenes. 


618 


llED 


Every  diing  in  New  Orleans  sells  hy  dimes,  bits,  and  picayunes;  and  as  for 
copper  money  I  have  not  seen  the  first  red  cent.  —  Bayard  Taylor  in  N.  Y. 
Tribune. 

II  must  iiave  a  million  o(  dollars,  and  a  man  with  that  is  not  poor  in  any 

country ;  certainly  it  was  a  great  catch  lor  Miss  L  ,  without  a  red  cent  of  her 

own.  —  The  Upptr  Ten  Thousand,  }).  147. 
Red-Dog  Money.    A  term  applied,  in  the  State  of  Xew  York,  to  cer- 
tain bank-notes  which  have  on  their  back  a  large  red  stamp. 

The  late  General  Banking-law  of  the  State  of  New  Yoi  k,  which 
was  applied  to  all  new  banks,  as  well  as  to  those  the  charters  of 
which  were  renewed,  obliged  the  parties  or  individuals  associated  to 
deposit  securities  with  the  comptroller,  and  receive  from  him  blank 
notes  of  various  denominations,  signed  or  bearing  the  certificate  of 
the  comptroller  or  officer  authorized  by  him.  These  notes  bore  a 
red  s'latnp  on  their  backs. 

The  free  admission  under  this  law  of  securities  of  a  very  ques- 
tionable character  induced  many  persons,  both  individually  and  col- 
lectively, to  organize  banks  of  issue;  and,  as  a  natural  consequence, 
a  considerable  portion  of  the  circulating  medium  soon  consisted  of 
the  notes  of  the  free  banks,  bearing  the  red  stamp.  The  community, 
generally,  did  not  consider  these  notes  as  safe  as  those  issued  by  the 
old  banks,  and  stigmatized  them  as  red  dogs,  and  the  currency  as  red- 
dog  money.  The  character  of  the  securities,  however,  has  since  been 
improved  by  an  act  which  demands  that  only  certain  stocks  of  well- 
established  reputation  shall  be  admitted;  and  consequently  the 
odium  which  existed  against  the  first  banks  created  under  the  law 
is  now  done  away  with.  In  Michigan,  they  apply  the  terra  blue-pup 
money  to  bank-notes  having  a  blue  stamjD  on  their  backs. 

Much  bogus  coin  and  wild-cat,  red-doy  bills,  are  in  circulation ;  but,  as  a  general 
principle,  shinplasters  ai'e  regarded  cautiously,  and  nothing  is  given  tor  nothing. 
North,  Slave  of  the  Lamp,  p.  38. 

Shakspeare  makes  one  of  his  characters  say  :  — 

'•  How  sweet  the  moonshine  sleeps  upon  this  bank." 
But,  in  this  'S-ecW&r/"  and  "wild-cat"  era,  the  reading  about  banks  and  moon- 
shine should  be  modernized  thus  :  — 

How  sweet  these  banks  do  sleep  upon  this  moonshine." 

Jja  Salle  Press. 

To  redeem.  To  pay  the  value  in  specie  of  any  promissory  note,  bill, 
or  other  evidence  of  debt  given  by  the  State,  by  a  company  or  cor- 
poration, or  by  an  individual.  The  credit  of  a  State,  a  banking 
company,  or  individual,  is  good  when  they  can  redeem  all  their 
stock,  notes,  or  bills  at  par.  —  Webster.  This  sense  of  the  word  is 
peculiar  to  us,  and  is  not  noticed  by  any  English  lexicographer.  In 
England,  they  cash  notes,  bank-bills,  &c. 


RED 


519 


Redemptioner.  This  name  is  given  in  the  Southern  States  to  those 
Germans,  Irish,  and  other  Em-opeans  who  emigrate  from  their  own 
country  to  the  United  States,  and  sell  their  services  for  a  term  of 
time  to  pay  their  passage-money  and  other  expenses.  —  Pickering. 

Red-Eye.    1.  Fiery  new  whiskey ;  the  same  as  ^a/fZ- Face. 

I  promised  the  overseer  a  new  covering  and  a  demijohn  of  red-eye,  if  all  went 
straight,  got  my  little  fixins  together,  and  off  I  set.  —  N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

2.  One  of  the  names  for  the  Copperhead  Snake,  which  see. 

Red-Head.  (Fuligula  ferina.)  A  red-headed  duck  found  through- 
out the  United  States.    Its  flesh  is  greatly  esteemed. 

Dr.  Sharpless,  of  Philadelphia,  says  he  could  never  distinguish  much  differ- 
ence in  flavor  between  canvas-backs  and  red-heads,  and  that  many  of  the  latter 
are  sold  as  canvas-backs  and  eaten  as  such  by  those  who  profess  to  know  Jill 
about  the  divine  flavor.  —  Bogardm,  Field,  Cover,  and  Trap  Shooting,  p.  171. 

Red  Horses.    A  nickname  applied  to  the  natives  of  Kentucky. 

Red-hot.    "  We  had  a  red-hot  time,"  i.  e.  a  "  jolly  "  time. 

Reding.  A  compound  used  to  redden  the  jambs  and  hearth  of  an 
open  wood  fire-place ;  perhaps  Venetian  red. 

Red-Men.    The  American  Indians,  so  called  from  their  color. 

Since  the  red-men  have  become  known  to  us,  numerous  tribes  have  been  extin- 
guished, with  all  their  peculiar  customs  and  institutions;  yet,  as  a  whole,  the 
Indian  remains.  —  Lapham's  Antiqs.  of  Wisconsin,  p.  30. 

Children,  you  ask  why  the  red-men  keep  moving  towards  the  setting  sun,  and 
why  the  pale-faces  follow  ?  You  ask  if  the  place  where  the  sun  sets  will  ever  be 
reached,  and  if  pale  men  will  go  there  to  plough  and  build.  —  Cooper,  The  Red 
Skins,  p.  321. 

The  red-man,  too. 
Has  left  the  blooming  wilds  he  ranged  so  long, 
And  nearer  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  sought 
A  wilder  hunting-ground.  —  Bryant,  The  Prairies. 

The  red-man  smoked  his  pipe,  or  trimmed  the  fire, 

And  many  a  tale  he  to  our  father  told 
Of  barbarous  battle  and  of  slaughter  dire. 

That  on  Pawtucket's  marge  there  chanced  of  old. 

Durfee,  Whatcheer,  Canto  III. 

Red  Race.    The  American  Indians. 

We  need  not  look  to  Mexico  or  any  other  country  for  the  descendants  of  the 
mound-builders.  We  probably  see  them  in  the  present  i'ed  race  of  the  same  or 
adjacent  regions. — Lapham's  Antiqs.  of  Wisconsin,  p.  29. 

Red-Root.  (Ceanothus  Americanus.)  A  shrub  found  upon  the  prai- 
ries near  the  Rocky  Mountains,  highly  esteemed  as  a  substitute  for 
tea.    It  resembles  the  tea  of  commerce,  and  affords  an  excellent 


520 


RED— REG 


beverage.  —  Scenes  in  the  Rochj  Mountains,  p.  26.  Also  known  aA 
New  Jersey  tea,  which  see. 

Red-Skin.    An  American  Indian. 

What  may  be  right  and  proper  in  a  red-shin  may  be  sinful  in  a  man  who  has 
not  even  a  cross  in  blood  to  plead  for  his  ignorance.  —  Cooper,  Last  of  the  Mo- 
hicans. 

To  red  up.    To  put  in  order;  as,  to  red  up  a  room.  Pennsylvania. 

Red  Viper.    See  Copperhead. 

Reed-Bird.    See  Bobolink. 

To  reek.    To  wreak;  to  avenge;  to  revenge. 

The  simple  fact  was,  the}'  did  not  receive  from  General  Fremont  that  consid- 
eration to  which  they  thought  their  importance  entitled  them;  and  so  .  .  .  they 
one  after  another  "went  home  to  reek  themselves  upon  expression  "  in  the  three 
volumes  [of  the  "Chicago  Tribune,"  as]  aforesaid.  —  iV.  Y.  Tribune,  Feb.  25, 
1862. 

Reform  School.  A  school  for  the  confinement,  instruction,  and  refor- 
mation of  juvenile  offenders,  and  of  young  persons  of  idle,  vicious, 
and  vagrant  habits. 

Regalia.  The  banners,  aprons,  badges,  and  other  decorations  used  by 
the  Society  of  Odd  Fellows.  It  is  singular  that  this  term,  which 
signifies  the  trappings  of  royalty,  should  have  been  chosen  by  this 
large  and  respectable  body  for  their  simple  decorations. 

Regent.  In  the  State  of  New  York,  the  member  of  a  corporate  body 
which  is  invested  with  the  superintendence  of  all  the  colleges,  acad- 
emies, and  schools  in  the  State.  This  board  consists  of  twenty-one 
members,  who  are  called  "  the  regents  of  the  University  of  the  State 
of  New  York."  They  are  appointed  and  removable  by  the  Legisla- 
ture. They  have  power  to  grant  acts  of  incorporation  for  colleges ; 
to  visit  and  inspect  all  colleges,  academies,  and  schools,  and  to 
make  regulations  for  governing  the  same.  —  Statutes  of  New  York. 

Registering  Punch.  An  instrument  used  by  railroad  conductors,  with 
which  they  are  required  to  cut  from  a  card  the  amount  of  fares  they 
receive.    See  Gong  Punch. 

Regret.  A  note  declining  an  invitation,  and  containing  an  expression 
of  regret  for  the  same;  as,  "I  can't  go  to  Mrs.  Jones's  baU  next 
Wednesday,  but  must  send  a  regret.^ ^    A  new  lady's  term. 

Regular  Nominee.  A  candidate  chosen  by  a  convention  or  a  caucus 
for  a  political  office. 

When  the  average  Democrat  refuses  to  support  the  regularnominees,  regardless 
of  their  personal  characters,  discipline  is  destroyed  and  disaster  assured. — X.  F. 
Evening  Mail,  Oct.  2J,  1876. 


REG— REM 


521 


Regular  Way.  Very  often  in  the  report  of  stock  sales  the  letters  r.  w. 
are  attached  to  certain  operations.  This  "  regular  way  "  means  the 
delivery  of  the  stock  sold  the  next  day.  All  sales  for  cash  are  for 
immediate  delivery. — Hunt^s  Merch.  ATag.,  Vol.  XXXVII. 

Rehash.  A  cooking  over  again ;  a  renewal  or  repetition  in  another 
form.   Doubtless  of  English  origin,  though  not  in  the  dictionaries. 

Governor  Tallmadge,  in  speaking  of  Senator  Shields's  promise  to 
present  the  memorial  of  the  "  Spiritualists  "  to  the  Senate,  and  his 
treatment  of  it  afterwards,  says:  — 

I  confess  my  surprise  that,  instead  of  moving  for  an  investigation  by  a  select 
committee,  he  should  have  given  in  advance  a  rehash  of  what  has  been  so  often 
said  before  by  the  opponents  of  spiritualism.  —  Healiny  of  Nations,  Ajjpenclix, 
p.  468. 

I  understand  that  Dr.  Gwin's  speech  here,  the  other  evening,  was  principally 
a  7*eZ(asA  of  his  Yreka  effort.  —  Senator  Broderick''s  Speech  in  California,  Aug., 
1859. 

To  reinsure.  To  insure  the  same  property  a  second  time  by  other 
underwriters.  — Webster. 

It  is  common  with  underwriters  or  insurance  companies,  when 
they  find  they  have  too  large  a  sum  insured  on  one  ship,  or  in  a 
particular  district,  to  reinsure  a  part  elsewhere. 

The  insurer  may  cause  the  property  insured  to  be  reinsured  by  other  persons. 
Walsh,  French  Com.  Code. 

To  reland.    To  go  on  shore  after  having  embarked.  —  Webster. 
Reliable.    Suitable  or  fit  to  be  relied  on;  worthy  of  dependence; 
trustworthy. 

To  the  use  of  this  word,  which  is  of  recent  introduction  into  the 
language,  many  take  exception,  maintaining  that  it  is  unnecessary, 
and  irregular  in  its  formation.  It  is,  however,  a  most  convenient 
substitute  for  the  phrase  to  be  relied  upon.  — Webster. 

In  noticing  this  word,  Mr.  Latham,  in  his  new  edition  of  John- 
son's "Dictionary,"  says  that,  although  it  is  more  common  in 
America  than  in  Great  Britain,  there  is  no  proof  that  it  originated 
in  the  former  country;  and  adds  that  it  is  "  more  useful  than  correct," 
for  which  assertion  he  gives  his  reasons. 

According  to  General  Livingston's  humorous  account,  his  own  village  of  Eliza- 
bethtown  was  not  much  more  reliable,  being  peopled  in  those  agitated  times  by  un- 
known, unrecommended  strangers,  guiltj'-looking  Tories,  and  very  knavish  Whigs. 
W.  Irviny. 

Religion.    To  get  religion  is  a  technical  term  among  certain  sects, 

meaning  to  be  converted. 
To  remind,  for  remember ;  as,  "  The  company  will  please  remind.'^  A 

New  York  vulgarism. 


522 


REM— REP 


Removability.  The  capacity  of  being  removed  from  an  office  or 
station;  capacity  of  being  displaced. — Webster. 

Rench  and  Rense.    Vulgar  pronunciation  of  the  word  rinse. 

Rendition,  for  renderinrj.    A  new  use  of  the  word. 

The  "Baltimore  Sun,"  of  Aug.  17.  1858,  after  recording  the 
acquittal  of  a  man  tried  for  murder,  says :  — 

On  tlie  rendition  of  the  verdict,  the  large  audience  present  manifested  enthusi- 
astic approbation. 

At  lialf  past  seven  o'clock  this  evening,  two  gentlemen  are  announced  to  deliver 
addresses  to  the  public  on  belialf  of  tlie  "  Bible  Union organization,  which  lias 
for  its  purpose  the  closest  possible  rendition  of  the  meaning  of  the  original  text 
of  the  Scriptures  into  English  and  other  modern  tongues.  —  N(tt.  InteUiyencer, 
Nov.  11,  1858. 

Renewedly.  Anew;  again;  once  more.  A  word  often  used  by 
American  preachers,  but  not  supported  by  good  English  use.  — 
W orcester. 

To  reopen.  To  open  again.  —  Webster.  This  word  is  much  used. 
The  theatre  reopens  for  the  season ;  the  schools  reopen  after  their 
vacations. 

Repeater.  A  person  who  votes  more  than  once  at  an  election,  a  cus- 
tom extensively  practised  in  the  cities  of  Xew  York  and  Phila- 
delphia. 

In  his  examination,  Sept.  18,  1877,  before  the  Aldermanic  Inves- 
tigation Committee  of  New  York,  Mr.  W.  M.  Tweed  said:  — 

As  an  organizer  of  rejyeaters,  Mr.  Morissey  had  no  superior;  and,  M'hen  the  ring 
was  in  power,  such  capacity  was  always  fully  recognized. 

Repetitious.    Repeating;  containing  repetition.  —  Webster. 

Mr.  Pickering  notices  this  word,  which  he  thinks  is  peculiar  to 
the  writer  from  whom  the  following  extract  is  taken :  — 

The  observation  which  you  have  quoted  from  the  Abbe  Ravnal,  which  has 
been  written  off  in  a  succession  not  much  less  repetitious  or  protracted  than  that 
in  which  school-boys  of  former  times  wrote.  —  Remarks  on  the  Review  of  Inchi- 
quin's  Letters,  Boston,  1815. 

Mr.  Worcester,  however,  cites  the  North  American  Review  and 
R.  Anderson  as  authorities  for  its  use.  It  is  now  becoming  more 
common. 

Reportorial.  Of  a  reporter,  as  "its  editorial  and  reportorial  deipait- 
ments."  —  The  Independent.  It  is  noticed  by  Webster,  who  calls  it 
an  ill-formed  word. 

Reprobacy.  Reprobateness. 

We  are  astonished  that  such  rejor'obacy  could  be  awakened  even  by  the  thun- 
ders of  Whitefield.  —  iTajyer's  Mag.,  Dec,  1860.  . 


REP— RES 


523 


Republicans.  A  party  name  which  has  been  several  times  adopted 
in  the  history  of  American  politics.  It  is  now  (1860)  held  by  a 
party  formally  organized  in  the  year  1856,  the  main  "plank"  of 
W'hose  ' '  platform  ' '  is  opposition  to  the  extension  of  slavery  to  new 
territories.  On  account  of  their  supposed  fondness  for  the  Negroes, 
they  have  been  commonly  styled  by  their  opponents  Black  Repub- 
licans. 

The  Republican  party,  as  our  readers  are  well  aware,  was  called  into  being 
solely  to  resist  the  encroachments  of  slavery  upon  the  free  territory  of  the  Union, 
and  upon  the  free  States.  It  was  a  combination  of  men  of  varying  political 
antecedents :  some  had  been  Whigs,  some  Democrats,  some  Americans,  some 
Abolitionists,  some  had  always  kept  aloof  from  politics.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  July 
9,  1858. 

Repudiationist.    One  who  favors  repudiation  of  debts. 

Jeff  Davis  was  first  known  in  public  life  as  a  i'ej)udiaiionist.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune, 
Jan.  21,  1862. 

Vallandigham  the  rejmdiationist.  —  San  Francisco  Bulletin,  Oct.,  1869. 

Requisition.  A  demand  of  the  executive  of  one  county  or  State  upon 
another  for  a  fugitive  from  justice. 

Under  the  old  confederation  of  the  American  States,  Congress  often  made 
requisitions  on  the  States  for  money  to  supply  the  treasury ;  but  they  had  no 
power  to  enforce  the  requisitions,  and  the  States  neglected  or  partially  complied 
with  them.  —  Alex.  Hamilton. 

Reservation.  A  tract  of  public  land  reserved  or  set  aside  for  some 
public  use,  as  for  schools,  the  Indians,  &c. 

Resei'vntions  of  land  thirty  miles  square  shall  be  surveyed  on  the  frontier  for 
the  friendly  Indians.  —  Laws  of  Texas. 

Reserve.  A  reservation  of  land,  set  aside  for  a  particular  purpose,  as 
"the  Western  Reserve,"  formerly  the  "Connecticut  Reserve," 
originally  set  apai-t  for  the  School  fund  of  Connecticut;  the  "  Clergy 
Reserve,"  in  Canada  for  the  support  of  the  clergy. 

Resident  Graduate.  Graduates  of  colleges  and  of  Theological  Semi- 
naries, who  are  desirous  of  pursuing  their  studies  at  a  college,  with- 
out joining  any  of  its  departments.  They  may  attend  the  public 
lectures  given  in  the  institution,  and  enjoy  the  use  of  its  library. 

Resolve.  Legal  or  official  determination ;  legislative  act  concerning 
a  private  person  or  corporation,  or  concerning  some  private  busi- 
ness. Public  acts  of  a  legislature  respect  the  State;  and  to  give 
them  validity,  the  bills  for  such  acts  must  pass  through  all  the 
legislative  forms.  Re.'<olves  are  usually  private  acts,  and  are  often 
passed  with  less  formality.  —  Webster. 


524 


RES 


Restitutionists.  A  religious  sect  which  has  recently  sprung  up  in 
Worcester  and  some  other  places.  The  following  account  is  given 
of  it  by  the  "  Worcester  Transcript:  "  — 

The  Restitutionists  believe  that  what  man  lost  in  the  fall  is  now 
beginning  to  be  restored;  and  that  the  germ,  now  confined  to  their 
own  small  number,  is  yet  to  bud  and  flourish  till  it  covers  the  earth. 
They  are  all  Restitutionists  in  one  sense,  —  they  believe  that  every- 
thing is  to  come  back  to  its  original  form  and  purity.  Their  Sab- 
bath, therefore,  occurs  on  Saturday,  as  the  original  day  of  worship; 
and  their  meetings  are  held  Friday  evening,  because  it  is  Sunday 
eve.  They  only  use  the  Lord's  prayer,  as  that  alone  can  have  effi- 
cacy with  the  Father.  To  them  —  or  three  of  them  at  least  —  is 
committed  the  apostolic  gift  of  tongues.    This  gift  appears  to  be 

•  rather  useless,  as  the  words  spoken  are  not  only  unintelligible  to  by- 
standers, but  to  the  others  who  have  a  like  gift,  till  the  inward 
manifestation  of  the  Spirit  makes  it  known.  They  are  God's 
chosen  and  willing  instruments,  in  whom  the  Holy  Spirit  now 
develops  himself  partially,  but  through  whose  instrumentality  the 
world  is  soon  to  be  entirely  restored. 

This  sect,  small  in  numbers,  is  strong  in  the  faith  and  working 
activity  of  its  members.  There  are  others  of  a  like  faith  in  Athol, 
New  Braintree,  Springfield,  and  other  places. 

Result.  The  decision  or  determination  of  a  council  or  deliberative 
assembly;  as,  "  the  result  of  an  ecclesiastical  council."  Peculiar  to 
New  England.  —  Webster. 

To  resurrect.  1.  To  take  a  body  from  the  grave.  Originally  said  of 
body-snatchers.  2.  To  reanimate,  to  restore  to  life,  to  bring  to  pub- 
lic view  that  which  was  forgotten  or  lost. 

In  a  note  at  the  end  of  the  6th  volume  of  Mr.  Benton's  "  Abridg- 
ment of  the  Debates  of  Congress,"  in  speaking  of  the  founders  of 
the  government,  "who  are  all  gone, — their  bodies  buried  in  the 
earth,  their  works  buried  under  rubbish,  and  their  names  beginning 
to  fade  away,"  — the  author  adds:  — 

I  resurrect  the  whole !  put  them  in  scene  again  on  the  living  stage,  every  one 
with  the  best  of  his  works  in  his  hand. 

To  fill  up  the  cup,  be  it  claret  or  beer ; 
Eesurrect  the  war  hatchet,  and  sharpen  the  spear. 

Son(/  of  the  War  Democracy. 
She  was  bending  down  and  punching  under  the  bed  with  the  broom,  .  .  .  but 
she  resurrected  nothing  but  the  cat.  —  Mark  Tivain,  Tom  Sawyer,  p.  18. 

Yankee  enterprise  is  just  what  is  wanted.  I  fought  for  the  conspiracy,  but 
that  issue  is  dead.  It  will  never  be  resurrected,  at  least  in  my  day.  —  N.  Orleans 
Corr.  Boston  Herald,  Sept.  23,  1877. 


EET 


525 


Retiracied.  Retired. 

The  new-comer  who  lands  in  certain  towns  in  New  England,  expecting  to  find 
himself  among  the  most  verdant  coimtry  Yankees,  is  compelled  to  admit  that 
there  are  no  places  in  the  world  similarly  retiracied  which  are  less  provincial 
or  more  agreeable.  —  Mace  Sloper  in  KnicTcerbovTcer  Mag.,  March,  1856. 

Retiracy.  1.  Retirement.  This  absurd  word  is  often  applied  to  the 
condition  of  politicians  who  have  retired,  willingly  or  unwillingly, 
to  private  life. 

Here  I  shall  stay  and  amuse  myself  in  what  one  of  our  great  men  used  to  call 
dignified  retiracij.  —  The  Upper  Ten  Thousand,  p.  286. 

2.  Sufficiency;  competency.  It  is  said,  in  New  England,  of  a 
person  who  left  off  business  with  a  fortune,  that  he  has  a  retiracy  ; 
i.  e.,  a  sufficient  fortune  to  retire  upon. 

To  retire.  (Fr.  retirer.)  To  withdraw ;  to  take  away ;  to  make  to 
retire.  —  Johnson.  This  transitive  use  of  the  verb,  which  had  become 
obsolete,  is  now  reviving  in  this  country  and  in  England.  Of  the 
many  examples  from  good  old  writers  given  by  Johnson,  we  will  quote 
only  one  from  Shakspeare :  — 

He,  our  hope,  might  have  retired  his  power. 

And  driven  into  despair  an  enemy's  hate.  —  Richard  II. 

With  us,  it  is  used  by  military  men  of  withdrawing  troops. 

General  Rosas  insisted  on  the  blockade  being  removed  before  he  retired  his 
troops  from  the  Banda  Oriental.  — Newspaper. 

By  merchants  of  paying  their  notes;  and  by  banks,  to  withdraw 
them  from  circulation. 

The  French  houses  are  retiring  their  notes,  due  next  month,  in  advance,  an- 
ticipating commercial  difliculties.  —  Neivspaper. 

Expecting  that,  before  it  [a  forged  note]  became  due,  he  should  be  able  to 
reti7'e  it. — Lord  Brougham  in  Edinb.  Rev.,  April,  1855. 

Finally,  to  retire  is  to  go  to  bed.  "I  am  sleepy,  and  shall 
retire.''^ 

Retirement.  Withdrawal,  removing.  "  Retirement  of  the  resolutions 
from  the  Senate."  —  Newspapers. 

Retortive.    Containing  retort.  —  Webster. 

To  retrospect.    To  look  back. 

To  give  a  correct  idea  of  the  circumstances  which  have  gradually  produced  this 
conviction,  it  may  be  useful  to  retrospect  to  an  early  period.  —  Letter  from  Alex. 
Hamilton  to  John  Adams. 

The  word  is  rare  in  American  writings ;  and,  from  Mr.  Pickering's 
observations,  it  appears  that,  although  it  has  been  used  in  England, 
it  has  not  found  favor  there. 


626 


rp:t— Ric 


Returning  Board.  In  some  of  the  Southern  States,  a  board  of  officers 

who  receive  and  count  the  votes  cast  at  an  election,  and  declare  the 

result  of  the  same. 
To  revamp.    To  patch  up,  renew.    Originally  a  shoemaker's  term. 
Revenue  Cutter.    A  small  and  swift  armed  vessel  stationed  at  a  sea- 

jiort,  to  protect  the  revenue  by  overhauling  smugglers. 
Reverent.     Strong;  as,  ^'■reverent  whiskey,"  i.  e.  not  diluted. — 

Sh  e  r  wood  \s  Georc/ia. 
Revocal.    A  revocation. 

The  President's  revocal  of  General  Hunter's  proclamation  was  well  received  at 

Port  Koyal.  —  iV.  F.  Tribune,  June  9,  18G2. 

Revolver.  It  is  time  that  this  word,  applied  to  a  revolving  pistol, 
should  have  a  place  in  the  dictionary.  In  the  first  invention,  the 
bai-rel,  which  contained  several  tubes,  was  made  to  revolve.  In  the 
present  and  most  approved  form,  the  breech,  which  contains  the 
charge,  alone  revolves.  On  the  Western  frontier  of  the  United 
States  and  in  California,  where  they  are  most  used,  these  arms  are 
universally  called  "five-shooters"  or  "  six-shooters,"  according  to 
the  number  of  charges  they  can  receive. 

Rhino.    Money.    Old  English  slang. 

Rhody.  A  diminutive  often  applied  to  the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  from 
its  limited  territory.    Sometimes  it  is  called  "  Little  Rhody. 

Old  Newport,  billow-cradled,  see 

On  Rhody's  verdant  shore; 
'T  is  there  old  Ocean  shakes  his  mane. 

Resounding  evermore.  — Anonymous. 

Ribbons.    Carriage  reins.    Provincial  in  England.  —  Wright. 

The  stage-driver  had  an  itching  palm,  which  could  be  satisfied  with  nothing 
but  the  ribbons  drawn  over  the  backs  of  a  four-in-hand.  —  Eygleston,  Mystery 
of  Metropolisville,  p.  14. 

The  "London  Athenaeum,"  in  its  review  of  "The  Reminis- 
cences of  a  Gentleman  Coachman,"  Lond.,  1875,  says:  — 

The  review  of  the  whole  turn-out  [by  gentlemen  coachmen]  was  rigidly  criti- 
cal :  they  would  lend  a  hand  to  alter  a  bit,  talking  the  whole  time  to  the  holder 

of  the  ribbons. 

Rice-Bird.  1.  {Icterus  agripennis.)  A  pretty  little  bird,  well  known 
as  the  Bobolink,  which  see. 
2.  A  rice  plantation  owner. 

The  surrounding  country  [Beaufort,  S.  C]  embraces  the  best  rice-fields  of  the 
South.  — so  proverbially  so,  indeed,  that  the  irreverent  "  up  country"  are  accus- 
tomed to  call  the  aristocratic  inhabitants  of  the  region  rice-birds;  perhaps,  also,  in 
allusion  to  their  worldh*  fatness.  —  ^Y.  Y.  Tribune. 


RIC— RIG 


52T 


Rich.    Luscious;  i.  e.,  entertaining,  highly  amusing. 

Mr.  Richardson  is  rich  on  rabbits,  and  divides  tliem  into  four  races.  — London 
Athenmum,  Dec,  1847. 

Thar  we  was,  settin'  on  our  horses,  rollin'  with  laufjhin'  and  liquor,  and 
thought  the  thing  was  rich  [alluding  to  a  dog-fight].  —  Porter's  South-ioestern 
Tales,  p.  57. 

About  as  Wc/i  an  instance  of  official  idleness,  self-conceit,  and  incivility  as  we 
have  seen,  fell  under  our  notice  yesterday.  —  N.  Y.  Com.  Adv. 

Rich  wood.  (Pilea  pumila.)  A  stingless  nettle,  so  called  from  its 
succulent  and  semi-transparent  stem.    It  is  also  called  Clearweed. 

To  ride.  To  carry,  transport.  In  the  city  of  New  York,  this  word  is 
used  of  carting  or  carrying  merchandise  on  a  cart.  Thus,  to  ride  a 
box  or  bale  of  goods  is  to  carry  it.  I  heard  a  witness  in  a  court- 
room testify  that  he  had  "  m/e  some  hogs  from  the  wharf  to  the 
store,"  by  which  he  meant  that  he  had  carried  a  load  of  dead  hogs 
on  his  cart. 

To  ride  and  tie.  Said  of  two  persons  travelling  on  the  same  horse, 
one  of  whom  rides  ahead,  and  at  a  suitable  place  ties  the  horse  for 
his  companion ;  he  walks  on,  and  his  companion  rides  and  ties ;  and 
so  they  continue  to  do  by  turns.    Maryland  and  Virginia. 

Mr.  Curtis,  in  his  "Life  of  Daniel  Webster"  (V^ol.  I.  p.  37), 
alluding  to  his  brother  Ezekiel,  says:  — 

Mr.  Webster  once  humorously  expressed  their  frequent  interchange  of  study 
and  of  labor  for  their  joint  support,  as  they  had  but  one  horse  between  them,  they 
rode  in  tie. 

To  ride  upon  a  Rail.    To  travel  or  ride  on  a  railroad. 

Riding  Rock.  A  conspicuous  rock  at  a  ford,  used  to  show  the  depth 
of  the  water  and  the  safety  of  crossings.  A  stream  is  said  to  be 
"out  of  ride  "  when  it  is  past  fording;  "  out  of  bank  "  is  a  still 
higher  stage  of  the  water,  i.  e.  over  its  banks.  Maryland  and  Vir- 
ginia. 

Riding  Way.    A  ford. 

There  were  two  fords  or  riding  ways  over  the  Shetucket.  In  1780,  one  is 
called  the  upper  y-ic/m/y  ivay'wi  Dr.  Perkins's  intervals.  —  Caulkins,  Hist.  Norwich, 
Conn. 

Right.  Very.  The  word  in  this  sense  is  rarely  heard  at  the  Noith, 
but  is  in  constant  use  at  the  South;  as,  "  It  rains  right  hard."  A 
New  Yorker  would  say  "  very  "  or  "  quite  "  hard. 

Right  Along.    Uninterruptedly,  continuously. 

There  are  some  women  in  Chicago  that  have  had  a  daily  prayer-meeting  every 
afternoon  at  three  o'clock  myht  cdony  for  two  years.  —  Address  of  D.  L.  Moody. 


528 


RIG 


Right  Away.    Directly ;  immediately ;  right  oE. 

Mr.  Dickens,  in  his  "  American  Notes,"  relates  the  following 
anecdote,  which  occurred  at  the  Tremont  House,  Boston:  — 

"  Dinner  as  quick  as  possible,"  said  I  to  the  waiter. 

Ri<jht  nwayV  said  the  waiter. 
After  a  moment's  hesitation,  I  answered,  "No,"  at  hazard. 
"  Not  ri(jht  (iionyV  cried  the  waiter,  with  surprise. 

I  thought  the  waiter  must  have  gone  out  of  his  mind,  until  another  whispered 
to  him,  "  Directly." 

"  Well !  and  that 's  a  fact !  "  said  the  waiter,    Riyht  away.'''' 

I  now  saw  that  "  Hght  away  "  and  "  directly  "  meant  the  same  thing. 

"Uncle  John,"  said  Nina,  "I  want  3'ou  to  get  the  carriage  out  for  me  right 
away.  I  want  to  take  a  ride  over  the  cross-run."  —  3frs.  Stowe,  Bred,  Vol.  I. 
p.  8y. 

Lord  Macaulay  having  been  written  to  by  an  American  who, 
about  to  publish  an  edition  of  his  Lordship's  w^orks  to  which  he 
proposed  to  prefix  bis  Life,  desired  certain  particulars  for  it,  Lord 
M.  says :  — 

I  guess  I  must  answer  him  right  slick  away.  —  Life  and  Letters,  Vol.  L  p.  235. 
Right  here.    Just  now;  here  and  at  this  instant. 

"If  we  wanted  money,"  said  Mr.  Moody,  "we  would  say  so,  right  here;  but 
we  are  after  your  souls."  —  Sermon  in  Boston. 

Right  off.    Directly ;  immediately ;  used  the  same  as  the  previous  ex- 
pression.   Sometimes  we  hear  light  out. 

Mr.  Webster  thus  writes  to  Mr.  Edw.  Curtis,  appointing  a  meet- 
ing:— 

On  the  first  of  October,  mutton  and  chickens  would  be  good  in  New  Hamp- 
shire. Let  us  first  meet  in  Boston,  and  then  take  a  fair  start  together.  If  the 
Governor  prefers  Marshfield  we  will  go  to  that  place  and  shut  ourselves  up  in 
the  office  and  do  the  work  right  off'.  — Private  Correspondence,  Vol.  I.  p.  339. 

I  feel  wonderfullv  consarned  about  that  pain  in  your  chest,  said  the  Widow  to 
Mr.  Crane.  It  ought  to  be  attended  to  right  off,  Mr.  Crane,  7-ight  off.  —  Widow 
Bedott  Papers. 

The  Calif. )rnians  are  eminently  practical :  what  they  mean  to  do,  they  do  right 
off  with  all  their  might,  as  if  they  really  meant  to  do  it.  —  Borthicick,  California, 
p.  22G. 

To  Rights.    1.  Directly;  soon.  —  Webster. 

If  folks  will  do  what  I  tell  'em,  things  will  go  straight  enough  to  rights.  — 
Major  Downing''s  Letters,  p.  5. 

So  to  rights  the  express  got  back,  and  brought  a  letter.  —  Ibid.,  p.  129. 

Aunt.  You  see  where  she  lives,  —  five  doors  down  the  street ;  deliver  this  letter, 
and  bring  back  an  answer,  —  quick. 

Doolittle.  In  a  jiffing;  I'll  be  back  to  rights.  —  D.  Humphreys,  The  Yankee 
in  England. 

"  Well,  Mr.  Nathaniel,  I  suppose  you  never  heard  me  tell  of  the  curious  way 
of  my  first  seeing  the  squire  ?  " 


RIG 


529 


I  said  I  had  never  heard  it.  So  she  began  to  rights,  and  told  the  whole  thingr. 
Story  of  the  Sleigh-Ride. 

The  expression  in  the  same  sense  is  used  by  Swift:  — 
Then  they  knocked  oif  some  of  the  boards  for  the  use  of  the  ship,  and  when 
they  had  got  all  they  had  a  mind  for,  let  the  hull  drop  into  the  sea,  which,  by 
reason  of  the  many  breaches  made  in  the  bottom  and  sides,  sunk  to  rights.  —  Voy- 
age to  Brohdingnag,  ch.  viii.  par.  8. 

In  a  late  edition  of  "  Gulliver's  Travels,"  edited  by  J.  F.  Walker, 
published  by  Cassell,  London,  the  expression  to  rights  is  changed  to 

outright,'^  which  is  not  correct.  If  the  vessel  sunk,  no  farther 
qualification  was  required.  The  word  outright  does  not  strengthen 
the  word.    But  "  to  rights  "  means  that  the  vessel  soon  sunk. 

2.  To  set  to  rights  is  to  put  in  good  order;  to  regulate.  — Webster, 

Right  Smart.    1.  Good-sized.  Large. 

The  provisions  were  divided  and  served  out,  each  man's  ration  consisting  of  a 
pint  of  mouldy  corn  and  a  right  smart  chunk  of  bacon.  —  Olmsted^s  Texas,  p.  301. 

2.  A  good  deal.  "  Ma,"  says  a  child,  "  shall  I  toast  right  smart 
of  this  bread ?  "    The  mother  replies,  "  I  reckon."  Southern. 

I  sold  right  smart  of  eggs  this  summer,  and  sweet  potatoes  always  fetch  a  good 
price.  — Mrs.  Stowe,  Dred,  Vol.  II.  p.  157. 

She  had  right  smart  of  life  in  her,  and  was  always  right  busy  'tending  to 
something  or  other.  —  Ibid.,  Vol.  I.  p.  209. 

It 's  a  heap  warmer  to-day,  and  I  'ra  sure  we  '11  make  right  smart  of  corn.  — 
Southern  Tales. 

3.  Very  able ;  clever.    "  A  right  smart  man."  Connecticut. 
Right  Smart  Chance.    See  Smart  Chance. 

Right  Straight.  Directly;  immediately.  Right  straight  q^"  is  a 
common  expression.  A  loving  wife  thus  says  to  her  sick  hus- 
band :  — 

Bathe  in  hot  water,  love,  your  feet, 

Crushed  ice  put  to  your  head ; 
And  then  a  mild  cathartic  take,  — 

And  go  right  straight  to  bed. 

The  expression  is  synonymous  with  the  old  English  straight  and 
straightway :  — 

I  know  thy  generous  temper  well : 
Fling  but  the  appearance  of  dishonor  on  it. 
It  straight  takes  fire,  and  mounts  into  a  blaze.  —  Addison,  Cato. 
Like  to  a  ship,  that,  having  'scaped  a  tempest. 
Is  straightway  claimed  and  boarded  with  a  prize. 

Shakspeare,  Henry  VI.,  Part  II. 

To  right  up.    To  put  to  rights,  set  in  order. 

84 


530 


RIL— RIN 


To  rile.  This  word,  says  Mr.  Worcester,  is  provincial  in  England  and 
colloquial  in  the  United  States.  The  original  spelling  and  pronun- 
ciation, roil^  is  almost,  if  not  entirely,  obsolete  in  this  country. 

1.  To  render  turbid  by  stirring  up  the  sediment. 

No  doubt  existed  in  the  minds  of  Mr.  Dobb's  fellow-boarders  that  the  well  of 
his  good  spirits  had  been  riled.  —  NeaVs  Charcoal  Sketches. 

2.  To  make  angry.  Provincial  in  England,  and  colloquial  in  the 
United  States.  —  Worcester.  In  both  countries,  it  is  now  commonly 
pronounced  and  written  rile. 

John  was  a-dry,  and  soon  cried  out,  — 

Goon  git  some  beer  we  'ool ! 
He  'd  so  to  wait,  it  made  him  i-iled, 
The  booths  were  all  shock  full. 

/.  Noakes  and  Mary  Styles. 
I  won't  say  your  country  or  my  country,  and  then  it  won't  lile  nobody.  —  Sam 
Slick  in  England. 

I  tell  you  what,  I  was  monstrous  riled  t'  other  day,  when  I  got  a  letter  from 
Crockett,  calling  me  hard  names  and  abusin'  me.  —  Major  Jones's  Courtship. 

It  riled  me  so  that  I  just  steps  up  to  him,  as  savage  as  a  meat-axe,  intending  to 
throw  him  downstairs.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature,  p.  241. 

We  begin  to  think  it 's  natur 

To  take  sarse  and  not  be  riled: 
Who 'd  expect  to  see  a  tater 

All  on  eend  at  bein'  biled.  —  The  Bit/low  Papers. 

Rily.    1.  Turbid.    2.  Excited  to  resentment;  vexed. 

The  boys  and  gals  were  laughin'  at  my  scrape  and  the  pickle  I  was  in,  that  I 
gin  to  get  7-iley.  — JRobb,  Squatter  Life,  p.  64. 

Ring.  A  clique;  a  faction;  a  combination  of  brokers,  speculators, 
politicians,  and  gamblers,  for  the  purpose  of  operating  in,  or  con- 
trolling the  market  in  stocks,  gold,  exchange,  agricultural  products, 
merchandise,  &c. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  Washington  should  be  such  a  hot-bed  of  Rings  and 
secret  speculations,  or  that  half  the  men  you  meet  there  in  society  should  be 
suspected  of  complicit}-^  in  real  estate  pools,  and  paving  swindles,  and  street- 
improvement  frauds,  and  a  score  of  other  scandalous  adventures  V  —  N.  Y.  Trib- 
une, March,  1876. 

The  scoundrels,  headed  by  W.  M.  Tweed,  who  plundered  the 
treasury  of  the  city  of  New  York  of  many  millions  of  dollars,  were 
long  known  as  "  the  Ring." 

Tweed  may  arrive  at  any  hour,  and  the  friends  of  the  old  Ring  are  in  a  twitter* 
They  believe  that  the  great  Boss  will  keep  still,  out  of  the  respect  he  has  for 
Mr.  T.  —N.  Y.  Mail,  Oct.  21,  1876. 

Mr.  W.  D.  R  is  nowhere  accounted  other  than  as  a  natural  product  of  the 

Philadelphia  Ring  in  politics,  in  all  that  Ring  implies.    John  A.  K         is  a 

smirched  member  of  the  Indian  Ring.  — Brooklyn  Eagle,  Nov.  11,  1876. 


RIN— RIP 


531 


The  people  of  Chicago  have  recently  had  brought  home  to  them  more  strikingly 
than  ever  the  low  condition  of  public  morals.  .  .  .  The  trial  of  the  Whiskey-i2'n^ 
has  been  a  startling  exhibition  of  a  monstrous  moral  deformity.  —  N.  Y.  Times^ 
May,  1876. 

To  ring  one's  own  Bell  is  the  same  as  "to  be  one's  own  trumpeter." 
Ring-Snake.    A  species  of  black  snake  that  once  infested  Southern 

New  England;  so  called  from  a  yellow  ring  around  its  neck.  Also 

called  a  racer. 
Ring-Tailed  Roarer.    See  Roarer. 

Rink.  An  artificial  body  of  water,  within  a  covered  wooden  building, 
prepared  for  skating  when  frozen.  Such  enclosures  may  now  be 
found  in  London,  New  York,  and  the  principal  cities  in  Canada.  The 
word  is  of  Scottish  origin.  Jamieson  has  Bink,  Benic,  a  course,  a 
race.  A  man  is  said  to  get  out  his  rinic,  when  he  is  sowing  his  wild 
oats.  —  Etymological  Die.  Halliwell  and  Wright  define  it  as  a  ring 
or  circle,  provincial  in  Derbyshire.  The  word  has  only  been  given 
a  place  in  Webster's  Die.  since  the  introduction  of  rinks  in  this 
country. 

To  rip.  To  tear;  to  drive.  A  common  slang  expression  is,  "  Let  her 
rip "  i.  6.  let  her  drive,  let  her  go. 

Great  Odin,  thou  storm-god ! 
Crack  on  with  our  ship: 
We  are  off  on  a  batter ; 

Hurrah,  let  her  rip.  —  Lelnnd,  Knickerhocher  Gallery. 
Another  phrase,  which  often  glides  in  music  from  the  lip, 
Is  one  of  fine  significance  and  beauty,  "  Let  her  lij).''^ 
In  the  late  panic^  we  have  kept  this  mandate  o'er  and  o'er, 
And  "  let  her  tip  "  so  frequently,  that  some  can  rij)  no  more. 

Park  Bevjamin,  Poem  on  Hard  Times. 

Some  boats  are  fast  and  others  slow, 

Stern-wheel  boats  on  the  Ohio, 

With  five  feet  scant  on  all  the  bars, 

This  boat  can  beat  the  railroad  cars. 

Now  is  the  time  for  a  bully  trip. 

So  shake  her  up,  and  let  her  rip.  —  Comic  Song. 

To  rip  out.  To  utter  with  vehemence;  to  swear;  as,  "to  rip  out  an 
oath." 

I  suppose  the  clergy  wouldn't  give  me  a  chance  for  heaven,  because  I  rip  out 
with  an  oath  every  now  and  then.  But  I  can't  help  swearing,  if  I  sliould  die  for 
it.  Tlie}' say  it 's  dreadfully  wicked ;  but  I  feel  more  Christian  when  I  let  out 
than  when  I  keep  in!  — Mrs  Stowe,  Dred,  Vol.  I.  p.  272. 

Here  I  ripped  out  something,  perhaps  rather  rash. 
Quite  innocent,  though;  but.  to  use  an  expression 
More  striking  than  classic,  it  settled  my  hash, 
And  proved  very  soon  the  last  of  our  session. 

Butler,  Nothing  to  Wear 


532 


RIP— RIV 


Mr.  Alger,  in  his  "  Life  of  Edwin  Forrest,"  says  that  actor  used 
much  profane  language,"  .  .  .  that  "  he  was  abundantly  capable 
of  a  profanity  that  was  vulgar."    But  Forrest  himself  said:  — 

When  swearing  is  necessary,  either  for  proper  empliasis  or  as  a  vent  for  pas- 
sion too  hot  and  strong,  why  I  let  it  rip  as  it  will. 

Ripper.    A  tearer,  driver.  —  Webster. 

To  rip-rap.  (From  riff-raff.)  To  make  a  foundation  of  stones  thrown 
together  without  order  in  deep  water ;  called  also  random-work  and 
pierre-perdu. 

If,  in  constructing  a  bulkhead,  it  should  be  determined  to  riji-mp  to  low-water 
mark,  there  would  be  but  a  slight  difference  in  favor  of  the  bulkhead  ;  the  cost 
for  rip-rapping^  estimating  at  three  cents  a  foot,  would  be  about  eighty  thousand 
dollars.  —  i)oc.  of  N.  Y.  Aldermen,  Nov.  9,  1848. 

Rip-Snorter,  Rip-Staver.    A  tearer,  driver;  a  dashing  fellow. 

The  following  is  the  "  Louisville  Courier  Journal's  "  report  of  a 
speech  made  at  a  recent  Indian  jollification,  near  Cheyerme,  by  one 
of  the  rip-snorters  of  the  Far  West :  — 

I 'm  your  howling  hyena  of  the  hills,  and  your  patent  old  he-hair-lifter  of  the 
per-rairies  ;  I 'm  your  rip-roaring  raccoon  of  the  mountains,  your  Sitting-Bully 
boy  with  a  glass  eye,  and  your  goul-darned  and  double-fisted  son  of  an  ingine; 
I 'm  the  high-pressure,  iron-jawed  sausage  machine  to  chaw  up  your  Crooks  and 
Terrys,  — you  heerd  my  horn. 

Rise.  The  phrase  "  and  the  rise  "  is  used  in  some  parts  of  the  South 
to  mean  "  and  more;  "  as,  "I  should  think  there  were  a  thousand 
and  the  rise,^^  i.  e.  a  thousand  and  more,  over  a  thousand. 

Rising  or  rising  of.  More  than;  upwards  of;  as,  "James  Smithson 
bequeathed  to  the  United  States  j-ising  half  a  million  of  dollars." 
"  There  were  rising  of  a  thousand  men  killed  at  the  battle  of  Buena 
Vista." 

Risky.    Dangerous;  hazardous. 

My  fi-iends  has  wondered  at  me,  said  the  Widow  Bedott,  for  continuing  single 
so  long;  but  I  always  told  them 't  was  a  very  7'esky  business  to  take  a  second 
partner.  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  144. 

River.  Mr.  Pickering  observes  that  the  Americans,  in  speaking  of 
rivers,  commonly  put  the  name  before  the  word  river ;  thus,  Con- 
necticut River,  Charles  Paver,  Merrimack  River,  Hudson  River, 
Susquehanna  River,  to  which  custom  River  St.  Lawrence  is  a  re- 
markable exception.  The  English  place  the  name  after  it,  and  say, 
the  river  Thames,  the  river  Danube,  &c. 

River-Bottoms.  The  bottom  or  alluvial  land  along  the  margin  of 
rivers.    See  Bottom  and  Bottom-Lands. 


HIV— ROB 


533 


The  alluvial  terraces  or  nver-bottoms,  as  they  are  popularly  termed,  were  the 
favorite  sites  of  these  builders  [of  the  ancient  works  in  Ohio].  The  principal 
mounds  are  found  where  these  bottoms  are  most  extended.  —  Squier  and  Davis's 
Monuments  Mississippi  Valley,  p.  6. 

River-Driver.  A  term  applied  by  lumbermen  in  Maine  to  a  man 
whose  business  it  is  to  conduct  logs  down  running  streams,  to  pre- 
vent them  from  lodging  upon  shoals  or  remaining  in  eddies. 

River-Thief.  One  of  a  class  of  thieves  in  New  York  city,  who  in 
boats  prowl  about  vessels  at  night,  and  plunder  them. 

Riz,  for  raised ;  as  "  riz  bread." 
Roach.    A  cockroach. 

Roanoke.    Indian  shell  money;  so  called  in  Virginia.    See  Feage. 
Roarer.    One  who  roars;  a  noisy  man.  —  Worcester. 

Ben  was  an  old  Mississippi  roai'er,  —  none  of  your  half  and  half,  but  just  as 
native  to  the  element  as  if  he  had  been  born  in  a  broad-horn.  —  Robb,  Squatter 
Life,  p.  64. 

This  is  sometimes  intensified  into  ring-tailed  roarer. 

And  when  he  got  a  arguing  strong, 

He  was  a  ring-tailed  roarer.  —  Western  Song. 

Roas ting-Ears.  Indian  corn  in  the  green  state  fit  for  roasting.  This 
term  is  much  used  in  the  South  and  West  for  green  corn  in  general, 
either  raw  or  cooked.  It  is  borrowed  from  the  Indian  custom  of 
roasting  the  ears  before  a  fire  or  in  the  hot  ashes,  which  however  is 
now  practised  only  out  of  doors,  as  on  picnic  occasions.  The  com- 
mon mode  of  cooking  is  by  boiling. 

The  Indians  delight  much  to  feed  on  roasting-ears,  gathered  green  and  milky 
before  it  is  grown  to  its  full  bigness,  and  roasted  before  the  fire  in  the  ear.  And, 
indeed,  this  is  a  very  sweet  and  pleasing  food.  —  Beverly's  Virginia,  1705, 
Book  III. 

Robe.  (French.)  A  dressed  skin;  applied  only  to  that  of  the  buffalo. 
A  pack  of  robes  is  ten  skins,  tied  in  a  pack,  which  is  the  manner  in 
which  they  are  brought  from  the  Far  West  to  market.  For  the 
skins  of  other  wild  animals,  we  use  the  term  skin,  as  deer-sA-m, 
beaver-5A;m,  muskrat-.s^^m,  &c.,  but  never  buffalo-skin.  The  term  is 
sometimes  corrupted  into  buffalo-r</^.    See  Buffalo. 

The  robes  of  the  buffaloes  are  worn  by  the  Indians  instead  of  blankets; 
their  skins,  when  tanned,  are  used  as  coverings  for  their  lodges,  &c.  —  Catlings 
Indians,  Vol.  I.  p.  262. 

The  large  and  roomy  sleigh  decked  with  buffalo,  black  bear,  and  Ij'nx  i'obes, 
red  bound  and  furnished  with  sham  eyes  and  ears.  —  The  Upper  Ten  Thousand, 
p.  4. 


534 


ROB— ROD 


Chased  for  his  beef,  for  his  robe,  for  the  very  pastime  of  his  death,  the  buffalo 
is  rapidly  vanishing  from  the  land.  — New  York  Post,  Letter  from  Manitoba, 
Sept.  29,  1877, 

Robert  of  Lincoln.  (See  Bobolink.)    A  pretty  poem  by  W.  C.  Bryant 

entitled  that  bird. 

Robin.    A  flannel  undershirt. 

Rock.  1.  A  stone.  In  the  Southern  and  Western  States,  and  also 
in  some  parts  of  Xew  England,  stones  of  any  size  are  absurdly 
called  rocks. 

Brother  S  came  home  in  a  mighty  bad  way,  with  a  cold  and  cough ;  so  I 

put  a  hot  rock  to  his  feet,  and  gave  him  a  bowl  of  catnip  tea,  which  put  him  in  a 
mighty  fine  sweat,  t&c.  —  Georyia  Scenes,  p.  193. 

Mr.  M  was  almost  dead  with  the  consumption,  and  had  to  carry  rocks  in 

his  pocket  to  keep  the  wind  from  blowin'  him  away.  —  Major  Jones's  Travels. 

I  see  Arch.  Cooney  walk  down  to  the  creek  bottom,  and  then  he  begin  pickin' 
up  rocks  an'  slingin'  them  at  the  dogs.  —  Mike  Hooter,  by  a  Missourian. 

2.  A  piece  of  money.    A  slang  term  peculiar  to  the  South. 

Spare  my  feelings,  Squire,  and  don't  ask  me  to  tell  any  more.  Here  I  am  in 
town  without  a  rock  in  my  pocket,  without  a  skirt  to  my  coat,  or  crown  to  my 
hat.  —  Pickings  from  the  New  Orleans  Picayune. 

To  rock.  To  throw  stones  at;  to  stone;  to  pelt.  This  ridiculous 
expression  is  derived  from  the  preceding;  yet  we  have  an  analogous 
word  in  the  old  Fr.  rocher. 

They  commenced  rocking  the  Clay  Club  House  in  June,  on  more  occasions 
than  one,  and  on  one  occasion  threw  a  rock  in  at  the  window,  hitting  Mr.  Clem 
on  the  shoulder,  &c. — Jonesborouyh  {Tenn.)  Whig. 

Rockaway.  A  light  carriage,  open  at  the  sides,  drawn  by  one  horse, 
and  capable  of  holding  from  six  to  nine  persons.  Perhaps  originally 
a  Bockaway  wagon,  from  the  seaside  place  on  Long  Island,  near 
New  York. 

Rock-Bed.  Foundation. 

His  attention  had  been  directed  to  certain  superstitions  that  prevail  in  every 
branch  of  the  Church,  and  almost  reach  the  '■'■rock-bed  of  absolute  Christianity." 
Rev.  John  Miller,  Questions  awakened  by  the  Bible. 

Rock-Cod.    A  red-colored  codfish.  Massachusetts. 

Rocker.  A  machine  resembling  a  child's  cradle,  used  by  California 
miners  for  separating  gold  dust  from  the  earth,  or  what  they  there 
call  pay-dirt.    A  mining  cradle  would  be  a  better  term  for  it. 

Rock-Fish.    See  Striped  Bass. 

Rodeo.  (Span.)  To  give  or  make  a  rodeo  is  to  collect  in  an  en- 
closure the  large  herds  of  cattle  on  stock  farms,  for  the  purpose  of 


EOK— ROO 


535 


separating  and  counting  and  marking  them.  California.  See 
Judges  of  the  Plains. 

Every  owner  of  a  stock  farm  shall  be  obliged  to  give  yearly  one  general  rodeo ; 
.  .  .  and  the  person  giving  such  general  rodeo  shall  give  notice  thereof  to  all 
owners  of  the  adjoining  farms,  at  least  four  days  before  said  rotfeos  are  made,  for 
the  purpose  of  separating,  marking,  and  branding  their  respective  cattle,  &c.  — 
L'tivs  of  California,  ch.  xcii. 

Rokeage  or  Yokeage.  Indian  corn  parched,  pulverized,  and  mixed 
with  sugar.  The  same  word  as  nocalce  (which  see) ,  with  a  different 
pronunciation,  r  and  n  being  convertible  and  equivalent. 

Rolling  Country  or  Rolling  Prairie.  The  vast  plains  or  prairies  of 
the  West,  although  preserving  a  genera]  level  in  respect  to  the 
whole  country,  are  yet  in  themselves  not  flat,  but  exhibit  a  grace- 
fully waving  surface,  swelling  and  subsiding  with  an  easy  slope  and 
a  full  rounded  outline,  equally  avoiding  the  unmeaning  horizontal 
surface  and  the  interruption  of  abrupt  or  angular  elevations.  It  is 
that  surface  which,  in  the  expressive  language  of  the  country,  is 
called  rolling,  and  which  has  been  said  to  resemble  the  long,  heavy 
swell  of  the  ocean,  when  its  waves  are  subsiding  to  rest  after  the 
agitation  of  a  storm.  Such  are  rolling  prairies.  —  Judge  Hall,  Notes 
on  the  Western  States. 

The  country  was  what  was  termed  rolling,  from  some  fancied  resemblance  to 
the  surface  of  the  ocean  when  it  is  just  undulating  with  a  long  ground  swell.  — 
Cooper,  The  Oak  Openings. 

Here  one  of  the  characteristic  scenes  of  the  Far  West  broke  upon  us.  An  im- 
mense extent  of  grassy,  undulating,  or,  as  it  is  termed,  rolling  country,  with  here 
and  there  a  clump  of  trees,  dimly  seen  in  the  distance  like  a  ship  at  sea ;  the 
landscape  deriving  sublimity  from  its  vastness  and  simplicity. — Irving' s  Tour 
on  the  Prairies,  p.  100. 

The  cabin  was  on  the  edge  of  a  bluff;  but  the  door  opened  on  a  fine  rolling 
prairie,  dotted  all  over  with  flowers,  which  in  variety  of  color  vied  with  the 
rainbow.  —  Mrs.  Robinson's  Kansas,  p.  41. 

Rolling-Roads.    So  called  in  Maryland  and  Virginia,  from  the  old 

custom  of  rolling  tobacco  to  market  in  hogsheads,  just  as  if  one 

would  drag  a  barrel  or  churn  on  the  ground,  by  attaching  thills  to 

axles  or  pivots  fastened  to  it. 
Roncher.    A  thing  enormous  of  its  kind;  a  blow  of  great  force, 

synonymous  with  "sockdolager." 
To  room.    To  occupy  a  room;  to  lodge;  as,  "  In  order  to  save  expense 

and  have  company,  I  room  with  my  friend  Brown,"  ^.  e.  occupy  the 

same  room  with  him. 
Roorback.    A  falsehood ;  a  misstatement ;  a  sensational  article  without 

truth,  published  in  the  newspapers. 


536 


ROO 


In  Maverick's  book  entitled  "  Henry  J.  Raymond  and  the  New 
York  Press  for  Thirty  Years,"  we  find  the  following  account  of  the 
origin  of  the  word. 

In  September,  1844,  a  Whig  newspaper,  "  The  Ithaca  (N.  Y.) 
Chronicle,"  received  and  printed  what  purported  to  be  an  "  extract 
from  Roorhack^s  '  Tour  through  the  Western  and  Southern  States, 
in  1836;'"  containing  a  description  of  a  camp  of  slave-drivers  on 
Duck  River,  and  a  statement  that  forty-three  of  the  unfortunate 
slaves  "  had  been  purchased  of  the  Honorable  J.  K.  Polk,  the  present 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  [and  in  1844  a  candidate 
for  the  Presidency],  the  mark  of  the  branding  iron,  with  the  initials  of 
his  name,  on  their  shoulders,  distinguishing  them  from  the  rest.^^  The 
pretended  "  extract  "  was  copied  into  the  "  Albany  Evening  Jour- 
nal," and  by  the  Whig  press  throughout  the  country.  A  few 
days  after  its  first  appearance,  the  Democrats  discovered  that  it  was, 
in  part,  taken  from  G.  W.  Featherstonhaugh's  "Tour,"  published 
in  1834,  but  that  the  name  of  "  Duck  River,"  and  the  italicised 
statement  respecting  Mr.  Polk,  had  been  intei-polated  by  the  cor- 
respondent of  the  "Chronicle."  Thereafter,  it  was  easy  to  reply 
to  every  charge  preferred  against  the  Democratic  candidate,  by 
pronouncing  it  "another  roorback.''^ 

The  manufacture  of  roorbacks  against  Mr.  Blaine,  though  active,  is  not  very 
successful  in  producing  a  merchantable  article.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  April  14,  1876. 

The  Washington  correspondent  of  the  "Providence  Journal," 
May  9,  1876,  in  speaking  of  a  sensational  despatch,  claiming  to 
involve  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in  a  disreputable  transaction, 
calls  it  another  infamous  Democratic  roorback  against  that  ofl&cer. 

It  was  a  poor  day  for  roorbacks  yesterday.  First,  Professor  Lowell  was  going 
to  vote  for  Tilden,  and  then  he  —  wasn't.  Second,  President  Grant  had  declared 
that  the  vote  of  Louisiana  ought  to  be  thrown  out,  and  then  he  —  hadn't.  Third, 
Governor  Hayes  promised  all  sorts  of  strange  things,  and  then  he  —  didn't.  These 
were  short-legged  lies,  all  of  them;  and  they  soon  got  out  of  breath.  —  N.  Y. 
Tiibune,  Dec,  1876. 

Rooster.    The  male  of  the  domestic  fowl;  the  cock.  Roost-cock. 
Devonshire,  Eng. 

As  if  the  flourish  of  the  quill  were  the  crowing  of  a  rooster.  — Neal's  Charcoal 
Sketches. 

A  huge  turkey  gobbling  in  the  road,  a  rooster  crowing  on  the  fence,  and  ducks 
quacking  in  the  ditches.  —  Margaret,  p.  187. 

The  Skinners  and  Cow  Boys  of  the  Revolution,  when  they  wrung  the  neck  of  a 
rooster,  did  not  trouble  their  heads  whether  they  crowed  for  Congress  or  King 
George.  —  Irving,  Wolf evVs, Roost,  p.  17. 


ROO— ROS 


537 


Sister  Sail  she  climbs  right  well, 

But  can't  climb  as  she  uster ; 
There  she  sits  a  pitching  corn 

At  our  old  bob-tail  rooster.  —  Comic  Song. 

Root,  Hog,  or  die, 

I  saw  South  Carolina,  the  first  in  the  cause, 

Shake  the  dirty  Yankees  till  she  broke  all  their  jaws; 

Oh!  it  don't  make  a  niff-a-stifference  to  neither  you  or  I, 

South  Carolina  give  'em  ,  boys  ;  root,  Jw(/,  or  die. 

Confederate  Song,  Fight  of  Boodles. 

I  '11  tell  you  of  a  story  that  happened  in  its  day: 

Davis  tried  to  whip  his  Uncle,  but  found  it  wouldn't  pay; 

He  tried  to  whip  his  Uncle,  and  I  '11  tell  you  the  reason  why,  — 

He  hadn't  the  courage  for  to  Boot,  Hog,  or  die. 

Song,  Jeff  Davis  and  his  Uncle. 

To  rope.  To  catch  an  animal,  as  a  buffalo,  a  horse,  &c.,  by  throwing 
the  lasso  or  lariat  over  its  head. 

Yep,  old  gal!  (said  he  to  his  mule)  keep  your  nose  open;  thar's  brown  skin 
about,  and  maybe  you  '11  get  roped  by  a  Rapaho  afore  mornin'.  — Ruxton,  Life 
in  the  Far  West. 

To  rope  in.  1.  To  take  or  sweep  in  collectively.  An  expression  much 
used  in  colloquial  language  at  the  West.  It  originated  in  a  common 
practice  of  drawing  in  hay  with  a  rope.  The  hay  is  at  first  heaped 
in  wind-rows.  A  rope,  with  a  horse  attached  to  each  end,  is  swept 
like  a  net  around  the  end  of  the  row,  which  is  thus  brought  to- 
gether, and  dragged  to  any  part  of  the  field. 

2.  To  decoy,  viz.,  into  a  mock-auction  establishment,  a  gambling- 
house,  &c. 

Roper-in.  One  "who  acts  as  a  decoy  for  a  gambling-house,  in  the 
patent-safe  game,  &c. 

Mr.  A  complained  to  the  police  that  a  young  man  at  his  hotel,  who  turned 

out  to  be  a  roper-in  of  a  gambling-house,  had  enticed  him  away,  and  by  whose 
means  he  had  lost  all  his  money.  —  Police  Report,  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Rose- Apple.  A  West  India  fruit,  possessing  a  decided  odor  of  roses. 
(Jambosa  vulgaris.)    The  tree  is  common  in  Cuba. 

Rosin-Weed.  (Silphium  laciniatum.)  A  plant,  called  also  the  Com- 
pass Plant,  because  its  leaves  are  supposed  by  the  voyageurs  to  point 
north  and  south,  and  thus  to  serve  as  a  guide  to  the  traveller  over 
the  prairies. 

Ross.  The  rough,  scaly  matter  on  the  surface  of  the  bark  of  certain 
trees.  —  Webster.  A  term  much  used  in  New  England,  as  well  as 
in  the  Middle  States.    It  is  provincial  in  England. 


538 


ROS— ROU 


Roster.  1.  In  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  a  list  of  the  officers  of 
a  division,  brigade,  regiment,  &c.,  containing,  under  several  heads, 
their  names,  rank,  corps,  place  of  abode,  &c.  These  are  called 
division  rosters^  brigade  rosters^  regimental  or  battalion  rosters. 

2.  The  word  is  frequently  used  instead  of  Register,  which  com- 
prehends a  general  list  of  all  the  officers  of  the  State,  from  the 
•  commander-in-chief  to  the  lowest  in  the  commission,  under  the 
same  appropriate  heads,  with  an  additional  column  for  noting  the 
alterations  which  take  place.  —  W.  H.  Sumner. 

Prayers,  —  hurried  toilet,  —  limited  lavations,  — 

The  rush  of  tardy  saints  to  paternoster, 

Where  worship  mingles  with  the  contemplations 

Of  doubtful  record  on  the  morning's  T'oster.  —  Holmes. 

Rote.  The  sound  of  surf  before  a  storm.  Probably  from  a  musical 
instrument  of  that  name,  the  strings  of  which  produce  a  moaning 
sound  like  that  of  the  sea. 

Rot-Gut.  Cheap  or  adulterated  whiskey.  The  same  term  is  applied 
in  England  to  bad  beer  or  wine. 

They  overwhelm  their  paunch  daily  with  a  kind  of  fiat  rot-gut;  we,  with  a 
bitter,  dreggish  small  liquor.  —  Harvey. 

Also  used  by  Addison  for  a  poor  kind  of  drink. 

Rough-and-tumble.    A  rough-and-tumble  fight  is  said  to  be  one  in 

which  all  the  laws  of  the  ring  are  discarded,  and  biting,  kicking, 

gouging,  &c.,  are  perfectly  admissible. 
Roughness.     In  Louisiana  and  other  Southern  States,  the  most 

ordinary  kinds  of  fodder  for  horses  and  cattle. 

Roughs.    Rowdies;  low  fellows. 

Just  then  one  of  the  roughs,  who  had  perched  himself  in  a  tree  just  over  the 
Mayor's  head,  leaned  down  and  said. 

Rough-Scuff.    The  lowest  people;  the  rabble. 

Round.  "  To  come  or  get  round  one,"  in  popular  language,  is  to 
gain  advantage  over  one  by  flattery  or  deception.  —  Webster. 

Round  of  the  Papers.  To  say  that  an  article  is  "going  the  rounds 
of  the  papers, meaning  that  it  is  being  copied  into  many  news- 
papers, is  called  an  Americanism  in  England. 

Round-Rimmers.  Hats  with  a  round  rim;  hence,  those  who  wear 
them.  In  the  city  of  New  York,  a  name  applied  to  a  large  class 
of  dissipated  young  men,  by  others  called  Bowery  Boys  and  Soap- 
locks. 

All  over  the  region  of  East  Bowery  is  spread  —  holding  it  in  close  subjection  — 
the  powerful  class  of  round-rimmers,  a  fraternity  of  gentlemen  who,  in  round 


ROU— ROW 


539 


crape-bound  hats,  metal-mounted  blue  coats,  tallow-smoothed  locks,  &c.,  carry 
dismay  and  terror  wherever  they  move.  —  C.  Mathews,  Puffer  HopJdns,  p.  261. 

Round-Wood.  The  mountain  ash.  Maine.  —  Thoreau's  Maine 
Woods,  p.  59. 

Rouser.  Something  very  exciting  or  very  great.  Thus  an  eloquent 
speech  or  sermon,  a  large  mass-meeting,  or  a  big  prize-ox,  is  a 
rouser. 

Roustabout.  A  rover  ready  for  something  worse.  A  laboring  man 
on  board  the  Mississippi  steamboats,  termed  in  slang  a  "  rooster." 

The  vagabonds,  the  roustabouts,  the  criminals,  and  all  the  dregs  of  society.  — 
Harper's  Weekly,  March,  1877. 

The  average  roustabout  or  "rooster"  is  a  strong  black  fellow,  who  leaves  the 
plantation  for  that  supposed  freedom  and  rollicking  life  which  this  class  take 
enjoyment  in,  while  their  wages  last.  —  Lett,  in  N.  Y.  Herald. 

As  Tom  meditated,  he  heard  one  roustabout  say  to  another,  "I  say,  Bill,  you 
know  that  fellow  that  used  to  sell  such  bully  whiskey  in  Barton  V  "  — Habberton, 
The  Barton  Experiment,  p.  109. 

Rowdy.    A  riotous,  turbulent  fellow. 

All  around  the  oyster  and  liquor  stands  was  a  throng  of  low,  shabby,  dirty 
men,  some  horse-dealers,  some  gamblers,  and  some  loafers  in  general,  but  alike 
in  their  slang  and  rowdy  aspect.  —  Upper  Ten  Thousand,  p.  239. 

The  rowdy  nomenclature  of  the  principal  cities  may  now  be 
classified  as  follows  :  — 

New  York.  —  "Dead  Rabbits,"  '*  Bowery  Boys,"  "  Forty  Thieves,"  "  Skin- 
ners," "Robin  Hood  Club,"  "Huge  Paws,"  "Short  Boys,"  "Swill  Boys," 
"  Shoulder-hitters,"  "  Killers." 

Philadelphia.  —  "Killers,"  "Schuylkill  Annihilators, "  "Moyamensing 
Hounds,"  "  Northern  Liberty  Skivers,"  and  "  Peep  of  Day  Boys." 

Baltimore.  — "Plug-Uglies,"  "Rough  Skins,"  "Double  Pumps,"  "Tigers," 
"Black  Snakes,"  "Stay  Lates,"  "Hard  Times,"  "Little  Fellows,"  "Blood 
Tubs,"  "Dips,"  "Ranters,"  "Rip-Raps,"  and  "Gladiators." 

A  convention  of  the  Baltimore  rowdies  above  mentioned,  under 
the  name  of  the  "  American  Clubs,"  was  held  in  that  city  in  Sept., 
1857,  under  the  plea  of  rallying  for  some  political  campaign;  in 
commenting  on  which,  the  "  Baltimore  Clipper,"  of  Sept.  8,  says: 
"  Should  not  every  true-hearted  American  blush  to  acknowledge 
that  any  portion  of  his  countrymen  glory  in  such  barbaiic  and 
degrading-names?  " 
Row  to  hoe.  To  have  a  long  (or  hard)  row  to  hoe  is  a  common  figu- 
rative expression,  meaning  that  one  has  a  long  or  difficult  task  to 
perform.    The  allusion  is  to  hoeing  corn  or  potatoes. 

Hosea  Biglow  has  a  ballad  on  the  Mexican  War,  in  which  he 
portrays  the  efforts  of  the  recruiting  officer  to  entice  a  young  man  to 
enlist,  who  declines  on  account  of  his  wife.    He  says :  — 


540 


ROW— RUB 


She  wants  me  for  home  consumption, 

Let  alone  the  hay  's  to  mow,  — 
If  you  're  arter  folks  o'  gumption, 

You  've  a  darned  lony  row  to  hoe.  — Biglow  Papers. 
Step-mothers  have  a  pretty  hard  row  to  hoe,  though  I  don't  complain.  — Bet$y 
Bobbet,  p.  1. 

To  row  up.  To  punish  with  words;  to  rebuke.  It  is  an  essential 
Westernism,  and  derived  from  the  practice  of  making  refractory- 
slaves  or  servants  row  up  the  heavy  keel-boats  of  early  navigation  on 
the  Western  rivers,  against  the  current,  without  being  frequently 
relieved.    It  was  thus  regarded  as  a  punishment. 

We  should  really  like,  of  all  things,  to  row  up  the  majority  of  Congress  as  it 
deserves  in  regard  to  the  practice.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Dec.  10,  1845. 

The  most  spicy  part  of  the  proceedings  in  the  Senate  was  the  rowing  up  which 
Mr.  Hannegan  gave  Mr  Ritchie  of  the  Union  newspaper.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Jan. 
30,  1846. 

To  row  up  Salt  River  is  a  common  phrase,  used  generally  to  signify 
political  defeat.  The  distance  to  which  a  party  is  rowed  up  Salt 
River  depends  entirely  upon  the  magnitude  of  the  majority  against 
its  candidates.  If  the  defeat  is  particularly  overwhelming,  the 
unsuccessful  party  is  rowed  up  to  the  very  head-waters  of  Salt  River. 
See  Salt  River. 

It  is  occasionally  used  as  nearly  synonymous  with  to  row  up,  as  in 
the  following  example,  but  this  example  is  rare :  — 

Judge  Clayton  made  a  speech  that  fairly  made  the  tumblers  hop.  He  rowed 
the  Tories  uj)  and  over  Salt  River.  —  Crockett,  Tour  down  East,  p.  46. 

Rubber.  India  rubber,  caoutchouc,  of  which  the  indigenous  name  in 
Span.  America  is  Cducho,  but  in  play  Jevea.  The  Spanish  /  pro- 
nounced as  our  h,  from  which  the  botanist  has  hevea.  In  Central 
America,  the  name  is  hule.  The  India-rubber  gatherers  in  Colum- 
bia are  called  Caucheros;  in  Central  America,  Huleros. 

Rubbers.    Overshoes  made  of  India  rubber;  also  called  Gums. 

To  rub  out.  To  obliterate;  and,  figuratively,  to  destroy,  to  kill. 
Western.    Compare  To  wipe  out. 

However  quickly  the  buffalo  disappears,  the  red-man  goes  under  more  quickly 
still,  and  the  Great  Spirit  has  ordained  that  both  shall  be  rubbed  out  from  the  face 
of  nature  at  the  same  time.  —  Ruxton,  Life  in  the  Far  West,  p.  117. 

That  nation  [the  Camanche]  is  mad  —  a  heap  mad  —  with  the  whites,  and  has 
dug  up  the  hatchet  to  rub  out  all  who  enter  his  country.  —  Ibid.,  p.  191. 

The  swift  current  [of  the  Jordan]  would  seize  us  and  send  us  off  at  a  salient 
angle  from  our  course,  as  if  it  had  been  lurking  behind  the  point  like  an  evil 
thing,  ...  as  if  for  the  purpose  of  rubbing  us  out. — Lynch,  Dead  Sea  £xp., 
p.  216. 


RUD— RUM 


641 


Rudder-Fish.  (Palinurus  perciformis.')  A  very  beautiful  fish,  abound- 
ing along  the  coast  of  the  Southern  States.  Thaxter  says  it  is 
sometimes  taken  in  nets  off  the  Isles  of  Shoals,  N.  H.  Storer  con- 
siders this  fish  to  be  the  Trachinotus  argenteus.  It  follows  vessels, 
or  keeps  near  old  casks  or  plank  that  are  floating.  —  Fishes  of 
Mass.,  p.  56. 

Ruffed  Grouse.  (Tetrao  umbellus.)  A  bird  which  extends  over  the 
whole  breadth  of  the  continent,  northward  as  far  as  the  fifty-sixth 
parallel,  and  southward  to  Texas,  and  probably  still  further.  It  is 
called  Partridge  in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  and  Pheasant  at 
the  South  and  West. 

Rugged.  Hardy,  robust,  healthy.  Colloquial  in  the  United  States. 
Worcester. 

Why,  it 's  an  unaccountable  fact  that  Mr.  Bedott  hadn't  seen  a  well  day  in 
fifteen  year,  though,  when  he  was  married,  I  shouldn't  desire  to  see  a  ruggeder 
man  than  he  was.  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  22. 

Ruination.    Subversion,  overthrow,  demolition.  —  Webster. 

Ruinatious.    A  vulgar  substitute  for  ruinous. 

The  war  was  very  ruinatious  to  our  profession  (said  the  barber).  —  Margaret, 
p.  210. 

Ruling  Elder.  Presbyterians  so  call  one  whom  they  call  in  Scotland 
an  Elder  or  a  Presbyter.  The  office  is  filled  by  a  layman.  Congrega- 
tionalists  in  New  England  had,  1820-1830,  an  officer  thus  called, 
who  was  a  clergyman,  though  he  ordinarily  did  not  preach,  his 
function  being  to  "rule"  by  counsel,  &c.  The  custom  never 
became  general. 

Rullichies.  (Dutch,  rolletje,  little  roll.)  Chopped  meat  stuffed  into 
small  bags  of  tripe,  which  are  then  cut  into  slices  and  fried.  An 
old  and  favorite  dish  among  the  descendants  of  the  Dutch  in  New 
York. 

Rum.  A  term  applied  by  total  abstainers  to  every  liquid  containing 
alcohol. 

Rum-Bud.  A  grog-blossom ;  the  popular  name  of  a  redness  occasioned 
by  the  detestable  practice  of  excessive  drinking.  Rum-buds  usually 
appear  first  on  the  nose,  and  gi-adually  extend  over  the  face.  This 
term  seems  to  have  reference  to  the  disease  technically  defined  to 
be  unsuppurative  papule,  stationary,  confluent,  red  mottled  with 
purple,  chiefly  affecting  the  face,  sometimes  produced  and  always 
aggravated  by  the  use  of  alcoholic  liquors,  by  exposure  to  heat,  &c. 
Rush. 


RUxM— RUN 


Rum-Hole.    See  Groggery. 

Rum-Mill.    A  low  tavern  or  groggery. 

Rum-Sucker.    An  habitual  drinlcer,  a  toper. 

One  of  the  best  things  that  can  be  applied  to  a  rocky  pasture  infested  with 
bushe«,  briars,  or  weeds,  is  salt.  Salt  them  every  week  while  wet  with  rain  or 
dew,  and  let  the  stock  look  to  that  source  alone  for  a  supply  of  this  luxurj',  which 
the}' run  after  with  an  acquired  appetite  as  strong  as  that  of  a.  rum-sucker. — 
N. '  T.  Tribune,  July  9,  1858. 

Run.  A  small  stream  or  rivulet.  A  word  common  in  the  Southern 
and  Western  States,  and  sometimes  heard  at  the  North. 

There  is  no  house  in  the  main  road  between  this  and  the  run ;  and  the  run  is 
so  high,  from  the  freshes,  that  you  will  not  be  able  to  lind  it.  — Davis's  Travels  in 
the  United  States  in  1797. 

*  The  hills  bordering  the  Ohio,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yellow  Creek,  contain  six 
workable  beds  of  coal,  while  there  are  at  least  two  others  which  lie  beneath  the 
bed  of  the  river.  Of  those  exposed,  the  fourth  in  the  ascending  series  contains 
the  tishes  and  reptiles  ;  it  is  known  on  YelloAV  Creek  as  the  "bigrwn,"  being 
nearly  eight  feet  in  thickness.  —  Silliman''s  Journal,  March,  1858. 

To  run.  To  cause  to  run,  in  the  various  senses  of  the  word:  to  rvn 
a  stage ;  to  run  a  factory  or  a  machine ;  to  run  a  candidate.  — 
Webster. 

The  term  is  used  in  a  more  extended  sense:  as,  to  "  run  a  hotel;  " 
to  "  run  a  church." 
To  run  or  run  upon.    To  quiz ;  to  make  a  butt  of. 

He  is  a  quiet,  good-natured,  inoffensive  sort  of  a  chap,  and  will  stand  running 
upon  as  long  as  most  men,  but  who  is  a  perfect  tiger  when  his  passions  are 
roused.  —  Southern  Sketches,  p.  137. 

To  run  a  Church.  To  have  the  charge  of  a  church,  as  its  pastor;  as, 
"  Mr.  Beecher  runs  the  Plymouth  Church."  Vulgar,  yet  sometimes 
heard  from  the  lips  of  the  clergy  themselves. 

They  [the  carpet-baggers]  took  whatever  came  within  their  reach,  intruded 
themselves  into  all  private  corporations,  assumed  the  functions  of  all  offices, 
including  the  courts  of  justice,  and  in  many  places  they  even  rtm  the  churches. 
Judge  Black  on  the  Electoral  Conspiracy,  North  Am.  Rev.,  for  July,  1877,  p.  5. 

Run  away.    Cease  troubling;  be  off. 

Runner.  A  person  whose  business  it  is  to  solicit  passengers  for 
steamboats  and  railroads.  Numbers  of  these  men  are  always  found 
about  the  wharves,  shipping,  railroad  stations,  and  hotels  of  our 
principal  cities,  trying  to  induce  travellers  or  emigrants  to  travel  by 
the  routes  they  recommend,  and  for  which  they  often  have  tickets 
for  sale. 

To  run  into  the  Ground.  To  carry  to  excess;  to  overdo  a  thing, 
and  thereby  mar  it.  Probably  a  hunter's  phrase,  to  express  the 
earthing  of  a  fox  or  other  game. 


KUN— SAB 


543 


The  proposition  to  prohibit  the  enlistment  of  foreigners  in  the  army  is  running 
Know-Nothingism  into  the  ground. — Providence  Journal. 

The  advocates  of  temperance  have  run  it  into  the  ground  by  their  extreme  meas- 
ures connected  with  the  Maine  Law.  —  N.  Y.  Herald. 

Run  of  Stones.  A  pair  of  mill-stones  is  called  a  run  of  stones  when 
in  operation  or  placed  in  a  mill.  The  Rochester  flouring-mills  have 
each  ten  or  twenty  run  of  stones. 

To  run  one's  Face.    To  make  use  of  one's  credit.    To  run  one's  face 

for  a  thing  is  to  get  it  on  tick.  /Ilok^ "-'^  ~ 

Any  man  who  can  run  his  face  for  a  card  of  pens,  a  quire  of  paper,  and  a  pair      J-^  ^'^'^  - 


of  scissors,  may  set  up  for  an  editor;  and  by  loud,  incessant  bragging,  may  ijt.  I>  st  e  -r, 


secure  a  considerable  patronage.  — N.  Y.  Tribune. 
Rush.    1.  Spirit,  energy.    "  To  go  it  with  a  rush.,  or  with  a  perfect 
rush,^^  is  to  do  a  thing  energetically,  with  spirit. 

2.  A  term  used  by  students  to  denote  a  perfect  recitation. 

It  was  purchased  by  the  man,  who  "  really  did  not  look"  at  the  lesson  on 
which  he  rushed. —  Yale  Lit.  Mag.,  Vol.  XIV.  p.  411. 

A  rush  is  a  glib  recitation,  but  to  be  a  dead  rush  it  must  be  flawless,  polished, 
and  sparkling  like  a  Koh-i-noor.  —  Brunonian,  Vol.  X.  p.  102. 

To  rush  it.    To  do  a  thing  with  spirit;  as,  "  The  old  negro  is  rushing 

it  wdth  his  fiddle." 
Rust.    Discoloration  in  mackerel,  sometimes  caused  by  leakage  of  the 

brine  in  which  they  are  packed. 
Rusty  Dab.    (Genus  Platessa.    Cuvier.)    The  popular  name  of  the 

Rusty  Flat-fish,  a  fish  found  on  the  coast  of  Massachusetts  and 

New  York  in  deep  water. 
Rye.    Short  for  Rye  Whiskey.    See  Bourbon  and  Old  Rye. 
Rye  and  Indian.    Brown  bread,  mixed  from  Indian  and  rye  meal. 

New  England.    In  New  York,  it  is  called  Boston  brown  bread. 

Vulgarly  pronounced  Rhine-Indian. 

The  table  was  still  standing,  with  ample  preparations  for  an  evening  meal,  —  a 
hot  smoking  loaf  of  rye-and-indian  bread,  and  a  great  platter  of  cold  corn  beef 
and  pork,  garnished  with  cold  potatoes,  the  sight  of  which  was  most  appetizing. 
Mrs.  Stowe,  Oldtown  Folks,  p.  199. 


Sabbaday.    Sabbath  day,  Sunday.    So  called  in  the  interior  of  New 
England. 

Newman.    You  look  better ;  I  hope  you  feel  better,  and  are  better  V 
DooUttle.    Why,  I  expect  I  do,  and  I  guess  I  be,  all  three.    I  know  I  be,  as  to 
the  first  particular,  changing  my  old  shabby  duds  for  these  new  Sabbaday 


s. 


644  SAB— SAD 


clothes,  for  a  go-to-meeting  day,  anywheres.  —  D.  Humphreys,  The  Yankee  in 
England,  p.  29. 

M}'  hearers,  there  is  nothing  irregular  in  nature ;  because  it  is  round,  as  I  told 
you  last  Sabbaday :  it  rolls  evenly  round,  and  is  bound  to  come  regularly  around. 
Dow's  Sermons,  Vol.  I.  p.  194. 

Sabbaday-Houses.  Cottages  near  a  church,  had  for  warmth,  &c., 
at  recess  of  public  worship.    Old  New  England  use. 

Sabbath-ridden.    Overworked  on  the  Sabbath. 

Some  attention  should  be  given  to  one  of  the  most  oppressed  and  Sahbath- 
riJ(/en.  of  all  classes, — ministers  of  the  Gospel.  It  seems  like  a  per|)etual  sar- 
casm to  hear  these  overworked  men  thanking  God  for  this  [day  as  being,  in 
respect  to  themselves,  a]  day  of  rest.  —  The  Independent,  June  23,  1862. 

Sacatra.  The  offspring  of  a  Negro  and  a  griffe,  which  latter  is  the 
offspring  of  a  Negro  and  mulatto.    See  Negro. 

Sachem.    (Indian.)    An  American  Indian  chief  or  prince. 

The  Sachems,  although  they  have  an  absolute  monarchy  over  the  people,  yet 
they  will  not  conclude  of  aught  that  concerns  all,  either  laws,  or  subsidies,  or 
wars,  unto  which  the  people  are  averse,  and  by  gentle  persuasion  cannot  be 
brought.  —  R.  Williams,  Key  to  the  Indian  Lamjuage  (1644). 

In  speaking  of  the  Indians  of  Virginia,  Captain  John  Smith 
says : — 

For  their  government,  every  Sachem  is  not  a  king,  but  their  great  Sachems 
have  divers  Sachems  under  their  protection,  paying  no  tribute,  and  dare  make  no 
warres  without  his  knowledge,  but  ever}'  Sachem  cares  for  the  widowes,  orphans, 
the  aged  and  maimed.  — History  of  Virginia,  1624,  Vol.  II.  p.  238. 

Sachemdom  or  Sachemship.  The  government  or  jurisdiction  of  a 
sachem. 

King  Philip's  war  was  attended  with  exciting  an  universal  rising  of  the  Indian 
tribes,  not  only  of  Narragansett  and  the  Sachemdom  of  Philip,  but  of  the  Indians 
through  New  England,  except  the  Sachemdom  of  Uncas,  at  Mohegan.  —  Stiles's 
History  of  the  Judges  of  Charles  I.,  p.  109, 

Sad.  Heavy,  applied  to  bread;  as,  "The  bread  is  very  sad,^^  i.  e. 
heavy,  or  not  well  raised. — Jamieson,  Scottish  Die.  In  Pennsyl- 
vania, the  term  is  applied  to  cake  or  bread  when  heavy. 

Saddling  the  Market,  in  Wall  Street  slang,  is  to  foist  any  particular 
stock  on  the  market. 

To  saddy.  To  bob  up  and  down ;  to  curtsy  like  a  child.  Probably 
a  child's  corruption  of  Thank  ye,  applied  to  the  curtsy  which  accom- 
panies the  phrase. 

I  am  told  that  this  word  is  in  common  use  by  children,  servants, 
and  people  of  the  uneducated  class,  in  and  about  Philadelphia, 
to  express  thanks  or  the  acknowledgment  of  a  favor.    A  child, 


SAF— SAG 


545 


receiving  a  new  toy,  will  say,  "  Saddie,^^  or  Saddy,  for  "I  thank 
you." 

It  would  do  you  good  to  see  our  boys  and  girls  dancing.  None  of  your  strad- 
dling, mincing,  sadijing ;  but  a  regular  sifter,  cut-tlie-buckle,  chicken-flutter 
set-to. —  Crockett,  Tour. 

Safe.  1.  Sure,  certain;  as,  "He's  safe  to  be  hanged." — Brockett. 
In  this  sense,  the  word  is  common  in  the  South-west. 

2.  An  iron  box,  frequently  built  into  the  wall,  and  used  by  mer- 
chants as  a  place  of  deposit  for  their  books  and  papers.  They  are 
now  generally  made  fire-proof,  and  some  of  these  are  called  "  sala- 
mander safes.^^ 

Safety  Barge.  A  passenger  boat  towed  by  a  steamboat  at  such  a  dis- 
tance from  it  as  to  avoid  all  apprehension  of  danger  to  the  passen- 
gers. These  barges  were  first  introduced  on  the  Hudson  River, 
and,  being  fitted  up  with  taste  and  luxury,  became  great  favorites 
with  travellers.    They  have  long  ceased  to  be  used. 

Sagaban.  The  root  of  the  Apios  tuberoso,  used  as  food  by  the  Indians 
of  the  North-west  and  elsewhere.  It  gives  a  name  to  Sagaponock 
and  Sagg  Pond,  Southampton,  L.  I.,  and  to  Shubenacadie  River, 
Nova  Scotia. 

Sagackhomi.  (Chip,  sagdkomin,  "berry  growing  on  the  weed  used 
for  smoking." — Baraga.)  The  leaves  of  the  Bear-berry  (Arctosta- 
pTiylos  C/ya-wm),  used  to  mix  with  tobacco,  for  smoking. — Kalm^ 
Travels.,  and  Rajinesque  {Medical  Flora,  Vol.  I.  p.  59),  both  give 
this  an  Indian  name.  Sir  J.  Richardson  explains  it  as  a  corruption 
of  sac-a-commis,  an  appellation  given  by  the  Canadian  voyagers, 
"  on  account  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  officers  carrying  it  in  bags  "  for 
smoking.  — Arctic  Searching  Exp.,  Vol.  It.  p.  303. 

Rafinesque,  in  his  second  volume,  says:  "  Sacacomi,  article  of 
trade  in  Canada,  made  by  drying  [sumack]  berries  in  ovens;  fine 
substitute  for  tobacco."  — p.  257. 

Carver  says;  "  A  weed  that  grows  near  the  great  lakes,  .  .  . 
that  '  creeps  like  a  vine  on  the  ground,'  is  used  by  the  Indians  to 
mix  with  their  tobacco,  and  is  called  by  them  Segockimac.^^  — 
Travels,  p.  30. 

Sagamore.  (Abenaki  Ind.)  The  title  of  a  chief  or  a  ruler  among 
some  of  the  American  tribes  of  Indians;  a  sachem.  — Worcester. 

The  Indians  of  every  noated  plase,  so  combined,  make  a  kind  of  petty  lordship 
and  are  commonly  united  under  one  chief  person,  who  hath  the  rule  over  all  those 
lesser  fraternities  or  companies.  In  the  places  more  eastward,  they  called  the 
chief  rulers  that  commanded  the  rest  Bashabeas;  as  in  the  more  westward  planta- 
tions they  called  them  Sagamores  and  sachems.  —  HubbartVs  Gen.  Hist,  of  New 
England. 

35 


646 


SAG— SAL 


But  will  not  Waban  pass  Namasket,  near 

Where  oft  that  wise  and  good  old  Srujamore, 
Brave  Massasoit,  spends  the  season  drear  ? 

Durfee,  Whatcheer,  Canto  II. 
If  the  young  Sagamore  is  to  be  led  to  the  stake,  the  Indians  shall  see  how  a 
man  without  a  cross  can  die !  —  Cooper,  Last  of  the  Mohicans,  p.  394. 

Sage-Brush.  (Artemisia  Ludoviciana.)  The  shruljs  known  as  grease- 
wood  and  sage-brush  cover  the  plain.  The  hills  are  naked  as  Sinai ; 
no  animals  but  a  rabbit  and  a  few  sage  hens  are  found.  —  N.  Y. 
Tribune. 

Poetry !  — just  look  round  you,  —  alkali,  rock,  and  sage  ; 
Sage-brush,  rock,  and  alkali;  ain't  it  a  pretty  page! 

Bret  Harte,  Poems,  Alkali  Station. 

Sage-Cheese.  Cheese  flavored  with  sage.  It  is  sometimes  colored 
green  with  the  juice  of  spinach-leaves. 

Sage-Hen.  (Centrocercus  urophasianus.)  A  species  of  the  Prairie- 
foiol,  but  much  larger.  Audubon  calls  it  the  "  Cock  of  the  Plains,^^ 
to  signify  his  appreciation  of  the  size  and  beauty  of  the  bird. 
Colonel  Dodge  proposes  the  name  of  Sage-grouse  as  the  most  appro- 
priate. —  Plains  of  the  Great  West,  p.  224. 

Sag-Nichts.  The  German  rendering  of  the  political  term  Know- 
Nothing,  it  being  made  on  the  principle  that  those  who  know  nothing 
had  better  saij  nothing. 

To  sail  in.    To  embark  in  any  thing  boldly  and  confidently. 

Saints.  "  The  Saints  "  is  a  title  which  the  Mormons  often  apply  to 
themselves  on  ordinary  occasions,  their  full  designation  being  "  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  the  Latter-day  Saints."  Whence  they 
are  also  often  called  Latter-day  Saints. 

But  the  most  fruitful  element  of  internal  commotion,  and  that  which  more 
immediately  led  to  the  prophet's  death,  was  the  institution  of  polygamy  as  one  of 
the  numerous  privileges  of  the  Saints.  —  Ferris,  Utah  and  the  Mormons,  p.  113. 

Sakes.  ' '  La  sakes "  "  Massy  sakes  /  "  "  Sakes  alive !  ' '  are  very  com- 
mon exclamations  among  the  venerable  matrons  of  the  interior  parts 
of  the  country.  The  first  two  expressions  are  evidently  corruptions 
of  "  For  the  Lord's  sake  !  "  "  For  mercy's  sake  !  "  But  the  last  must 
be  left  for  the  old  ladies  themselves  to  parse:  qu.  "  save  us  alive." 

La  sakes !  how  poor  she  is !  you  can  a'most  see  her  bones  come  through  her 
skin;  just  see  her  shoulder-blades;  well,  if  that  ain't  a  sight!  —  Cousin  Cicehj, 
Silver  Lake  Sketches. 

Why,  sakes  alive!  do  tell  me  if  Enos  is  as  mean  as  all  that  comes  to. — Nut- 
megville  Revisited,  N.  Y.  Com.  Adv. 

Salamander.  In  Florida  and  Georgia,  a  name  applied  to  a  species  of 
pouched  rat  (Geomys  pinetis) ,  and  also  to  the  Menopoma  Alleghanien- 


SAL 


547 


sis,  an  animal  of  disgusting  appearance,  with  a  broad,  flattened 
head,  allied  to  the  salamander  proper.  It  is  found  in  the  Ohio  and 
some  of  the  Southern  rivers. 

Salamander  Safe.    A  patent  fire-proof  iron  safe.    See  Safe. 

Saleratus.  A  bi-carbonate  of  potash,  not  always  pure,  containing  a 
greater  quantity  of  carbonic  acid  than  pearlash.  It  is  used  to  an 
injurious  extent  in  the  United  States  by  bakers  and  housekeepers 
for  mixing  with  flour,  to  evolve  the  carbonic  acid  gas  on  the  addi- 
tion of  cream  of  tartar  or  sour  milk,  in  order  to  expand  the  dough 
and  render  the  bread  light. 

Salt-Bottom.  A  plain  or  flat  piece  of  land  covered  with  saline  efflo- 
rescences.   These  places  abound  in  Western  Texas  and  N'ew  Mexico. 

To  salt  down  Stock  is  to  buy  some  particular  stock,  and  hold  it  for  a 
rise ;  to  make  a  permanent  investment. 

Salt  Grass  and  Salt  Hay.    The  grass  growing  in  salt  marshes. 

Salt  Horse.    Mess  beef,  so  known  in  the  U.  S.  Army. 

Salt-Lick.    See  Lick. 

Salt  Prairie.  In  Texas  and  New  Mexico,  the  tracts  of  salt  efflores- 
cence which  often  cover  a  wide  space.  Captain  Reid  speaks  of  some 
fifty  miles  in  length  and  breadth.  —  The  Boy  Hunters. 

Salt  River.  An  imaginary  river,  up  M'hich  defeated  politicians  and 
political  parties  are  supposed  to  be  sent  to  oblivion.  The  phrase 
"to  row  up  Salt  River"  has  its  origin  in  the  fact  that  there  is  a 
small  stream  of  that  name  in  Kentucky,  the  passage  of  which  is 
made  difficult  and  laborious  as  w^ell  by  its  tortuous  course  as  by  the 
abundance  of  shallows  and  bars.  The  real  application  of  the  phrase 
is  to  the  unhappy  wight  w^ho  has  the  task  of  propelling  the  boat  up 
the  stream;  but,  in  political  or  slang  usage,  it  is  to  those  who  are 
rowed  up.  — ./.  Inman.    See  Row  up  Salt  River. 

One  of  the  ballads  of  the  late  civil  w^ar  thus  alludes  to  the  party 
in  rebellion :  — 

They  dread  the  name  of  Liberty, 

And  Justice  makes  them  shiver  ; 
But  soon  we  '11  yank  them  on  a  plank, 

And  float  them  up  Salt  River. 

Put  away  his  empty  barrel ; 

Fold  his  Presidential  clothes; 
He  has  started  up  Scflt  River, 

Led  and  lit  by  Cronin's  nose. 

N.  Y.  Tribune,  Feb.  28,  1877. 


648 


SAL— SAM 


Salt  Water  Vegetables.    In  New  York,  a  cant  term  for  oysters  and 

clams. 

Salutatorian.  The  student  of  a  college  who  pronounces  the  salutatory 

oration  at  the  annual  Commencement.  —  Webster. 

Salutatory.  An  epithet  applied  to  the  oration  which  introduces  the 
exercises  of  the  Commencements  in  American  colleges.  —  Webster. 

Sam.  A  nickname  given,  as  referring  to  their  cant  about  Uncle  Sam, 
to  the  Know-JSTothing  or  Native  American  party.  See  the  articles 
Hindoos,  Know- Nothings,  and  Native  Americans. 

The  following  capital  parody  is  from  the  Washington  "  Evening 
Star"  of  Nov.  3,  1856:  — 

BURIAL  OF  SAM. 

Not  a  State  had  he  got,  nor  Electoral  vote, 

And  he  looked  confoundedly  flurried ; 
Then  wilted  —  dried  up  —  and  kinder  gin  eout, 

As  we  Hindoos  around  hnn  hurried. 

We  buried  him  darkly  that  Tuesday  night 

(For  we  fear'd  he 'd  not  keep  until  morning), 
By  the  struggling  moonbeams'  misty  light 

And  dark-lanterns  dimly  burning. 

No  useless  coffin  enclosed  his  breast, 

In  a  sheet  of  the  "  Organ  "  we  wound  him; 
Everlasting,  we  guess,  will  be  his  rest, 

With  so  sleepy  a  print  around  him. 

Few  and  short  were  the  prayers  we  said. 

But  we  cussed  some,  in  bitter  sorrow. 
As  we  thought  how  through  Ellis  &  Co.  we 'd  been  bled. 

And  the  bets  that  were  due  on  the  morrow. 

We  thought,  as  we  hollowed  his  oozy  bed 

In  a  culvert  that  runs  by  "  The  Willows," 
That  Sag-Nichts  and  strangers  would  tread  o'er  his  head, 

And  we  up  the  Salt  River  billows. 

Lightly  they  '11  talk  of  the  spirit  that 's  gone. 

And  o'er  his  spilt  ash-cart  upbraid  him 
With  the  bloodshed  he  caused  and  the  churches  he  burned 

Before  the  Democracy  laid  him. 

Sadly  but  promptly  we  dropped  him  down 

In  the  peculiar  field  of  his  gloiy. 
We  carved  not  a  line,  we  raised  not  a  stone ; 

For  we  knew  'twas  a  mighty  dark  story. 

Sambo.  A  term  often  applied  to  Negroes.  It  is  used  more  speci- 
fically to  mean  the  offspring  of  a  Negro  and  mulatto.  See  Mulatto 
and  Negro. 


SAM— SAN 


549 


Now,  Sambo,  darn  it !  —  Brother !  there, 

I  guess  that  oughter  please  you ; 
You  know  how  we  in  airnest  air, 

From  slavery  to  ease  you. 

Jonathan's  Appeal  to  Sambo,  Punch,  Aug.,  1862. 

No  race  has  ever  shown  such  capabilities  of  adaptation  to  varying  soil  and 
circumstances  as  the  Negro.  Alike  to  them  the  snows  of  Canada,  the  rocky  land 
of  New  England,  or  the  gorgeous  profusion  of  the  Southern  States.  Sambo  and 
Cuffey  expand  under  them  all.  — H.  Beecher  Stoioe. 

Sam  Hill.  "Like  Sam  Hill.^^  An  expression  much  used  in  New 
England  a  few  years  since. 

Samp.  (Abenaki  Ind.,  seaump,  nasaump.)  Roger  Williams  describes 
nasaump  as  "  a  kind  of  meale  pottage  unparched;  from  this  the 
English  call  their  samp,  which  is  Indian  corn,  beaten  and  boiled, 
and  eaten  hot  or  cold  with  milke  or  butter,  which  are  mercies 
beyond  the  natives'  plaine  water,  and  which  is  a  dish  exceedingly 
wholesome  for  the  English  bodies."  —  Key  to  the  Indian  Language, 
p.  33.    Samp  is  still  much  used  wherever  Indian  corn  is  raised. 

Blue  corn  is  light  of  digestion,  and  the  English  make  a  kind  of  loblolly  of  it  to 
eat  with  milk,  which  they  call  sampe  ;  they  beat  it  in  a  mortar,  and  sifte  the 
flower  out  of  it.  —  Josselyn's  New  England  Rarities,  1672. 

It  is  ordered  that  the  ti-easurer  doe  forthwith  provide  tenn  barrells  of  cranburys, 
two  hogsheads  of  special!  good  sampe,  and  three  thousand  of  codfish,  —  to  be  pre- 
sented to  his  Majesty,  as  a  present  from  this  court.  —  Massachusetts  Col.  Records, 
1677,  Vol.  V.  p.  156. 

He  slept  until  the  morning  light  was  seen 

Down  through  the  dome  to  dance  upon  his  brow ; 
Then  Waban  woke  him  to  his  simple  cheer 
Of  the  pure  fount,  nausamp,  and  savory  deer. 

Durfee,  Whatcheer,  Canto  I.  Ixxxvi. 

Sample-Room.  A  place  where  liquor  is  sold  by  the  glass ;  another 
name  for  a  "grog-shop." 

The  following  is  a  verse  from  a  comic  song  by  H.  Paul,  entitled 
"  The  World  turned  upside  down:  "  — 

Brigham  Young  was  a  bachelor,  who  wished  a  wife  to  win ; 

John  Gough  opened  a  Sample-room,  and  served  out  beer  and  gin; 

Old  Tweed  was  at  his  island  home,  dressed  in  a  suit  of  brown ; 

Ben  Butler  had  joined  the  Shakers,  — when  the  world  turned  upside  down. 

Sanotimoniouslyfied.    This  queer  word  explains  itself. 

I  recollect  an  old  sanctimoniously fied  fellow  who  made  his  Negroes  whistle 
while  they  were  picking  cherries,  for  fear  they  should  eat  some.  —  Crockett, 
Tour  down  East. 

Sand-Box.  A  primitive  sort  of  spittoon,  consisting  of  a  wooden  box 
filled  with  sand. 


650 


SAN— SAP 


Sand-Cherry.     (Cerasus  pumila.)     A  prostrate  or  reclining  shrub 
which  grows  on  the  sand-hills  in  the  West  and  North.    It  bears  a 
profusion  of  fruit,  which  is  black  when  ripe,  with  an  astringent 
taste,  about  as  large  as  the  common  cultivated  red  cherry. 
The  name  was  given  by  the  French. 

As  they  grow  only  on  the  sand,  tlie  warmth  of  which  probably  contributes  to 
bring  them  to  such  perfection,  they  are  called  by  tlie  French  Cerises  de  Sable, 
or  Sand  Cherries  "  —  Carver's  Travels,  p.  30. 

Sand-Flea  or  Beach-Flea.  (Genus  Orchestra.  Leach.)  A  small 
crustacean,  common  along  the  shores  of  Long  Island  and  other  sandy 
places,  which  digs  holes  wherein  it  conceals  itself,  and  lives  upon 
dead  animal  substances. 

Sand-Hillers.  A  class  of  people  in  Georgia  and  South  Carolina. 
They  are  said  to  be  the  descendants  of  the  poor  whites,  who,  being 
deprived  of  work  by  the  introduction  of  slave  labor,  took  refuge  in 
the  pine  woods  that  cover  the  sandy  hills  of  those  States,  where  they 
have  since  lived  in  a  miserable  condition.  A  friend  suggests  that 
the  name  comes  from  the  Sand-hill  Crane  (Grus  Canadensis),  just 

•  as  "  Cracker  "  (for  a  North  Carolinian)  and  "  Corn-cracker  "  (for  a 
Kentuckian)  comes  from  the  Corn-crake,  another  long-legged  species. 

The  sand-hiUers  are  small,  gaunt,  and  cadaverous,  and  their  skin  is  just  the 
color  of  the  sand-hills  they  live  on.  They  are  incapable  of  applying  themselves 
steadily  to  any  labor,  and  their  habits  are  very  much  like  those  of  the  old  In- 
dians. —  Olmsted's  Slave  States,  p.  507. 

The  old  divisions  of  Southern  society  still  exist.  The  aristocracy  is  discrimi- 
nated from  the  respectable  people,  the  respectable  people  from  the  working-class, 
and  all  from  the  sand-hillers.  — South  Carolina  Society,  in  Atlantic  Monthly  for 
1877,  p.  673. 

Sand-Plum.  {Prunus  maritima.)  A  Beach-plum.  A  plum  growing 
on  plum-trees  whose  habitat  is  sandy  beaches,  &c.,  as  at  Plum 
Island,  Massachusetts. 

Sang.  An  abbreviation  of  ginseng.  It  is  also  used  in  Maryland  and 
Virginia  as  a  verb.  To  go  a  sanging  is  to  be  engaged  in  gathering 
ginseng.  In  Alleghany  Co.,  Maryland,  is  Sang  Run,  near  which 
is  a  well-known  ^'-sanging  ground." 

Sang-Hoe.    The  implement  used  in  gathering  ginseng. 

Santa  Fe  Tea.  An  infusion  of  the  leaves  of  the  Alstonia  theceformis, 
used  in  New  Mexico. 

Sapote  or  Sapodilla.  A  West  India  fruit,  of  a  conical  form,  and 
with  a  dark  orange-colored  pulp,  tasting  not  unlike  the  musk- 
melon.  —  Greenwood'' s  Fruits  of  Cuba.  If  round,  of  the  size  of  a 
peach,  and  with  several  small  black  seeds,  it  is  the  Achras  Sapota, 


SAP— SAS 


551 


or  Nisherry.  If  larger  and  pointed,  with  one  large  polished  seed,  it 
is  the  Lucuma  mammosa  or  Mammee-sapota,  also  called  Bully-berry. 
The  Alammee- Apple  is  still  larger  and  round,  with  one  or  more 
large  and  very  i*ough  seeds,  and  is  the  Maiiwiea  Americana.  Such 
is  the  confusion  of  these  various  names  that  it  is  almost  impossible 
to  know  which  fruit  is  spoken  of  unless  described.  —  A.I.  Cotheal. 

Sapodilla.  The  fruit  of  the  Achias  sapota.  West  Indies.  Called  by 
the  Spaniards  Nispero. 

The  sweetest  sapjyodillas  oft  he  brought ; 
From  him,  more  sweet  ripe  snppodillas  seem'd. 

Granger,  The  Sugar  Cane  (Lond.,  1764). 

Sappy.    A  silly,  effeminate  man;  a  saphead;  which  see. 

Sapsago.  (Germ.  Schabzieger.)  A  kind  of  Swiss  cheese  of  a  green- 
ish color. 

Sapsucker.  A  small  woodpecker  (the  dentrocopus  oi  ornithologists), 
so  called  from  a  common  belief  that  it  sucks  the  sap  of  trees. 

Saratoga.  The  enormous  trunks  carried  by  fashionable  ladies  to  Sara- 
toga Springs  has  obtained  for  them  the  specific  name  of  Saratoga 
trunks  or  Saratogas.    See  the  illustration  to  Baggage- Smasher . 

The  Spanish  explorators 
To  the  land  of  alligators 
Came  with  their  Saratogas,  and  stopped  at  the  hotels  ; 
With  gay  young  belles  coquetted, 
For  "sours"  and  "coolers"  betted, 
And  chased  the  fierce  mosquito  through  orange  groves  and  dells. 
W.  F.  Brown,  The  Spaniards  in  Florida,  in  Centennial  Poem. 

Sardines.  1.  A  sailor,  sportively  so  termed,  antithetically,  for  his 
proverbial  toughness. 

We  "  Old  Whalers,"  or,  as  we  are  sometimes  termed,  "  Sardines,^''  are  not  sup- 
posed by  some  "land-crabs"  to  have  much  of  a  taste  for  the  feathery  tribe 
"done  up  brown  "  [roasted  fowls].  —  Cor.  New  Haven  Palladium. 

2.  Menhaden  prepared  in  resemblance  to  the  sardines  prepared  in 
Europe. 

Sarsaparilla.  The  name  is  applied  to  a  species  of  Aralia  and  other 
plants  used  as  substitutes  for  foreign  sarsaparilla. 

Sarves,  for  preserves.    So  pronounced  in  some  parts  of  the  West. 

We  had  hIso  [for  dinner]  custard-pies  and  maple  molasses  (usually  called 
"them  'are  molasses  "),  and  preserved  apples,  preserved  water-melon  rinds,  and 
preserved  red  peppers  and  tomatoes,  — all  termed,  for  brevity's  sake  (like  words 
in  Webster's  Dictionary),  sarves.  —  Carlton,  The  New  Purchase,  Vol.  I.  p.  183. 

Sass.    Impudence.    See  Sauce. 


552 


SAS— SAV 


Sass-Tea.    A  decoction  of  sassafras ;  sassafras-tea. 

In  the  morning,  Hoss  Allen  became  dreadful  poorly.  The  matron  of  the  house 
boiled  him  sass-tea,  which  the  old  man  said  revived  him  mightily.  — liobb,  Squat- 
ter Lifty^.  72. 

Sauce.  (Vulgarly  pronounced  sass.)  1.  Culinary  vegetables  and  roots 
eaten  with  flesh. —  Webster.  This  word  is  provincial  in  various 
parts  of  England  in  the  same  sense.  Forby  defines  it  as  "  any  sort 
of  vegetable  eaten  with  flesh-meat."  —  Norfolk  Glossary.  Garden- 
stuff  and  garden-ware  are  the  usual  terms  in  England.  See  Long 
Sauce. 

Roots,  herbs,  vine  fruits,  and  salad-flowers  —  they  dish  up  in  various  ways, 
and  find  them  very  delicious  sauce  to  their  meats,  both  roasted  and  boiled,  fresh 
and  salt.  — Beverly'' s  Hist,  of  Virginia  (Lond.,  1705). 

"  If  I  should  stay  away  to  tea,"  said  the  Widow  Bedott  to  her  children,  "  don't 
be  a  lettin'  into  the  plum  sass  and  cake  as  you  did  the  other  day." — Bedott 
Papei^s,  p.  88. 

2.  Preserved  fruits,  particularly  apples  and  cranberries,  wMcli 
are  generally  stewed,  as  apple-sauce,  cranherry-sauce. 

3.  (Pron.  sass.)    Impudence,  sauciness. 

We  begin  to  think  it 's  nater 

To  take  sarse,  an'  not  be  riled : 
Who  'd  expect  to  see  a  tater 

All  an  eend  at  bein'  biled  ? 

Lowell,  Biglow  Papers. 

Minerva,  if  you  have  over  any  of  your  sass,  I  '11  give  you  what  you  can't  buy 
at  the  stores,  though  you  be  a  grown-up  girl.  —  Ironthorpe,  p.  51. 

"I  expected  this.  Miss  Badger,"  said  Miss  Asphyxia,  "but  I 'd  have  you  to 
know  that  I  ain't  a  person  that's  goin'  to  take  sa^ace  from  no  one."  —  Mrs. 
Stowe,  Oldtown  Folks,  p.  2-37. 

To  sauce.  (Pron.  sarce  and  sass.)  To  be  impudent.  "  Don't  sass 
me,"  i.  e.  don't  be  impudent. 

The  boy  who  was  to  take  part  in  a  dramatic  entertainment  in  Detroit  sassed  his 
mother  this  forenoon,  and  got  such  a  whaling  for  it  that  he  couldn't  rescue  a 
stuffed  dog.  —  Detroit  pajier. 

Sault,  pronounced  soo.  (Old  French.)  The  rapids  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence and  those  connecting  the  Upper  Lakes  retain  the  French 
name;  as,  the  Sault  St.  Mary,  &c. 

Savage  as  a  Meat- Axe.  1.  Exceedingly  savage;  ferocious.  This 
vulgar  simile  is  often  used  in  the  Northern  and  Western  States. 

He  came  up  and  looked  at  me  right  plum  in  the  face,  as  savage  as  a  meat-axe  ; 
and  says  he,  "  Give  us  your  paw."  —  Southern  Sketches,  p.  32. 

2.  Exceedingly  hungry,  ravenous. 


SAV 


553 


"  "Why,  you  don't  eat  nothing !  "  he  exclaimed ;  "  ridin'  don't  agree  with  you,  I 
guess !  Now,  for  my  part,  it  makes  me  as  savage  as  a  meat-axe.''''  —  Mrs.  Clavers's 
Forest  Life,  Vol.  I.  p.  103. 

It  would  be  a  charity  to  give  the  pious  brother  some  such  feed  as  chicken 
fixins  and  doins,  for  he  looks  half-starved  and  as  savage  as  a  meat  axe.  —  Carl- 
toii's  New  Purchase. 

Savagerous.    Savage,  ferocious.    A  low  word.  Southern. 

Well,  Capting,  they  were  mighty  savagerous  after  liquor;  the}'  'd  been  fightin' 
the  whiskey  barrel  — Porter'' s  Tales  of  the  South-west. 

I  see  there  was  hell  in  him,  so  I  looked  at  him  sort  o'  savagerous,  and  says  I, 
"Look  here,  old  hoss,  how  can  you  have  the  face  to  talk  so  V  "  —  Southern 
Sketches. 

The  captain  felt  sorter  wolfish,  and,  lookin'  at  the  stranger  darned  savagerous, 
said,  "  Who  in  creation  are  you  ?  "  —  Traits  of  American  Humor. 

Savanna.  (W.  Ind.  savana.)  An  open  plain  or  meadow,  without 
wood. 

The  savanna  is  not  a  prairie.  It  is  a  level  tract  of  land,  often 
approaching  th6  circular  in  shape,  averaging  one  or  tw^o  feet  lower 
than  the  level  land  about  it.  It  is  supposed  to  be  the  basin  of  a 
former  lake  or  collection  of  water,  which  has  been  filled  up  by  the 
accumulation  of  soil  and  vegetable  matter.  The  savanna  is  perfectly 
level,  clothed  in  perpetual  verdure,  —  except  in  winter,  when  it  is 
covered  with  water,  —  and  abounds  in  a  great  variety  of  flowers. 
The  prairie  differs  not  from  other  land,  except  in  the  absence  of 
timber,  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  destroyed  in  a  former  era 
by  fires  or  by  the  aboriginal  inhabitants.  —  W.  Flagg,  in  the  Mag. 
of  Horticulture,  Sept.,  1854. 

In  some  places  lie  plats  of  low  and  very  rich  ground,  well  timbered;  in  others, 
large  spots  of  meadows  and  savannas,  wherein  are  hundreds  of  acres  without  any 
tree  at  all,  but  yield  reeds  and  grass  of  incredible  height.  —  Beverly'' s  Virginia, 
1705,  Book  2. 

The  island  of  San  Pio  is  curiously  diversified  with  alternate  patches  of  savan- 
nah, bush,  and  marsh,  and  offers  numerous  coverts  for  wild  animals.  —  Squier^s 
Waikna,  p.  236. 

The  fresh  savannas  of  the  »Sangamon 
Here  rise  in  gentle  swells,  and  the  long  grass 
Is  mixed  with  rustling  hazels.  —  Bryant,  The  Painted  Cup. 

To  save.  To  make  sure,  i.  e.  to  kill  game  or  an  enemy,  whether 
man  or  beast.  To  get  conveys  the  same  meaning,  both  terms  being 
used  by  the  backwoodsmen  of  the  West  and  by  hunters  generally. 

The  notorious  Judge  W  ,  of  Texas,  known  through  that  State 

as  "three-legged  Willie,"  once  said  in  a  speech  at  a  barbacue 
(after  his  political  opponent  had  been  apologizing  for  having  taken 
a  man's  life  in  a  duel) :  — 


554 


SAV— SCA 


The  gentleman  need  not  make  such  a  fuss  about  yetting  such  a  rascal:  every- 
body knows  that  I  have  shot  three,  and  two  of  tliem  I  saved. 

Savey  or  Sabby.  (Corrupted  from  the  Span,  sahe,  knov^^s.)  To 
know;  to  comprehend.  A  word  of  very  extensive  use  wherever  a 
Lingua  Franca  has  been  formed  of  the  Spanish  or  Portuguese  lan- 
guage in  Asia,  Africa,  and  America.  It  is  used  by  the  Negroes  in 
tlie  West  Indies,  and  in  some  of  the  Southern  States. 

When  I  read  these  stories,  the  Negroes  looked  delighted,  and  said:  "We  savey 
datwell,  misses."  —  CarmichaeV s  West  Indies. 

To  saw.  To  hoax;  to  play  a  joke  upon  one.  A  Western  term.  In 
the  State  of  Maine,  to  saw  means  to  scold. 

Saw-Buck.  A  frame  or  stand  of  peculiar  construction,  on  which  wood 
is  sawn  for  fuel.    See  Buck. 

Saw-Gummer.    See  Gummer. 

Saw-Log.  Logs  cut  from  trees  into  the  proper  length  for  boards, 
before  being  carried  to  the  mill  to  be  sawed. 

Saw- Whet.  The  popular  name,  in  some  of  the  Northern  States,  for 
the  Little  Owl,  or  Acadian  Owl  of  Audubon  {Ulula  Acadica).  "  It 
has  a  sharp  note  like  the  filing  of  a  saw,  and  another  like  the  tink- 
ling of  a  heW  —Nat.  Hist,  of  New  York. 

Sawyer.  This  may  be  truly  called  an  American  word ;  for  no  country 
without  a  Mississippi  and  Missouri  could  produce  a  sawyer. 

Sawyers  are  formed  by  trees,  which,  growing  on  the  banks  of  the 
river,  become  undermined  by  the  current,  and  fall  into  the  stream. 
They  are  swept  along  with  the  branches  partly  above  water,  rising 
and  falling  with  the  waves;  whence  their  name.  They  are  ex- 
tremely dangerous  to  steamboats,  which  sometimes  run  foul  of  them, 
and  are  either  disabled  or  sunk.    See  Snag. 

A  little  above  our  location,  thar  war  a  bend  in  the  stream,  which  kind  a  turned 
the  drift  t'  other  eend  up,  and  planted  them  about  the  spot  between  our  cabins, — 
snags  and  sawyers  just  thar  w^ur  dredful  plenty.  —  A  Niyht  on  the  Missouri. 

Thar  I  war,  said  Dan,  perched  upon  a  sawyer,  bobbin'  up  and  down  in  the 
water.  —  The  Americans  at  Home. 

Scab.  An  excrescence ;  a  workman  who  does  not  belong  to  a  trade- 
union. 

Scace,  Scase.    A  common  pronunciation  for  scarce^'  in  the  interior 

parts  of  New  England. 
Scads.    Money.  Western. 
To  scale.    1.  To  go,  or  make  go,  sideling. 

2.  To  ship,  ricochet,  or  cause  to  do  so.    New  England. 


SCA 


655 


Scalawag.  A  scamp;  a  scapegrace.  A  scalawag  has  been  defined  to 
be,  "  like  many  other  wags,  a  compound  of  loafer,  blackguard,  and 
scamp  " 

Dr.  Collier  has  been  showing  his  model  artists  here,  and  the  mean  scalawag 
left  without  paying  the  printer.  —  Buffalo  Conner. 

You  good-for-nothin'  young  scalaivag,  is  that  the  way  you  take  care  of  that 
poor  dear  boy,  to  let  him  fall  into  the  pond.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature. 

That  scalawag  of  a  fellow  ought  to  be  kicked  out  of  all  decent  society.  — West- 
ern Sketches. 

The  carpet-baggers  [in  South  Carolina]  have  been  severeh'  ostracised  by  the 
whites.  The  scalawags  also,  as  the  native  white  Republicans  are  styled,  have 
incurred  the  same  treatment.  —  Atlantic  Monthly,  for  .June,  1877,  p.  675. 

[The  carpet-baggers]  combining  with  a  few  scalawags  and  some  leading 
Negroes  to  serve  as  decoys  for  the  rest,  and  backed  by  the  power  of  the  general 
government,  became  the  strongest  body  of  thieves  that  ever  pillaged  a  people.  — 
Judge  Black  on  the  Electoral  Conspiracy,  North  Am.  Rev.,  for  July,  1877,  p.  5. 

Scalper.  In  the  Western  cities,  one  who  speculates  in  railway- 
tickets. 

Scalp-Lock.  A  long  tuft  of  hair  left  on  the  crown  of  the  head  by  the 
warriors  of  some  Indian  tribes. 

The  Arapahoes  do  not  shave  their  heads  as  the  Pawnees  and  Osages  do,  merely 
braiding  the  centre  or  scalp-lock,  and  decorating  it  with  a  gay  ribbon  or  feather  of 
the  war-eagle.  —  Ruxton''s  Adventures  in  the  Rocky  Afountains,  p,  237. 

The  leggins  of  some  of  these  Indians  were  ornamented  with  scalp-locks  along 
the  outer  seam,  exhibiting  a  dark  history  of  the  wearer's  prowess.  —  Mayne 
Reid,  The  Scalp-Hunters,  p.  102. 

Scaly.  Mean,  shabby.  "He's  a  scaly  fellow."  Provincial  in 
England. 

What,  don't  you  remember  old  mother  Todgers's  ?  .  .  .  A  regular  scaly  old 
shop,  warn't  it  V  —  Dickens's  Martin  Chuzzlewit,  ch.  xxviii. 

Scare  or  Skeer.  A  fright;  among  animals,  a  stampede.  A  ^'hiq 
scare  "  is  not  an  uncommon  expression  at  the  "West,    See  Stampede. 

In  the  course  of  an  hour,  Major  Howard  rode  into  camp  with  his  prisoner,  who 
was  really  half  frightened  to  death.  In  fact,  the  man  afterwards  died  on  the 
road;  and  those  who  knew  him  best  said  that  he  never  got  over  the  scare. — 
Kendall's  Santa  Fe  Expedition,  Vol.  I.  p.  130. 

Nothing  can  exceed  the  grandeur  of  the  scene  when  a  large  cavallada,  or  drove 
of  horses,  takes  a  scare.  Old.  weather-beaten,  time-worn,  and  broken-down 
steeds  —  horses  that  have  nearly  given  out  from  hard  work  and  old  age  —  will  at 
once  be  transformed  iuto  wild  and  prancing  colts.  —  Kendall's  Santa  Fe  Expedi- 
tion, Vol.  I.  p.  97. 

To  scare  up.  To  pick  up;  to  find,  A  word  adopted  from  the  fowler's 
vocabulary. 

A  great  man;  a  man  clearly  discerning  his  position,  resolved  to  control  events, 
and  not  allow  the  winds  and  tides  of  circumstance  to  shape  his  course,  —  sur- 


656 


SCA— SCH 


rounds  himself  with  men  of  the  same  clear,  energetic,  decided  character.  He 
does  not  make  the  noodles  and  nobodies  that  he  may  scare  up  anywhere  his  chief 
agents.  —  Putnam's  Magazine,  Sept.,  1853. 

Next  came  the  bag,  which  Signor  Blitz  turned  inside  out,  patted  it  in  his 
hands,  showed  it  to  the  audience,  held  it  by  every  corner,  slapped  it  against  the 
floor,  and  then  astonished  the  assemblj^  by  taking  out  of  it  a  dozen  eggs,  which 
he  allowed  would  be  a  very  useful  bag  in  a  family,  in  scaring  up  eggs  for  break- 
fast. —  The  States  (  Washington),  1857. 

Scaresome  or  Skeersome.  Frightful. 

It 's  cruel  skeersome  about  there.  —  Margaret,  p.  275. 
Scary  or  Skeery.    Easily  scared ;  timorous. 

I  got  a  little  scary  and  a  good  deal  mad.  There  was  I  perched  up  on  a  sawyer, 
bobbin'  up  and  down  in  the  water.  —  Robb,  Squatter  Life. 

Ay,  for  a  town-bred  boy  or  a  skeary  woman.  There  's  old  Esther;  she  has  no 
more  fear  of  a  red-skin  than  of  a  suckling  cub.  —  Cooper,  The  Prairie. 

Scattertationist.  Scattertationists  is  the  expressive,  but  not  very 
euphonious  word,  which  somebody  has  coined  to  designate  those 
political  quibblers  who  neutralize  their  force  by  pursuing  then* 
crotchety  views  upon  every  minor  point  and  by  co-operating  with 
nobody.  — Providence  Journal. 

Schedule.  In  the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  the  printed  "  Acts  and  Re- 
solves "  of  the  General  Assembly. 

Schnapps.  (Germ.)  Strong  liquor,  especially  gin. 

School.  (Angl.-Sax.  sceol ;  Dutch,  school.)  A  school  of  fish  is  a  mul- 
titude of  fishes.  The  Dutch  say  "  een  school  visch."  In  England, 
it  is  more  common  to  say  "  a  shoal  of  fish,"  yet  school  is  also  used 
there. 

A  grave  and  quiet  man  was  he, 

Who  loved  his  hook  and  rod ; 
So  even  ran  his  line  of  life. 

His  neighbors  thought  it  odd. 

For  science  and  for  books  he  said 

He  never  had  a  wish ; 
No  school  to  him  was  worth  a  fig, 

Except  a  school  of  fish.  —  Saxe,  The  Cold  Water  Man. 

School-Commissioner.  The  officer  whose  duty  it  is  to  have  the 
administration  and  superintendence  of  public  instruction  in  a  State. 

School-Committee.  A  committee  appointed  by  a  town  or  city  to  have 
the  entire  management  of  its  public  schools. 

School-District.  A  division  of  a  city  or  State  for  establishing  schools. 
The  State  of  New  York  is  divided  into  more  than  ten  thousand  such 
partitions  or  school  districts. 


SCH 


557 


School-Fund.  A  fund  set  apart,  the  income  of  which  is  by 
State  law  expressly  appropriated  to  the  support  of  public  instruc- 
tion. 

School-Library.  The  library  of  a  common  school.  In  the  State  of 
New  York,  a  portion  of  the  income  of  the  school-fund  is  appropri- 
ated for  common  school  libraries,  and  the  remainder  by  the  districts 
where  the  schools  are  established. 

School-Ma'am.  A  school-mistress.  This  term  is  peculiar  to  New 
England.    See  Ma'am  School. 

A  correspondent  of  a  New  York  paper,  writing  from  Washington, 
thus  complains  of  some  of  the  common  practices  in  the  House  of 
Representatives :  — 

Here  tobacco-chewing  is  national,  not  sectional.  Everybody  but  the  President 
chews.  I  went  over  to  the  ladies'  gallery ;  but  I  found  it  still  worse,  as  the  girls 
kept  up  a  continual  chatter,  and  that  on  so  high  a  key  that  I  wonder  the  Speaker 
did  not  clear  the  gallery.  The  particular  set  I  now  refer  to  were  probably  country 
schoolmarms,  who  know  a  little  of  every  thing,  and  meant  to  show  it. 

We  can  make  a  new  application  of  an  old  story,  as  the  schoolmarvi  said  when 
she  spanked  the  little  boy  with  "Robinson  Crusoe."  —  Knickerbocker  May., 
Feb.,  1857. 

I  would  I  were  a  schoolmarm, 

And  among  the  schoolmarm's  band, 
With  a  small  boy  stretched  across  my  knee. 

And  a  ruler  in  my  hand.  —  Buffalo  Express. 

School-Money.    The  money  received  from  towns  or  the  State  for 

the  support  of  common  schools. 
School  Section.    A  section  of  land  set  apart  for  the  support  of  public 

schools. 

School-Tax.  A  tax  usually  levied  upon  towns  or  districts  lor  the  sup- 
port of  its  public  or  common  schools.  This  tax  is  usually  in  addi- 
tion to  the  appropriation  by  the  State  for  the  same  object. 

Schooner.  A  tall  glass  from  which  lager  beer  is  drunk,  containing 
double  the  quantity  of  an  ordinary  tumbler. 

A  Bowery  merchant  affirms  that  the  resemblance  of  the  Brooklyn  bridge  to  a 
German's  nose  lies  in  the  fact  that  schooners  move  under  it. 

Schute  is  much  used,  1.  in  the  West  and  South  for  Chute  and  Shoot, 
which  see. 

Therefore  he  took  the  schute^  as  our  raftsmen  would  say,  and  slid  down  into 
the  Tennessee  to  confer  with  his  allies.  — Kentucky  Cor.  N.  Y.  Tiibune. 

2.  (Fr.  chute.)  A  lift-lock,  a  lift. 

It  is  generally  supposed  among  boatmen  that  their  business  is  done  for  this 
season,  the  canals,  locks,  schutes,  &c.,  being  completely  wrecked  and  destroyed. 
N.  Y.  Tribune. 


558 


SCI— SCR 


Scientist.    One  devoted  to  science. 

It  is  a  favorite  dream  with  the  fiOc\a]-scientisfs  of  a  time  when  not  only  light 
and  water,  but  heat  also,  shall  be  supplied  to  every  house  at  a  cost  far  less  than  is 
incurred  by  householders  singlv  for  these  necessities. — Pruvidence  Press,  Jan., 
1877. 

Not  being  a  scientist.,  and  not  having  much  time  at  my  disposal,  I  shall  not 
pretend  to  explain  General  Pleasanton's  ideas  [on  the  theory  of  light  through 
blue  glass].  — Lett,  from  N.  Y.  in  Chicago  Tribune,  Jan.  12,  1877. 
Scoldenore.    A  water-fowl.    So  called  on  the  coast  of  Maine. 

Some  quiet  day,  on  the  edge  of  a  southerly  wind,  boats  go  out  after  sea-fowl, 
[among  which  are]  old  wives,  called  by  the  natives  scoldenores,  with  clean  white 
caps,  or  clumsy  eider-ducks.  —  Thaxter,  Ishs  of  Shonls,  p.  109. 

To  scoot.  To  walk  fast;  to  run.  The  word  is  also  used  as  a  noun 
and  as  an  adjective.  "He  made  a  scoot,"  went  "on  a  run." 
"  Scoot  train "  is  one  that  omits  stopping  at  a  particular  station; 
an  express  train.    New  England. 

The  fellow  sat  down  on  a  hornet's  nest;  and  if  he  didn't  run  and  holler,  and 
scoot  through  the  briar  bushes,  and  tear  his  trowsers.  —  HiWs  Yankee  Stories. 

We  were  bound  to  the  South  Seas  after  sperm  whales,  but  we  were  eight 
months  gettin'  there.  The  captain  he  scooted  round  into  one  port  an'  another,  — 
down  to  Caraccas,  into  Rio,  &c.  — Atlantic  Monthly,  March,  1858. 

A  Southern  or  AVestern  man,  when  he  goes  skewtin  about,  buying  goods  in 
business  hours,  keeps  his  eye-teeth  skinned.  — Knickerbocker  Mag.,  March,  1856. 
An'  the  Cunnles,  too,  could  kiver  up  their  shappoes  with  bandanners, 
An'  send  the  Ensines  skootin^  to  the  bar-room  with  their  banners. 

Lowell,  The  Biglow  Papers. 

Scow.  (Dutch,  schomv.)  A  large,  flat-bottomed  boat,  generally  used 
as  a  ferry-boat,  or  as  a  lighter  for  loading  and  unloading  vessels 
when  they  cannot  approach  the  wharf.  On  Lake  Ontario,  they  are 
sometimes  rigged  like  a  schooner  or  sloop,  with  a  lee-board  or  slid- 
ing keel,  W'hen  they  make  tolerably  fast  sailers.  The  word  is  used 
in  Scotland.  A  mud-scow  (Dutch,  modder-sclioiiw)  is  a  vessel  of 
this  description,  used  in  New  York  for  cleaning  out  the  docks;  a 
dredging  machine. 

Scrape.  The  turpentine  gathered  from  the  face  of  the  pine.  On  old 
trees,  the  yearly  incision  is  made  high  above  the  boxes,  and  the 
sap,  in  flowing  down,  passes  over  and  adheres  to  the  previously 
scarified  surface.  It  is  thus  exposed  to  the  sun,  which  evaporates 
the  more  volatile  and  valuable  portion,  and  leaves  only  the  hard, 
which,  w^hen  manufactured,  is  mostly  rosin.  Scrape  turpentine  is 
only  about  half  as  valuable  as  dip. — J.  R.  Gilmore,  Southern 
Friends. 

Corn  and  cotton  had  made  a  handsome  profit,  but  turpentine  had  been  a  loss. 
That  is  because  your  trees  are  old,  and  now  yield  little  or  any  thing  but  scrape. 
My  Southern  Friends,  p.  131. 


SCR 


5o9 


To  scrape.       To  scrape  cotton  "  means  to  hoe  cotton.  Southern. 

Scrapple.  Equal  parts  of  buckwheat  flour  and  wheat  flour  boiled  in 
the  liquid  produced  in  making  "  Head-cheese."  and  used  as  •'  Hasty- 
Pudding  "  after  cooling. 

Scraps.    See  Cracklings. 

Scratch.  1.  No  great  scratch.  A  vulgar  though  common  phrase, 
implying  not  worth  much,  "no  great  shakes." 

There  are  a  good  many  Joneses  in  Georgia,  and  I  know  some  myself  that  ain't 
no  great  scratches.  —  3faJor  Jonts's  Courtship,  p.  136. 

2.  An  unintentional  lucky  stroke  at  billiards. 

3.  The  "  Old  Scratch.''^  The  devil.  Perhaps  from  the  Norse 
Scrattle,  a  satyr  or  faun. 

I 'm  astonished  at  your  shakin'  hands  with  that  critter.  If  he  was  a  slave,  you 
might  make  free  with  him,  but  you  can't  with  these  free  niggers;  it  turns  their 
heads,  and  makes  them  as  forred  and  sassy  as  old  Scratch  himself.  — Sam  Slick, 
Wise  Saws,  p.  63. 

4.  To  come  up  to  the  scratch.  To  come  up  to  the  mark;  to  "toe 
the  mark;"  to  begin  the  contest,  &c.  From  the  vocabulary  of 
pugilists. 

We  shall  be  there  to-morrow:  then,  if  all  our  fleet  come  up  to  the  scratch,  and 
we  go  to  work  with  our  full  force,  we  shall  see  what  we  shall  see.  — War  Cor. 
N.  Y  Tribune. 

To  scratch.  To  scratch  a  man's  name,  in  political  parlance,  is  to  strike 
it  from  the  printed  ticket  of  the  "  regular  nomination." 

We  remember,  many  years  ago,  at  one  of  our  charter  elections,  a  candidate  for 
the  office  of  alderman  had  the  tickets  bearing  his  name  printed  with  a  peculiar 
mark.  When  the  poll  was  closed,  that  particular  ticket  was  known  to  be  full 
one  hundred  ahead.  The  would-be  alderman,  in  the  gladness  of  his  heart,  in- 
vited his  friends  to  his  house,  where  he  had  spread  refreshments.  Just  as  he  was 
returning  thanks  for  his  election,  the  official  returns  were  brought  in,  from  which 
it  appeared  that,  though  all  the  other  candidates  upon  the  ticket  wore  successful, 
so  many  had  scratched  the  name  of  the  alderman  that  he  was  defeated  by  more 
than  fifty  vote.s.  —  N.  Y.  Com.  Adver'tiser. 

Scratches.    A  disease  of  horses'  heels,  called  in  England  grease. 

Scratch  Gravel.    "  Now  scratch  gravel,^^  i.  e.  be  off,  "  clear  out." 

Scratch  Ticket,  properly  scratched  ticket.  An  election  ticket  with 
one  or  more  names  of  candidates  erased.    See  Split  Ticket. 

Scrawl.  In  New  England,  a  ragged,  broken  branch  of  a  tree,  or 
other  brushwood;  brush. — Webster. 

Scrawny.  Bony,  bare-boned,  low  in  flesh,  scraggy.  A  corrupt  pro- 
nunciation of  the  word  scranny,  whicli  is  used  in  the  same  sense  in 
England.  Southern.  In  Somerset,  England,  is  the  word  scrawvUin, 
poor  and  mean.  — Wright. 


560 


SCR 


If  my  memory  serves  me,  Elder  Sniffles  Is  rather  a  tall,  scrawny  man,  with 
eyes  that  look  like  a  couple  of  peeled  onions,  and  kind  o'  squintin'  too.  —  Widow 
Bedott  Papers,  p.  103. 

All  the  spare  curses  1  accumulate  I  dedicate  to  these  white-livered,  hatchet- 
faced,  thin-blooded,  scrawny  reformers,  who  prescribe  saw-dust  puddings  and 
plank  beds,  and  brief  sleep,  and  early  walks,  and  short  commons  for  the  rising 
generation.  —  Timothy  Tilcomb''s  Letters. 

Screamer.  A  bouncing  fellow  or  girl.  This,  like  the  word  roarer,  is 
one  of  the  many  terms  transferred  from  animals  to  men  by  the 
hunters  of  the  West. 

If  he 's  a  specimen  of  the  Choctaws  that  live  in  these  parts,  they  are  screamers. 
Thorpe's  Backwoods. 

ISlsivy  is  a  screamer  of  a  girl;  I'd  rather  have  her  than  all  the  rest.  —  Mrs. 
Clavers's  Western  Clearings. 

"  Have  you  got  my  cabin  chalked  down  ?  "  he  inquired. 

"Yes,"  answered  the  artist,  "and  you  too." 

"  Good,  by  thunder!  "  said  the  squa*^ter.  "  When  you  show  me  to  them  Eng- 
lish fellers,  just  tell  'em  I 'm  a  Mississippi  screamer.  I  can  hoe  more  corn  in  a 
day  than  any  Yankee  machine  ever  invented ;  and  when  I  hit  any  thing,  from 
bullock  down  to  human  natur',  they  ginerally  think  lightnin'  is  comin'."  —  St. 
Louis  Reveille. 

The  folks  are  all  waiting  to  see  the  fast  steamer 

That's  coming  from  Albany  down  to  this  pier; 
Ah,  here  she  is  now;  you,  sir,  ain't  she  a  screamer'? 
In  New  York,  the  swiftest  boats  always  land  here. 

A  Glance  at  New  York. 

Screw.  1.  One  who  squeezes  all  he  can  out  of  those  with  whom  he 
has  any  dealings;  an  extortioner;  miser.  Colloquial  here  as  in 
England. 

2.  In  some  American  colleges,  an  excessive,  unnecessarily  minute, 
and  annoying  examination  of  a  student  by  an  instructor  is  called 
a  .screw.    The  instructor  is  often  designated  by  the  same  name.  — 

HalVs  College  Words. 

One  must  experience  the  stammering  and  stuttering,  the  unending  doubtings 
and  guessings,  to  understand  fully  the  power  of  a  mathematical  screw.  — Har- 
vard Register,  p.  378. 

The  consequence  was,  a  patient  submission  to  the  screw,  and  a  loss  of  college 
honors  and  patronage.  — A  Tour  through  College,  Boston,  1832. 

To  screw.  To  press  with  excessive  and  unnecessarily  minute  exami- 
nation. —  HalVs  College  Words. 

Who  would  let  a  tutor  knave 

Screw  him  like  a  Guinea  slave!  — Rehelliad,  p.  53. 
He  was  a  wise  man,  and  a  good  man  too, 
And  robed  himself  in  green  whene'er  he  came  to  screw. 

Our  Chronicle  of  '26. 


SCR 


561 


Screw-Bean.  (Strombocarpus  pubescens.)  A  tree  of  the  locust  family, 
found  in  Texas  and  westward.  Its  pods  are  twisted  like  a  screw. 
It  is  eaten  by  the  Indians,  being  first  ground  to  a  coarse  meal  and 
made  into  bread. 

Screw  Loose.  Something  ill-adjusted;  out  of  place;  working  ill; 
disorder;  as,  "There's  a  screw  loose  somewhere."  Also  used  in 
England.  — Hotten,  Diet,  of  Slang. 

Screws.  To  put  the  screws  on;  to  turn  the  screws.  To  press,  and 
figuratively  to  extort,  to  enforce  payment  in  money  transactions ;  to 
force  a  debtor,  by  any  compulsory  means,  to  pay.  The  allusion  is 
to  the  ancient  mode  of  torture  by  thumb-screws. 

As  soon  as  the  banks  have  put  out  a  pretty  good  line  of  call  loans,  and  the 
brokers  have  involved  themselves  deepl}'  in  fancy-stock  transactions  on  time, 
the  screws  will  be  suddenly  turned,  and  we  shall  tind  a  general  desire  to  realize 
among  those  who  are  now  so  anxious  to  buy.  —  iV.  Y.  Herald. 

The  "New  York  Times,"  Sept.  15,  1857,  in  speaking  of  a  con- 
•    traction  by  the  banks,  says:  — 

Such  iu7-7is  of  the  screics  as  we  have  had  for  the  last  three  weeks,  if  continued, 
would  bring  almost  every  mercantile  house  in  New  York  to  wreck. 

Love  strains  the  heart-strings  of  the  human  race,  and  not  unfrequently  puts 
the  screws  on  so  hard  as  to  snap  them  asunder,  and  leave  every  moral  and  physical 
instrument  as  completely  out  of  tune  as  a  corn-stalk  fiddle  in  the  hands  of  a 
plough-boy.  —  Dow's  Sermons,  Vol.  I.  p.  302. 

Screwsmen.  In  the  thieves'  vocabulary,  a  screwsman  is  a  man  who 
obtains  the  impression  of  a  lock,  makes  a  key  to  fit  it,  and  enters 
the  place  without  committing  violence. 

We  have  read  an  article  in  a  New  Orleans  contemporary,  which  describes  a 
procession  of  screwsmen,  which  are  called  "jewels,"  without  wliich  she  [New 
Orleans]  could  never  attain  to  a  leading  position.  .  .  .  We  had  hardly  expected 
to  see  a  paper  of  any  respectability  speak  in  such  laudatory  terms  of  screws- 
men. —  N.  Y,  Evening  Post. 

Scrimp  or  Skrimp.    1.  Short;  scanty.  —  Webster. 

2.  A  pinching  miser;  a  niggard;  a  close-fisted  person. — Webster. 
The  word,  in  both  senses,  is  colloquial  in  the  north  of  England 
and  in  the  United  States. 

Scrimping.    Scanty;  close;  parsimonious.    Also  used  adverbially. 

Bethier  Nobles  knows  how  every  lady  in  town  carries  on  her  kitchen  concerns, 
—  how  scrimping  they  live,  and  all  that.  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  333. 

Scrods,  Schrode.  (Dutch.)  Pieces  of  fish,  or  small  fish,  for  broiling; 
small  codfish  split  open  and  salted.  Germ.  Schrot,  a  shred.  At 
the  Isles  of  Shoals,  the  term  is  api)lied  to  partially  cured  codfish. 
Escrod.    A  small  cod  broiled;  a  scrod.  —  Webster. 

86 


562 


SCR— SCU 


That  morsel  from  Monica,  an  escrod.  —  D.  Webster. 

Peter  Gott,  in  addition  to  the  money  he  had  saved,  had  a  pile  of  nice  scrorfs, 
and  as  many  salted  fish  for  winter  as  the  family  needed.  —  The  Cape  Ann  Fish' 
erman. 

To  scrouge.  To  crowd;  to  squeeze.  A  word  provincial  in  England 
and  in  this  country.  It  is  used  in  the  Southern  States,  and  among 
children  at  the  North. 

The  ladies  were  obliged  to  stand  up  and  be  scrougecl  until  chairs  could  be 
brought.  —  Drama  in  Pokerville. 

After  hard  scrouging  each  way  some  hundred  yards,  we  came  together  and 
held  a  council.  —  Carlton,  Netv  Purchase,  Vol.  II.  p.  59. 

Them  boys  that 's  a  scrouging  each  other  will  find  plenty  of  room  this  way.  — 
Peter  Cram,  Knicherhocker  Mag. 

And  as  the  North  has  took  to  brustlin', 

At  being  scrouged  from  off  the  roost, 
I  '11  tell  ye  what  '11  save  all  tusslin', 

And  give  our  side  a  handsome  boost. 

Biglow  Papers,  p.  92. 

Scrouger.    A  bouncing  fellow  or  girl.    A  Western  vulgarism. 

Tom,  the  engineer,  was  a  roaring,  tearing,  bar  State  scrouger, —  could  chaw  up 
any  specimen  of  the  human  race,  any  quantity  of  tobacco,  and  drink  steam  with- 
out flinching.  —  Eobb,  Squatter  Life. 

Some  of  the  families  in  them  diggins  had  about  twenty  in  number;  and  the 
gals  among  them  warn't  any  of  your  pigeon  critters,  that  a  fellow  dassent  tech 
for  fear  of  spilin'  'em,  but  real  scrougers ;  any  of  'em  could  lick  a  bar  easy. — Ibid 

Congo  is  a  scrouger ;  he 's  up  a  gum,  and  no  bug-eater,  I  tell  you;  he  carries  a 
broad  row,  weeds  out  everything,  — hoes  de  corn  and  digs  de  taters.  —  Southern 
Sketches,  p.  99. 

Scrub  Oak.    The  popular  name  of  several  dwarfish  species  of  oak. 

We  left  the  buffalo  camp,  and  had  a  toilsome  and  harassing  march  of  two  hours 
over  ridges  of  hills  covered  with  a  ragged,  meagre  forest  of  scrub-oaks,  and  broken 
by  deep  gullies.  —  Irving,  Tour  on  the  Prairies,  p.  135. 

[Hosea  Biglow  said]  that  he  had  never  seen  a  sweet-water  on  a  trellis  growing 
so  fairly,  or  in  forms  so  pleasing  to  his  eye,  as  a  fox-grape  over  a  scrub-oak  in  a 
swamp.  — Lowell,  Biglow  Papers. 

Scrumptious.  1.  Particular;  fastidious.  Probably  a  corruption  of 
scrupulous.    A  vulgarism. 

I  don't  want  to  be  scrumptious,  judge ;  but  I  do  want  to  be  a  man.  — Margaret, 
p.  304. 

2.  Very  nice;  excellent. 

Scud-Grass,  vulgarly  called  Scales  Gi'ass,  is  described  by  Romans  as 
a  "  noble  grass  on  poor  land,  growing  to  the  height  of  thirty  inches 
and  upwards."    Found  in  Florida.  —  Nat.  Hist,  of  Florida,  p.  129. 


SCU— SEA 


663 


Scuff.  A  light  shoe ;  a  slipper ;  a  shoe  with  no  heel ;  a  shoe  made  with- 
out quarters,  turned  down.    New  England. 

Sculp.    A  sculpin. 

Scup.    1.  (Ahensiki  Ind.  J  scuppauog.)    A  small  fish  abounding  in  the 
waters  of  New  York  and  New  England.   In  Rhode  Island,  they  are 
called  sc^ip ;  in  New  York,  paugies  or  porgies.    See  Porgy. 
2.  (Dutch,  schop.)    A  swing.    A  New  York  word. 

To  scup.    (Dutch,  schoppen.)    To  swing.    Common  in  New  York. 

Scuppernong  Grape.  By  most  authors  this  is  believed  to  be  a  vari- 
ety of  the  Vitis  vulpina  of  Linnaeus,  or  Southern  Fox  Grape.  It  has 
characters  of  its  own,  however,  and  is  held  to  be  distinct  by  Michaux 
and  Elliot,  as  Vitis  rotundifoUa,  and  by  Rafinesque,  as  Vitis  musca- 
dina.  It  is  indigenous  on  the  Scuppernong  River  and  Lake  in 
North  Carolina,  and  yields  a  very  poor  wine. 

To  scurry.  To  scour ;  to  scud  ;  to  run  in  haste.  This  word  is  colloquial 
in  England  and  America,  and  is  a  variation  of  the  verb  skiir  of  the 
dictionaries. 

Our  friend  Kendall,  of  the  "  Picayune,"  was,  when  last  heard  from,  scurrying 
over  the  German  portions  of  the  European  continent.  —  New  York  Com.  Adv. 

Scuss,  for  scarce.    So  pronounced  by  the  backwoodsmen  of  the  West. 

The  unfortunate  traveller  urged  in  vain  [for  food  for  his  horse].  Hay  was 
scuss,  and  potatoes  were  scusser.  —  Mrs.  Clovers'' s  Western  Clearings. 

Scutum.  A  water-proof  sacque  or  cloak  worn  by  ladies  as  a  protec- 
tion from  rain. 

Speaking  of  the  opening  of  the  Centennial  Exhibition,  the  "  New 
York  Herald,"  May  11,  1876,  says:  — 

The  morning  of  the  great  day  broke  dubiously,  and  the  visitors  from  every 
part  of  the  world  began  to  fear  that  the  opening  ceremonies  would  be  performed 
under  a  scutum  of  umbrellas. 

Scythe-Whet.    The  Wilson's  thrush. 

My  walk  under  the  pines  would  lose  half  its  summer  charm,  Avere  I  to  miss  that 
shy  anchorite,  the  Wilson's  thrush,  nor  hear  in  haying-time  the  metallic  ring  of 
his  song,  that  justifies  his  rustic  name  of  scythe-whet.  — Lowell,  My  Study  Win- 
dotes,  p.  22. 

Sea-Bass.  (Centropristes  nigricans .)  A  fish  that  abounds  in  the  At- 
lantic on  banks  and  off  steep  bars  near  the  channels,  rarely  near  the 
shore.  As  an  article  of  food,  it  is  reckoned  among  the  best  of  the 
fishes  of  the  coast. 


Sea-Devil.    See  Devil- Fish 


564 


SEA 


Sea-Fencibles.  A  name  adopted,  in  1812-15,  by  volunteer  troops, 
coast-guards  composed  of  men  past  the  age  legally  required  for 
military  service.  Massachusetts. 

Sea-Island  Cotton.  A  kind  of  black  seed  cotton  celebrated  for  the 
fineness  and  length  of  its  fibre,  and  raised  only  on  the  sea  coast  and 
islands  of  Georgia,  South  Carolina,  and  Florida,  the  saline  ingre- 
dients of  the  soil  and  atmosphere  being  indispensable  elements  of 
its  growth.    Comp.  Upland  Cottoyi. 

Sea-Pike.    See  Bill-Fish. 

Sea-Robin.  (Prionotus  lineatus.)  A  small  salt-water  fish,  which  keeps 
near  or  upon  the  bottom,  using  its  pectoral  processes  as  organs  of 
progi'ession.  In  swimming  or  resting,  the  broad  pectoral  fins  are 
generally  spread  out  horizontally  to  their  fullest  extent,  presenting 
a  very  beautiful  and  striking  appearance,  and  closely  resembling  the 
wings  of  a  butterfly.  It  hence  receives  its  name  of  Flying-Fish. 
From  the  croaking  or  grunting  noise  it  makes  when  caught,  it  is 
sometimes  called  Pig-Fish. 

Sea-Side  Grape.    The  Cocoloha  uvifera,  so  called  in  the  West  Indies. 

To  seal.  In  Mormon  phraseology,  all  wives  taken  after  the  first  are 
called  spiritual  wives,  and  are  said  to  be  sealed  to  the  husband. 

If  a  man  once  married  desires  a  second  helpmate,  .  .  .  she  is 
sealed  to  him  under  the  solemn  sanction  of  the  church,  and  in  all 
respects,  in  the  same  relation  to  the  man  as  the  wife  that  was  first 
married.  —  Stansbury^s  Salt  Lake  Exp.,  p.  136. 

The  extra  wives  of  the  Mormons  are  called  by  some  of  them  "  spirituals,"  by 
others  sealed  ones,  while  our  landlady  calls  them  "fixins."  —  Ferris,  The  Mor- 
mons at  Home,  p.  114. 

People,  according  to  Mormon  technology,  are  married  for  time,  but  sealed  for 
eternity.  —  Hyde's  Mormonism,  p.  84. 

But  crowds  on  crowds,  as  was  revealed 
To  Brigham,  were  to  Brigham  sealed ; 
Until,  for  want  of  room,  'tis  said, 
A  bevy  held  each  harem  bed ! 
The  beautiful  he  sealed  to  be 

Partakers  of  his  temporal  rest ; 
"While  suppliants    for  eternitv," 

Content  to  be  hereafter  blest, 
"Were  sealed  to  be  his  "  spirit  spouses," 

And  who  —  the  unbelieving  say  — 

Lived  happier  far  with  him  than  they 
"Who  dwelt  in  his  terrestrial  houses.  —  The  Mormoniad. 

Sealer.    In  New  England,  an  officer  appointed  by  the  town  or  other 
proper  authority,  to  examine  and  try  weights  and  measures,  and  set 


SEA— SEC 


565 


a  stamp  on  such  as  are  according  to  the  standards  established  by  the 
State;  also  an  officer  who  inspects  leather,  and  stamps  such  as  is 
good.  These  are  called  sealers  of  weights  and  measures  and  sealers 
of  leather.  —  Webster. 

Sealing.  The  ceremony,  among  the  Mormons,  of  taking  a  "  spiritual 
wife. 

These  left-hand  marriages  are  called  sealings;  the  woman  is  said  to  be 
"  sealed"  to  the  man.  —  Ferris,  The  Mormons  at  Home,  p.  114. 

Searcher.  An  instrument  resembling  an  auger,  used  in  the  inspection 
of  butter,  to  ascertain  the  quality  of  that  contained  in  firkins.  New 
England. 

Season.  A  common  term  at  the  South  for  a  shower  of  rain  or  period 
of  damp  weather  suitable  for  setting  out  tobacco  and  other  plants. 

This  season  has  come  up  mighty  sudden.  I  shouldn't  wonder  if  it  rained  all 
night.  —  Ida  May. 

The  Carolinian  never  has  a  thunder  shower,  at  least  he  knows  nothing  by  that 
name.  He  will  tell  you  his  crop  is  "sorry,"  because  it  has  had  but  few  seasons, 
.  .  .  and  you  soon  learn  that  by  season  he  means  a  shower.  But  he  has  no 
thunder  seasons.  When  rain  is  accompanied  with  thunder  and  lightning,  it  is  a 
season  still.  But  he  has  no  thunder  seasons,  they  are  "  thunder  gusts."  —  Cor.  of 
Providence  Journal. 

Seawan  or  Sewant.  An  Algonkin  Indian  word.  The  beads  used 
by  the  Indians  for  money.  The  word  signifies  "  i'oose  "  or  "  wn- 
s/rwn^r."  These  beads  passed  by  count,  the  white  (ivampum)  at  half 
the  value  of  the  black  or  purple  (suckanhock)  ;  six  of  the  former 
and  three  of  the  latter  passing  for  an  English  penny.  Seawan 
therefore  is  not  the  same  as  wampum,  although  many  writers  use 
the  two  terms  indiscriminately.  See  Sewan.  In  a  note  on  the 
word,  Mr.  Irving  says :  — 

The  seatcant  depreciates  from  time  to  time.  The  New  England  people  make 
use  of  it  as  a  means  of  barter.  .  .  .  The  commissioners  remain  overstocked  with 
seawant,  a  sort  of  currency  of  no  value  except  with  the  New  Netherland 
savages. — Irving,  Knickerbocker,  p.  233. 

The  speaking  now  ceased,  and  they  gave  each  of  us  ten  fathoms  of  seewan, 
which  is  their  money,  each  fathom  being  worth  four  guilders.  —  Be  Vnes,  New 
Netherlands,  1656. 

A  quantity  of  Dutch  commodities  was  purchased  on  this  occasion  by  the  New 
Plymouth  people;  especially  seawan  or  wampum,  which  the  English  found  to  be 
afterwards  very  beneficial  in  their  trade  with  the  natives.  — 0' Callaghan,  Hist, 
of  New  Netherlands,  p.  108. 

Secesh,  Secesher.  A  common  term  applied  to  secessionists.  The 
following  verse  is  from  a  fugitive  poem  on  the  Union,  after  the 
manner  of  Emerson's  "Brahma:"  — 


666 


SEC 


Infissiparous  symbol  of  politic  etern, 

Securing  Uncle  Sam  what 's  his  'n  and  every  State  what 's  her 'n, 
Of  strength  redintegrative,  of  pulchritude  e'er  fresh, 
Secesh  were  not  without  thee,  and  without  thee  no  secesh  ! 

Schoolin's  what  they  can't  seem  to  stan',  they  're  too  consarned  high-pressure, 
An'  knowin' t'  much  might  spile  a  boy  for  bein'  a  Seceaher. 

Lowell,  The  B'kjIow  Papers. 

To  secesh,  secession.    To  secede;  to  revolt;  to  rebel. 

A  correspondent  of  the  "  Y.  Tribune,"  June  7,  1862,  writing 
from  near  Fort  Pillow,  said :  — 

The  people  [of  Arkansas,]  have  no  confidence  in  their  leaders ;  and  the  message 
of  Governor  Rector,  advising  them  to  secesh  from  Secessia,  has  distracted  and 
bewildered  them. 

A  secesh  soldier  took  my  hand, 

"Come  fight  wid  us,"  says  he; 
Says  I,  "  I 'm  but  a  contraband. 

But  you  don't  secession  we." 

Song,  The  Intelligent  Contraband. 

Seceshdom.  The  Confederate  States;  the  States  which  attempted  to 
secede  from  the  United  States  in  1861. 

Private  advices  from  Seceshdom  speak  of  the  election  which  succeeded  the  first 
excitement.  —  Cor.  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Secessia.    The  Confederate  States. 

If  you  '11  let  us  go  to  our  Yankee  home. 
We  '11  swear  no  more  in  Secessia  to  roam. 

Song,  The  Marylander  at  Manassas. 

Secessiondom.    Like  the  foregoing,  the  Confederate  States. 

Secessionists.  The  party  in  the  South  in  favor  of  seceding  from  the 
Union. 

Secessionizer.    One  who  favors  secession  or  secessionists. 

.  .  .  The  disgraceful  extinguishing  of  the  noisy  secessionist  Gregory  in  the 
[English]  House  of  Commons.  Gregory's  motion  that  the  English  ministry  be 
requested  to  lay  before  Parliament  the  correspondence  was  negatived  .  .  .  with- 
out a  division;  i.  e.,  the  votes  were  not  counted  to  save  the  feelings  of  the  seces- 
sionizers.  —  The  Independent,  March  27,  1862. 

Second-Day  Wedding.  A  reception  or  evening  party  given  by  the 
parents  of  the  bridegroom,  or  by  the  new-married  couple  in  their 
own  house,  soon  after  their  marriage.  The  festivities  of  the 
"second-day  wedding"  often  surpassed  the  first.  Miss  Caulkins 
(Hist,  of  Neiv  London,  p.  408)  notices  two  entertainments  of  this 
kind  (though  she  does  not  give  them  their  name),  in  1732  and  1735. 
Judd,  Hist,  of  Hadley,  p.  246,  mistook  the  meaning  of  the  name. 
He  mentions  "  second-day  weddings,  or  wedding  festivities  kept  up 


SEC — SEE 


567 


the  second  day.''''  The  entertainment  was  never  given  until  the  new 
couple  had  taken  possession  of  their  home. 

Section.  1.  A  distinct  part  of  a  city,  town,  country,  or  people;  a 
part  of  a  territory  separated  by  geographical  lines  or  of  a  people 
considered  as  distinct.  Thus  we  say,  the  Northern  and  Eastern 
section  of  the  United  States,  the  Middle  section^  the  Southern  or 
Western  section.  —  Webster. 

2.  The  newly  surveyed  government  lands  at  the  West  are  laid  out 
or  divided  into  squares  of  six  hundred  and  forty  acres,  which  are 
called  sections.  These  are  again  divided  into  four  parts  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  each,  called  quarter-sections. 

Sectional.  Relating  to  a  section,  having  regard  to  the  interests  of  a 
section;  i.  e.,  a  division  or  part  of  the  country,  as  the  North,  South, 
East,  or  West.  The  word  is  often  thus  used  by  political  speakers 
and  writers  in  contradistinction  to  national^  which  see. 

All  sectional  interests,  or  party  feelings,  it  is  hoped,  will  hereafter  yield  to 
schemes  of  ambition.  —  Judge  Story. 

To  that  central  attraction  I  have  been  delighted  to  find  the  thoughts,  the  affec- 
tions, the  memories  of  the  people,  in  whatever  part  of  the  country  —  from  the 
ocean  to  the  prairies  of  the  "West,  from  the  land  of  granite  and  ice  to  the  land  of 
the  palmetto  and  the  magnolia  —  instinctively  turn.  They  have  their  sec^z'onai 
loves  and  hatreds,  but  before  the  dear  name  of  Washington  they  are  absorbed 
and  forgotten.  —  Speech  of  Hon.  E.  Everett,  July  5,  1858. 

Mr.  Miles,  of  South  Carolina,  said  he  was  that  bugbear,  a  sectional  man.  He 
represented  in  part  the  South,  which,  being  the  weaker  party,  hM  to  unite  in 
order  to  protect  herself,  and  was  therefore  sectional.  —  Debate  in  H.  of  Reps.^ 
Jan.  26,  1859. 

Sectionalism.  The  having  regard  to  the  interests  of  a  section  of  the 
country  rather  than  of  the  nation  at  large. 

On  the  5th  of  July,  1858,  the  patriotism  and  intellect  of  Massachusetts  were 
represented  in  a  striking  contrast  with  the  littleness  and  sectionalism  which  now 
rule  the  old  Bay  State.  —  Newark  Journal,  July,  1858. 

To  sectionize.  To  divide  or  lay  off  into  sections,  especially  the  public 
lauds,  which  is  done  before  they  are  offered  for  sale.  Western. 

So  much  of  the  vacant  lands  of  the  republic  shall  be  surveyed  and  sectionized, 
as  will  be  sufficient  to  satisfy  all  claims.  —  Laws  of  Texas,  Nov.,  1828. 

Seed,  for  saw. 

Seeding.  A  common  term  in  New  England  for  sowing;  seed  applied 
by  sowing,  as  of  grass. 

Seed-Tick.  A  minute  species  of  Acarus,  which  burrows  in  the  skin 
and  produces  an  intolerable  itching.  Some  consider  it  to  be  the 
young  of  the  dog  or  sheep  tick. 


568 


SEE 


Seem.  "  iS'cem  to  think."  "  I  can't  seem  to  be  suited."  "Icouldn't 
seem  to  know  him."  Peculiar  expressions,  often  heard  from  the  lips 
of  educated  men. 

Seen,  for  saw.  Ex. :  "I  seen  him  do  it."  This  corruption  is  common 
in  various  parts  of  the  country. 

Peter  Cram's  fits  is  awful,  and  go  ahead  of  any  thing  we  ever  seen.  —  Knicker- 
bocker Mag.,  Vol.  XVII. 

She  is  more  moral  than  a  preacher. 

More  dignifieder  than  a  queen  ; 
No  mockin'-bird  can  ever  reach  her, 

In  singiu',  that  I  ever  seen.  —  Evening  Post. 

To  seep.  To  run  through  fine  pores  or  interstices,  as  the  juice  of 
fruits  strained  through  a  sieve  or  cloth. 

Seepy.  Seepy  land  is  land  under  cultivation  that  is  not  well  drained. 
Maryland  and  Virginia. 

To  see  the  Elephant  is  a  South-western  phrase,  and  means,  generally, 
to  undergo  any  disappointment  of  high-raised  expectations.  It  is 
in  fact  nearly  or  quite  synonymous  with  the  ancient  phrase,  "  go 
out  for  wool,  and  come  back  shorn."  For  instance,  men  who  volun- 
teered for  the  Mexican  war,  expecting  to  reap  lots  of  glory  and  en- 
joyment, but  who  instead  found  only  sickness,  fatigue,  privations, 
and  suffering,  were  said  to  have  "seen  the  elephant.''^  Afterwards, 
those  who  went  to  California  with  golden  expectations,  and  returned 
disappointed,  were  said  to  have  '''•seen  the  elephant.''^  The  poor 
creatures  who  were  induced  to  share  the  fortunes  of  the  filibuster 
W^alker  had  an  opportunity  of  viewing  a  quadruped  of  the  largest 
stature. 

Mr.  Kendall,  in  his  "  Narrative  of  the  Texan  Santa  Fe  Expedi- 
tion," tells  some  amusing  anecdotes  of  "  seeing  the  elephant and  is 
the  earliest  writer  who  mentions  the  expression,  which  he  adds  is 
very  common  in  Texas,  and  which  he  had  never  heard  until  he 
entered  the  Cross  Timbers.    This  was  in  the  year  1841. 

The  meaning  of  the  expression  I  will  explain.  When  a  man  is  disappointed 
in  any  thing  he  undertakes,  when  he  has  seen  enough,  when  he  gets  tired  and 
sick  of  any  job  he  may  have  set  himself  about,  he  has  "seen  the  elej^hant.^^  We 
had  been  buffeting  about  during  the  day,  cutting  away  trees,  crossing  deep 
ravines  and  gullies,  and  turning  and  twisting  some  fifteen  or  twentv  miles  to  gain 
five,  —  we  had  finally  to  encamp  by  a  mud-hole  of  miserable  Avater,  and  the  spies 
had  been  unable  to  find  any  beyond.  This  combination  of  ills  induced  the  old 
hunter  to  remark,  "  I 've  seen  the  elephant ;  "  and  upon  the  same  principle  I  will 
here  state  that  by  this  time  I  had  obtained  something  more  than  a  glimps<»  of  the 
animal  myself.  — Vol.  I.  p.  109. 


SEG— SEL 


569 


A  man  brought  before  the  Recorder  of  New  Orleans,  charged 
with  having  been  found  drunk  the  previous  night,  after  appealing 
to  the  court,  closed  with  the  following  remarks:  — 

*'  Spare  my  feelings,  Squire,  and  don't  ask  me  to  tell  any  more.  Here  I  am  in 
town  without  a  rock  in  my  pocket,  without  a  skirt  to  my  coat  or  crown  to  my 
hat;  but.  Squire,  I'll  say  no  more,  /'re  seen  the  elephant.''^  The  Recorder  let 
him  off  on  condition  that  he  would  leave  town.  — Pickings  from  the  Picayune. 

Although  the  merchants  from  the  South  and  West  may  buy  goods  in  Philadel- 
phia, all  tind  their  way  to  New  York  to  spend  their  pocket-money,  buy  brass 
watches  at  the  mock-auctions,  and  see  the  elephant  generally.  —  Phil.  Cor.  of 
N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Sego.  A  bulbous  root  (of  Calochortees  luteus,  Nuttall)  much  esteemed 
by  the  Indians  of  Utah  as  food.  It  varies  in  size  from  that  of  a 
pea  to  that  of  a  filbert.  —  Torrey. 

Segos  are  here  very  abundant,  and  of  a  large  size,  and  are  found  in  every  tuft 
of  bunch-grass.  —  Stansbury,  Exp.  to  Salt  Lake,  p.  169. 

Seigneurs.  Owners  of  the  domain  in  the  feudal  or  French  townships 
of  the  Province  of  Quebec.    (Always  given  as  a  French  word.) 

Seigniories.  The  feudal  or  French  townships  of  the  Province  of 
Quebec.    See  Township. 

Selectman.  A  magistrate  annually  elected  by  the  freemen  of  a  town 
or  township  in  New  England,  to  superintend  and  manage  the  affairs 
and  government  of  the  town.  The  number  is  commonly  from  three 
to  five.  —  Woi'cester.  The  term  was  originally  select-townsmen,  — 
whence  both  selectman  and  townsman,  as  purporting  town-officer, 
seem  to  have  come.  Dec.  16,  1645.  —  Drake^s  Hist,  of  Boston^ 
p.  291. 

Sell.    A  practical  joke.    See  Sold. 

It  was  a  wicked  Freshman, 

With  hairless  lip  and  chin. 
Who  ever  took  delight  in  sells 

And  taking  people  in.  —  Harvard  Lampoon. 

Seller's  Option.  This  gives  the  seller  the  option  to  deliver  any  time 
within  the  time  of  his  contract,  or  at  its  maturity,  and  the  buyer  is 
required  to  take  it  when  offered.  The  buyer  pays  interest  up  to 
delivery.  Sales  at  sellerh  option  are  generally  a  fraction  below 
the  current  cash  price.  The  speculator  who  sells  stocks  on  his  own 
or  the  buyer's  option  draws  interest  on  his  contract  for  the  date  until 
it  closed. 

To  sell  out  a  Man,  in  AVall  Street  parlance,  is  to  sell  down  a  stock, 
which  another  is  carrying,  so  low  that  he  is  compelled  to  quit  his 


570 


SEM— SER 


hold  and  perhaps  to  fail.  —  Medbery,  Men  and  Mysteries  of  Wall 
Street. 

Semi-occasionally.    A  cant  phrase,  meaning  once  in  a  while. 

I  went  to  the  American  Legation,  and  got  my  friend  Kane,  the  attach^,  to  call 
with  me  upon  Jack  Cathcart,  who  was  supposed  to  be  diligently  employed  in 
making  himself  a  scientific  physician,  but,  in  point  of  fact,  walking  the  hospital 
but  semi-occasionally,  and  seeing  life  in  Paris  very  constantly,  especially  that 
part  of  it  which  is  to  be  seen  by  gas  or  lamp-light.  — Putnavi's  Monthly,  May, 
1854. 

Chewing  tobacco  not  only  infuses  a  deadly  poison  into  your  blood,  but  leads 
you  on  to  an  inclination  for  occasional  dissipation,  and  from  that  to  semi-occa- 
sional intoxication.  —  Dow's  Sermons,  Vol.  III.  p.  90. 

A  writer  in  "  Scribner's  Magazine,"  Feb.,  1876,  in  speaking  of 
book-cases,  says:  — 

The  shelves  being  a  foot  deep,  books  or  pamphlets  that  are  only  wanted  semi- 
occasionally  can  be  arranged  behind  other  books.  —  p.  488. 

Senate.  In  the  United  States,  senate  denotes  the  higher  branch  or 
house  of  a  legislature.  Such  is  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  or 
upper  house  of  the  Congress;  and,  in  most  of  the  States,  the  higher 
and  least  numerous  branch  of  the  legislature  is  called  the  Senat-e. 
In  the  United  States,  the  Senate  is  an  elective  body.  —  Webster. 

Sence,  for  since.    Common  among  the  uneducated. 

Ere  Adam's  fall. 
He  built  stone  wall; 
But  ever  sence 

He  make  brush  fence.  —  Old  Virginia  Song. 
Sensationism.   The  art,  practice,  means,  and  results  of  sensationists. 

How  vastly  it  ["true  Wisdom  "]  looms  up  over  the  nervous  excitability  and 
cheap  sensationism  of  the  day !  —  The  Independent,  Sept.  6,  1860. 

Sensationist.  One  who  makes  "sensations;"  a  sensation  preacher, 
orator,  &c. 

Sensations.    Sensational;  having  design  to  produce  sensation. 

I  desire  to  caution  the  Northern  public  against  being  misled  by  reports  con- 
cerning the  movements  and  purposes  of  the  enemy,  put  forth  on  insufficient 
authority,  but  fortunately  of  a  character  so  purely  sensations  as  to  be  readily  de- 
tected.—  Fo7't  Monroe,  Cor.  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

To  sense.  To  comprehend;  as,  "  Do  you  sense  that?  "  New  Eng- 
land. 

Serape.  (Span.)  A  Mexican  blanket,  with  an  opening  in  the  mid- 
dle for  the  head.  They  are  woven  by  hand,  of  gay  colors,  and  are 
only  worn  by  the  men  in  cool  weather,  instead  of  an  overcoat. 


SER— SET 


571 


The  Indians  were  mounted  on  mules,  wrapped  in  serapes,  or  Mexican  blankets, 
and  wore  head-dresses,  beads,  and  other  Indian  ornaments.  —  Captain  Whipjjle's 
Explorations,  p.  34. 

We  wrapped  ourselves  in  blankets  or  overcoats,  while  our  escort,  who  put  on 
their  gaudy  serflj9(^s,  made  a  very  picturesque  appearance. — BarthtVs  Personal 
Narrative,  Vol.  II.  p.  500. 

I  now  turned  my  back  on  the  last  settlement,  .  .  .  and  knew  that  I  had  seen 
the  last  of  civilized  man  under  the  garb  of  a  Mexican  serape.  —  Ruxton's  Adven- 
tures, p.  207. 

Serious.  Particularly  attentive  to  religious  concerns  or  one's  own 
religious  state.  —  Webster. 

Seiious  has  [in  New  England]  the  cant  acceptation  of  religious.  —  KendaWs 
Travels. 

Servant.  A  term  often  used  synonymously  with  "slave"  at  the 
South,  as  it  is  in  the  English  Bible. 

Still  I  confess  (for  I  will  put  down  nothing  that  history  will  not  confirm)  that 
cruelties  are  sometimes  exercised  by  the  master  upon  the  slave.  Consideritig  the 
number  of  masters  and  servants  in  this  latitude,  I  cannot  say  that  is  often  the 
case,  —  in  truth,  it  is  very  seldom  the  case.  — A  Voice  from  the  South,  p.  32. 

To  serve  up.    To  expose  to  ridicule;  to  expose. 

Service-Berry.  {Amelancliier  Canadensis.^  A  wild  fruit  common  to 
the  British  provinces  in  America  and  the  Northern  States,  de- 
scribed by  Sir  George  Simpson  as  "  a  sort  of  cross  between  the 
cranberry  and  the  black  currant."  It  is  a  good  article  of  food,  and 
is  sometimes  mixed  with  pemmican.  The  plant  is  also  called  Shad- 
bush. 

Among  the  usual  fruit-bearing  shrubs  and  bushes,  I  here  notice  the  service- 
berry.  —  Scenes  in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  p.  114. 

Near  the  Del  Norte  grows  plentifully  a  shrub  which  produces  a  fruit  called  by 
the  mountaineers  service-berry,  of  a  dark  blue,  the  size  of  a  small  grape,  and  of 
pleasant  flavor.  —  Buxton's  Mexico,  p.  204. 

Sessions,  in  some  of  the  States,  is  particularly  used  for  a  court  of 
justices,  held  for  granting  licenses  to  innkeepers  or  taverners,  for 
laying  out  new  highways  or  altering  old  ones,  and  the  like.  — 
Webster. 

Set.  Fixed  in  opinion;  determined;  firm;  obstinate;  as,  "a  man 
set  in  his  opinions  or  way."  —  Webster. 

To  set.  To  fix;  to  cause  to  stop;  to  obstruct;  as,  set  a  coach  in 
the  mire,"  "  The  wagon  or  team  was  set  at  the  hill."  In  some  of 
the  States,  stall  is  used  in  a  like  sense. — Webster. 

To  set  .  .  .  by,  To  set  store  by.  To  value  or  hold  in  estimation ; 
to  account  worth.    Provincial  in  England. 


572 


SET 


To  set  a  Great  Deal  by.  To  value  highly.  "  He  sets  his  eyes  by  it," 
prizes  it  above  all  things.    New  England. 

Rhody,  passing  in  and  out  of  the  room,  .  .  .  thought  as  she  had  thought  a 
hundred  times,  at  similar  scenes  :  — 

"  Well,  if  they  don't  set  their  eyes  hy  that  child  more  'n  more  every  day !  "  — 
iMura  and  her-  Hero,  Harper^s  May.,  July,  1864,  p.  172. 

Set-back.  The  reflux  of  water  made  by  a  counter-current,  by  the 
tide  from  the  sea  meeting  the  flow  of  a  river,  by  a  dam,  &c. ;  a 
reverse ;  a  discomfiture. 

We  have  all  found  the  Yankees  will  fight;  .  .  .  and  I  shouldn't  wonder  if  they 
thought  we  wouldn't,  we  had  so  many  cursed  set-backs.  —  Cor.  N.  Y.  Tribune, 
May,  1862. 

Set-in.    A  beginning;  an  approach;  an  onset. 

The  early  and  almost  immediate  set-in  of  the  drift.  —  Virginia  Cor.  N.  Y. 
Tribune. 

Setting-Pole.  A  pole  shod  with  iron,  used  for  propelling  vessels  or 
boats  up  rivers,  in  shoal  water. 

To  settle.  1.  To  be  ordained  or  installed  over  a  parish,  church,  or 
congregation.  "A.  B,  was  invited  to  settle  in  the  first  society  of 
New  Haven."  "  N.  D.  settled  in  the  ministry  very  young."  — 
Webster. 

2.  To  procure  to  be  established;  as,  "  The  parish  will  settle  a 
minister,"  &c. 

3.  To  pay;  to  liquidate  an  account.  This  use  of  the  word  is 
common,  especially  on  board  steamboats.  A  waiter  rings  a  bell, 
and  cries  out,  "  Those  who  haven't  paid  their  fare  will  please  walk 
up  to  the  captain's  office,  and  settle. We  are  never  asked  to  "  pay 
our  fare,"  but  always  to  settle  it. 

4.  To  give  a  final  stroke  to ;  to  end ;  to  kill.    New  England. 

Settle  down.    Keep  quiet;  go  to  work  steadily. 

Settlement.  1.  A  sum  in  addition  to  a  pastor's  annual  salary,  for- 
merly granted  by  a  parish  to  its  pastor. 

2.  A  homestead  of  a  pastor,  as  furnished  sometimes  by  donation 
of  land  with  or  without  buildings,  sometimes  by  the  pastor's  apply- 
ing funds  granted  for  the  }>urpose. 

I  had  just  purchased  a  settlement,  and  involved  myself  in  debt.  .  .  .  Before 
the  war  began,  my  people  punctualh'  paid  my  salary,  and  advanced  one  hundred 
pounds  of  my  settlement  a  year  before  it  was  due  by  contract.  — Autobiog.  of  Rev. 
Nath.  Emmons. 

To  settle  one's  Hash.  To  give  the  quietus  to  any  one;  to  threaten. 
In  Kentucky,  "  to  cook  his  goose  "  means  the  same. 


SET— SHA 


673 


To  use  an  expression 
More  striking  than  classic,  it  settled  my  hash. 

Butler,  Nothing  to  Wear. 

Settler.  1.  An  unanswerable  proposition;  a  final  stroke;  anything 
decisive. 

2.  The  founder  of  a  town ;  one  who  makes  or  gains  a  settlement. 
Set  up.    To  be  set  up  (among  the  vulgar  of  the  lower  strata,  "  to  be 
sot  up"),  to  be  made  vain  or  conceited;  to  be  elevated  in  one's 
opinion  of  one's  self;  to  be  proud,  or  the  like.    Comp.  Stuck  up. 

To  think  that  our  Laura  should  a'  married  one  o'  them  high-headed  city  law- 
yers! and  she  ain't  a  bit  sot  up,  neither.  —  Harper''s  May.,  July,  1864,  p.  179. 

Seven-up.  The  Western  name  for  a  game  of  cards  commonly  called 
All  Fours. 

Seated,  Indian  fashion,  round  the  fires,  with  a  blanket  spread  before  them, 
groups  are  seen  with  their  cards,  playing  at  euker,  poker,  and  seven-vp,  the  regu- 
lar mountain  games.  — Buxton's  Adventures,  p.  236. 

We  found  the  storekeeper  sitting  on  an  empty  keg  at  a  rickety  table,  playing 
seven-up  for  the  liquor  for  one  of  his  customers.  —  Borthwich's  California,  p.  115. 

Simon  and  Bill  were  in  a  fence  corner,  very  earnestly  engaged  at  seven-up. — 
Simon  Sufjys. 

Severals,  for  several,  is  itsed  in  Pennsylvania.  "  How  many  hats  have 
you?  "    "I  used  to  have  severals,  but  now  have  got  only  one." 

Sewan.  Wampum  or  Seawant.  Beads  used  by  the  Indians  for 
money.  Mr.  Palfrey  says  this  is  the  Dutch  name  for  wampum 
(Hist,  of  New  England,  Vol.  I.  p.  238,  n.).  There  is  no  question 
that  it  is  an  Indian  word.    See  Seaman. 

The  Dutch  have  built  a  shallop,  in  order  to  go  and  look  after  the  trade  in  sewan 
in  Narragansett  Bay,  .  .  .  which  I  have  prevented  ...  by  selling  them  fifty 
fathoms  of  seivan,  because  the  seeking  after  sewan  by  them  is  prejudicial  to  us. 
Lett,  of  Be  Rasieres,  cited  in  Palfrey's  Hist.  New  England,  Vol.  I.  p.  238,  n. 

Shack.  A  vagabond.  Ex. :  "  He 's  a  poor  shack  of  a  fellow."  It  is 
used  in  some  parts  of  England  and  in  New  England. 

All  creation  knows  Nab  Hincken  ain't  nobody.  Why,  her  father  was  a  poor 
drunken  shack,  and  her  mother  took  in  washin'.  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  34. 

I  don't  believe  Bill  would  have  turned  out  such  a  miserable  shack,  if  he 'd  a 
decent  woman  for  a  wife.  — New  England  Tales. 

Shackly.    Shaky;  rickety;  as,  "  What  a  sJiaclcly  old  carriage!  " 

The  words  of  the  poet  might  answer  for  me  on  a  pinch,  always  excepting  the 
general  fly-offs  and  moral  unhitches  incident  to  poor  shackly  mortality.  — Bow's 
Sermons,  Vol.  III. 

Shad-Bush.  A  plant  so  called  from  its  flowering  about  the  time  that 
shad  ascend  the  rivers  in  early  spring.  Its  delicate  sprays,  covered 
•with  white  blossoms  before  the  trees  are  yet  in  leaf,  have  a  singu- 
larly beautiful  appearance  in  the  woods.    See  Service-Berry. 


574 


SHA 


"Within  the  woods  .... 

 the  shad-hush^  white  with  flowers. 

Brightened  tne  glens;  the  new-leaved  butternut 

And  quivering  poplar  to  the  roving  breeze 

Gave  a  balsamic  fragrance.  —  Bryant^  The  Old  Man's  Council. 

Shad-Belly  Coat.  One  which  slopes  gradually  from  the  front  to  the 
tails,  and  has  no  angle.  Drab  coats  of  this  shape  are  worn  by 
Quakers,  who  are  hence  sometimes  called  shad-bellies. 

Shade-Tree.  A  tree  planted  for  the  sake  of  the  shade  which  it 
affords. 

Shadow.    A  detective,  so  called  because  he  silently  and  persistently 

follows  his  victim. 
To  shadow.    To  follow.    A  term  generally  used  by  the  police  and 

detectives  when  in  pursuit  of  a  fugitive  from  justice. 

In  speaking  of  the  arrest  of  certain  counterfeiters,  the  "New 

York  Herald,"  March  23,  1876,  says:  — 

Barr  was  decoyed  here  from  Iowa  by  a  member  of  the  secret  service,  who 
shadowed  him  out  there  from  Washington,  and  made  his  acquaintance. 

The  attention  of  the  detectives  was  called  to  the  case  of  a  young  girl.  .  .  .  She 
was  shadoived,  and  her  ways  of  life  ascertained.  —  Providence  Journal. 

The  detectives  followed  two  men  whom  they  had  been  shadowing  from  Prince 
Street  to  the  office  of  the  American  Express  Co.  (who  were  afterwards  found  to 
have  stolen  certain  mail-bags).  — iV.  Y.  Tribune,  Jan.  4, 1877. 

Shady,  To  keep  shady  is  to  remain  in  the  back-ground ;  to  remain  in 
the  dark. 

Shag-Bark.  (Carya  alba.)  A  tall  and  handsome  species  of  hickory, 
the  old  trunks  of  w^hich  are  very  rough-barked.  The  wood  is  very 
valuable  as  timber  and  for  fuel;  and  the  fruit  furnishes  the  prin- 
cipal hickory-nuts  of  the  market.  It  is  also  called  Shell-bark.  — 
Gray. 

Shake.  To  throw  dice ;  and  among  printers  in  their  work-shops  to 
throw  "  quads."    See  Jeff,  in  Addenda. 

To  shake  a  Stick  at.  A  ridiculous  phrase,  very  often  heard  in  low 
language.  When  a  man  is  puzzled  to  give  one  an  idea  of  a  very 
great  number,  he  calls  it  "  more  than  you  can  shake  a  stick  at.^^  A 
fuller  force  of  the  expression  is  "to  shake  a  stick  at  till  your  arm 
aches." 

New  York  is  an  CA-erlastin'  great  concern,  and,  as  you  may  well  suppose, 
there 's  about  as  many  people  in  it  as  you  could  shake  a  stick  at.  —  Major  Down- 
ing, May -day  in  Nero  York. 

I 've  been  licked  fifty  times,  and  got  more  black  eyes  and  bloody  noses  than 
you  could  shake  a  stick  at,  for  the  purity  of  our  illegal  rights. — J.  C.  Neat,  Peter 
Brush. 


SHA 


575 


We  got  a  little  dry  or  so,  and  wanted  a  horn ;  but  this  was  a  temperance  house, 
and  there  was  nothing  to  treat  a  friend  to  that  was  worth  shaking  a  stick  at.  — 
Crockett's  Tour,  p.  87. 

Shake  down.  A  riotous,  boisterous  dance,  so  called  in  the  West. 
In  the  Eastern  States,  the  Virginia  reel,  which  generally  closes  a 
social  ball  or  dancing  party,  is  called  a  break-down. 

An  innocent  countryman,  on  going  to  church  in  New  York,  heard,  for  the  first 
time,  before  entering,  the  organ,  from  which  he  concluded  that  some  sort  of  a 
shake  down''''  was  about  to  commence.    Just  at  that  moment,  a  gentleman 
InAitedhim  to  walk  in  and  take  a  seat.    "Not  'zactly,  Mister,  —  I  ain't  used  to 
no  such  doin's  on  Sunday ;  and,  besides,  I  don't  dance !  " 

Shakes.  1.  Fever  and  ague;  intermittent  fever  is  sometimes  called 
*'  the  shakes.''^ 

2.  An  earthquake. 

The  springs  fail  once  in  a  while  since  the  shakes  of  1812. —  Western  Gazetteer. 

3.  No  great  shakes.  No  great  things;  no  great  worth.  Common 
in  England. 

Shakiness.    Hesitancy;  timidity. 

At  a  meeting  of  Baptist  ministers  in  New  York,  Jan.  17,  1876, 
Dr.  Thomas  made  a  forcible  speech.    He  said:  — 

The  resolutions  offered  imputed  weakness  and  shakiness  to  members  of  the 
conference. 

Shaky.    AVavering;  uncertain. 

A  recent  estimate  is  wrong  as  to  the  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  delegations. 
At  least,  four  of  the  latter  are  adverse,  and  several  others  shaky,  with  a  leaning  in 
the  same  direction.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Jan.  21,  1858. 

The  Emperor  Napoleon,  poor  man,  is  very  shaky  in  health.  The  fatigue  and 
excitement  of  that  bloody  campaign  have  told  deeply  on  his  bodily  and  mental 
conditions.  —  Cw.  of  Boston  Tr'anscript. 

Mr.  Robeson  transmitted  to  Jay  Cooke,  McCulloch  &  Co.,  in  London,  for  the 
purpose  of  saving  them  from  bankruptcy,  $1,500,000,  having  official  knowledge 
of  the  shaky  condition  of  the  house.  —  Washington  Telegram  to  the  New  York 
Press,  March  28,  1876. 

Shall.    See  Should. 

Shamocrat.    A  fellow  of  great  pretension  to  wealth  and  influence, 

with  little  of  the  latter  and  still  less  of  the  former.    One  who  apes 

high  rank  without  any  real  basis. 
Shanghai.    A  tall  dandy.    So  called  in  allusion  to  the  long-legged 

fowls  from  Shanghai,  in  China,  which  were  all  the  rage  a  few  years 

ago. 

The  name  was  originally  applied  to  dandies  who  wore  the  fash- 
ionable plaid  shawl,  wrapped  about  the  upper  part  of  the  person, 
leaving  the  legs  unprotected.  A  tall  man  well  bundled  up  in  a 
Scotch  plaid,  or  "Bay  State,"  suggested  the  "  Shanghai'^  to  the 


676 


SHA 


least  imaginative  observer.  The  name  was  a  common  one  about 
1845. 

I  became  wildly  extravagant,  indulged  in  broadcloth  and  fine  linen,  in  kid 
gloves  and  a  stove-pipe  hat,  a  cane  and  French  calf  boots ;  used  cologne,  hair  oil, 
and  scented  my  handkerchief  with  "jockey-club;"  wore  a  ring,  was  a  connois- 
seur in  cigars,  and  cultivated  the  acquaintance  of  the  fair  sex.  In  fact,  I  degen- 
erated into  a  fop,  and  became  a  shanyhai  of  the  most  exotic  breed.  —  The  Great 
Republic  Magazine,  Jan.,  1859,  p.  70. 

Shank's  Mare.    To  take  shank's  mare  is  to  walk.    In  England,  they 

use  the  term  "  shank's  nag." 
Shanty.  (Fr.  chant ier,  the  hut  put  up  in  a  French  dock-yard.)  A 
mean  cabin  or  shed;  a  hut.  A  settler,  or  backwoodsman,  first  con- 
structs his  shanty  of  unhewn  logs.  Near  railways  in  the  course  of 
construction  are  the  shanties  of  the  laborers.  In  France,  chantier 
was  originally  applied  to  a  dock-yard  itself;  and,  earlier  still,  to  the 
wooden  horse  on  which  carpenters'  work  is  done.  The  latter  is 
derived  from  cantherius,  a  pack-horse. 
To  shanty.    To  dwell  in  a  shanty  or  temporary  hut. 

Mark  Shuff  and  a  friend  of  his,  who  were  trapping,  shnntied  on  the  outlet,  just 
at  the  foot  of  Tupper's  Lake.  —  Hammond,  Wild  Northern  Scenes,  p.  197. 

"We  came  down  the  Alleghany  in  two  canoes,  and  shantied  on  the  Ohio.  We 
hid  our  canoes,  struck  across  the  country,  and  travelled  about  exploring  for  six 
weeks.  —  Ibid.,  p.  212. 

These  mountain  breezes  are  very  inspiriting,  and  with  expanded  chests  the 
sportsmen  look  towards  the  blue  ridges  with  emulation,  and  brace  themselves  to 
meet  the  rude  exigencies  of  a  "tramp,''  and  shnnteeing  out^'  for  a  few  days 
amidst  storms  or  sunshine,  as  the  covering  heavens  may  send!  -^N.  Y.  Courier. 

Shantying-Ground.     The  place  where  shanties  or  rude  huts  are 

erected. 

When  we  got  back  to  our  shantying-ground,  we  were  tuckered  out,  as  you  may 
believe. — Hammond,  Northern  Scenes,  p.  212. 

Shape.  "  He  travelled  on  his  shape,"  i.  e.  he  went  around  swindling 
those  he  met  with  through  a  plausible  address  and  gentlemanly 
appearance. 

Shark.    A  lean,  hungry  hog.  Western. 

Sharking.  Fishing  for  sharks.  A  favorite  sport  in  the  waters  of 
Narragansett  Bay,  where  huge  hooks,  stout  cords,  a  heavy  club  to 
knock  the  fish  on  the  head,  long  knives  to  disengage  the  hook,  and 
other  appliances,  are  used. 

Sharp.    A  bright  fellow;  a  sharper. 

Sharp.    Punctual.    "  The  meeting  will  take  place  at  eight  o'clock 

sharp, i.  e.  precisely  at  eight. 
Sharpenin'  Rock.    A  grindstone.  South-western. 


SHA 


577 


Sharp  Practice.  A  shrewd  business  operation,  so  keen  that  it  falls 
little  short  of  fraud;  an  unfair  or  dishonorable  advantage  taken  by 
a  lawyer  to  the  injury  of  an  oj^ponent. 

Sharp  Stick.  To  be  after  one  with  a  sharp  stick  is  to  pursue  him 
keenly  for  the  purpose  of  revenge,  or  to  get  something  from  him. 

To  shave.  1.  To  discount  promissory  notes,  claims,  or  bills  at  a  high 
rate  of  interest. 

Make  3''our  money  by  shaving  notes  or  stock-jobbing,  and  every  door  in  New- 
York  is  thrown  open;  make  the  same  amount  by  selling  Indian  cand}',  and  the 
cold  shoulder  of  the  Fifth  Avenue  is  turned  upon  you.  — Life  in  New  York. 
If  the  stock  broker  thinks  he  shaves^ 
Or  if  the  victim  thinks  he 's  shaved, 
Let  both  the  rascals  have  their  say. 
And  he  that 's  cheated  let  him  pay. 

Parody  on  Emerson's  Brahma. 

2.  To  defraud  or  be  otherwise  unfair  in  bargains,  &c. 

Shave.  A  close  shave  is  a  near  approach  to  an  accident. 

"A  bad  cut,"  said  Roddy.  "She's  saved  herself  by  a  narrow  shave.^^  — 
Miss  Gould,  Marjorie's  Quest,  p.  131. 

Shaver.  1.  This  word,  in  the  United  States,  is  applied  to  money 
brokers,  who  purchase  notes  at  more  than  legal  interest.  Banks, 
when  they  resort  to  any  means  to  obtain  a  large  discount,  are  also 
called  shavers  or  shaving  banks.  Many  such  are  known ;  but  they 
evade  the  penalty  of  the  usury  laws  by  discounting  at  legal  interest, 
and  giving  the  proceeds  of  the  note  so  discounted  in  a  draft  on  some 
distant  place,  or  in  uncurrent  money,  which  is  again  purchased  by 
the  bank  or  its  agents  at  a  discount. 

To  sell  our  notes  at  a  great  loss  to  brokers,  or,  in  other  words,  to  get  them 
unmercifully  shaved,  was  what  we  wished  to  avoid.  —  Perils  of  Pearl  Street^ 
p.  123. 

This  Wall-Street  note-shaving  life  is  a  new  field,  a  very  peculiar  field.  —  North 
Am.  Rev.,  July,  1862,  p.  113. 

2.  One  who  is  close  or  fraudulent  in  bargaining;  a  sharp  dealer. 
Webster. 

This  Lewis  is  a  cunning  shaver.  —  Swift. 

3.  A  little  boy.  Provincial  in  England.  Latham  derives  it  from 
the  Gipsey  chavo,  a  boy. 

As  I  have  mentioned  at  the  door,  to  this  young  shaver,  I  am  on  a  chase  in  the 
name  of  the  king.  —  Dickens. 

Shaving-Shop.    A  banking  company ;  a  money-broker's  office. 

Mr.  Wall  said  [in  Congress]  that,  in  the  matter  of  inflating  the  currency,  the 
only  question  was  whether  it  should  be  done  by  banks  and  shaving-shops,  or  by 
the  government. — N.  Y.  Tribune. 

37 


578 


SHE 


Shebang.  A  strange  word  that  had  its  origin  during  the  late  civil 
war.  It  is  applied  alike  to  a  room,  a  shop,  or  a  hut,  a  tent,  a 
cabin ;  an  engine-house. 

"Many  a  poor  fellow,"  says  an  old  soldier,  "  who  enlisted  to  do  hard  fighting, 
lost  the  number  of  his  mess,  and  was  carried  out  from  his  shebang  to  his  long 
home."  —  Overland  Monthly,  for  March,  1871. 

Shecoonery.  A  whimsical  corruption  of  the  word  chicanery,  used  at 
the  South. 

This  town 's  got  a  monstrous  bad  name  for  meanery  and  shecoonery  of  all 
sorts. —  Chronicles  oj' Pineville,  p.  47. 

Among  other  topics,  he  dwelt  upon  the  verdancy  of  his  neighbors,  and  the  she- 
coonery which  had  been  practised  upon  them.  — Ibid.,  p.  48. 

Shedder-Crab.    A  crab  which  has  recently  cast  its  shell,  also  called  a 

Soft  Crab.    It  is  a  delicacy  much  esteemed  by  epicures,  and  a 

"  killing  "  bait  for  striped  bass. 
Shell-Bark  Hickory.   (Canja  alba.)    This  tree,  which  attains  the 

height  of  eighty  feet,  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  hickories  for  timber 

and  fuel.    It  furnishes  the  hickory-nuts  of  commerce,  which  are 

also  known  as  shag-barks. 
Sheeny.    A  sharp  fellow  looking  out  for  some  one  whom  he  can  cheat, 

or  with  whom  he  may  make  a  sharp  bargain. 
Shell.    A  light  boat,  used  especially  by  amateur  oarsmen. 
To  shell  Corn.    To  remove  the  grains  of  Indian  corn  from  the  cob. 

In  the  South,  the  phrase  "to  hull  corn  "  is  used  in  the  same  sense. 
Shell-Road.    A  road,  the  upper  stratum  of  which  is  a  layer  of  broken 

shells.    These  roads  are  found  in  Louisiana,  Florida,  and  near  the 

shores  of  New  England. 
Fine  shell-roads  run  out  beyond  the  town  limits  [of  Jacksonville,  Florida]  in 

either  direction.  — Scribner's  Mag.,  Vol.  IX.  p.  5. 

Sheep-Laurel.    See  Calf- Kill. 

Sheep-Meat.    Mutton  is  often  so  called  in  the  West. 

Sheepshead.  (Sargus  avis.)  A  fine,  large,  salt-water  fish,  so  called 

from  the  resemblance  of  its  head  to  that  of  a  sheep.    It  is  esteemed 

a  great  delicacy. 

Sheep-Ranch.  A  plantation  or  farm  where  sheep  are  raised  on  a 
large  scale,  as  in  New  Mexico  and  Colorado. 

Sheepskin.  1.  The  parchment  diploma  received  by  students  on  tak- 
ing their  degree  at  college. 

This  apostle  of  ourn  never  rubbed  his  back  agin  a  college,  nor  toted  about  no 
sheepskins,  —  no,  never!  .  .  .  How  you'd  a  perished  in  your  sins,  if  the  first 
preachers  had  stayed  till  they  got  sheejyslcins  !  —  Carlton's  New  Purchase. 


SHE 


579 


When  first  I  saw  a  sheepskin^ 

In  Prex's  hand  I  spied  it ; 

I  'd  given  my  hat  and  boots,  I  would, 

If  I  could  have  been  beside  it. 

But  now  that  last  Biennial 's  past; 
I  skinned  and  fizzled  through  ; 
And  so,  in  spite  of  scrapes  and  flunks, 
I  '11  have  a  sheepskin  too. 
Chas.  E.  TrumbuWs  (Yale,  1855)  Song  of  the  SheepsJcin. 
If  we  came  to  college  fresh  and  green, 
We  go  back  home  with  a  huge  sheepskin. 

Songs  of  Yale  College.,  1853. 

2.  A  person  who  has  received  a  diploma,  who  has  had  a  college 
education. 

I  can  say  as  well  as  the  best  o'  them5/iee/?s^;m5,  if  you  don't  get  religion  and  be 
saved,  you  '11  be  lost  teetotally  and  forever.  —  Carlton's  New  Purchase,  Vol.  I. 
p.  203. 

Sheer.  A  term  applied  in  the  United  States  to  fabrics  of  cotton  or 
silk;  "  as,  sheer  muslin;  "  meaning  very  thin,  clear,  or  transparent. 

Shell-Bark.    See  Shag- Bark. 

Shenanigan.    1.  A  trick  in  which  there  is  cheating.  California. 

2.  Chaff;  foolery;  nonsense,  especially  when  advanced  to  cover 
some  scheme  or  little  game.    Yale  College. 

Sherryvallies.  Overalls;  trowsers  made  of  thick  velvet  or  leather, 
buttoned  on  the  outside  of  each  leg,  and  generally  worn  over  other 
trowsers.  They  are  now  chiefly  worn  by  teamsters.  Many  years  ago, 
when  the  facilities  for  travelling  were  not  as  great  as  now,  and 
when  journeys  were  made  on  horseback,  sherryvallies  were  indis- 
pensable to  the  traveller. 

A  word  of  veiy  ancient  derivation,  the  garment  in  question  being 
probably  the  same  as  that  mentioned  in  the  Book  of  Daniel,  ch.  iii. 
V.  21,  alluding  to  Shadrach  and  others  who  were  cast  into  the  fiery 
furnace:  "  Then  these  men  were  burned  in  their  coats,  their  Ztosen," 
&c.  The  word  corresponding  to  hosen  is,  in  the  Chaldee,  sarbalin, 
defined,  in  Robinson's  trans,  of  Gesenius's  Hebrew  Lexicon,  to  mean 
"  a  kind  of  garment;  long  and  wide  trowsers,  such  as  are  still  worn  by 
the  Orientalists."  This  meaning  is  supported  by  the  Arabic,  Per- 
sian, and  Greek,  as  well  as  by  the  Latin  sarahara,  saraballa. 

Shet,  Shut.  To  get  shet  off.  To  get  rid  of;  to  make  a  final  disposi- 
tion of  a  person  or  thing.  The  expression  was  formerly  very  common 
in  New  England,  and  is  still  heard  throughout  the  Southern  States. 
It  is  provincial  in  England. 


580 


SHE— SHI 


We  must  not  pray  in  one  breath  to  find  a  thief,  and  in  the  next  to  get  shut  q/'him. 
Sir  R.  U Estrange. 

Hey,  mister!  said  a  shop-boy  at  last,  I  want  to  get  shut  of  you,  'cause  we  're 
goin'  to  shet  up.  —  NeaVs  Sketches. 

Shew,  for  showed.  Ex.:  '•'■Isliew  him  the  difference  between  black 
and  white."  This  corruption  is  so  common  among  all  classes  in 
the  "  American  Athens  "  as  to  form  a  sort  of  shibboleth  for  distin- 
guishing a  Bostonian.  Mr.  Lowell  says  this  preterite  is  used  by- 
Hector  Boece,  Giles  Fletcher,  Drummond  of  Hawthornden,  and  in 
the  Paston  Letters. 

Shillagalee.    A  low  fellow ;  a  scalawag.    New  York.     See  Scalawag. 

Shilling.  The  name  given,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  to  the  Spanish 
real ;  in  the  neighboring  States,  it  is  frequently  called  a  York  shilling. 
See  Federal  Currency. 

Shimmey.    (Fr.  chemise.)    A  woman's  under-garment. 

The  ghost  was  nothing  but  Aunt  Katy's  shimmeys  pinned  on  the  line  to  dry, 
and  I  was  a  darned  fool  to  be  scared  by  it.  —  A  Tale  of  Sleepy  Hollow. 

I  love  to  see  two  hearts  approximate  and  adhere,  —  two  souls  meet  and  mingle 
into  one.  It  is  as  interesting  a  sight  to  me  as  a  shimmey  in  a  wash-tub ;  and 
whispers  of  purity,  love,  harmony,  happiness,  and  perpetual  peace.  —  Dow''s 
Sermons. 

To  shin.  By  shinning.,  in  mercantile  phrase,  is  meant  running  about 
to  one's  acquaintance,  to  borrow  money  to  meet  the  emergency  of  a 
note  at  bank.  It  is  doubtless  so  called  because,  in  the  great  hurry 
of  picking  up  cash  to  meet  the  hour  of  three,  which  perchance  is 
just  at  hand,  the  borrower,  not  having  the  fear  of  wheelbarrows, 
boxes,  barrels,  piles  of  brick,  &c.,  before  his  eyes,  is  very  apt  to  rim 
furiously  against  them  with  his  shins,  the  bark  whereof  is  apt  to  be 
grievously  battered  off  by  the  contact.  ...  So  fares  it  with  the  poor 
merchant,  while  he  is  looking  out  for  an  acquaintance  of  whom 
he  may  ask,  "  Any  thing  over  ?  "  This  is  an  expression  used  by 
shinners,  on  applying  to  their  acquaintances  for  the  needful;  and 
means,  Have  you  any  money  over  and  above  the  sum  requisite  for 
discharging  your  own  notes  ?  If  so,  it  is  of  course  expected  that, 
in  the  way  of  mercantile  courtesy  or  of  a  friendly  reciprocity,  you 
will  oblige  the  skinner  so  far  as  to  hand  it  over  to  him.  It  is  a 
common  way,  amongst  those  who  have  business  in  banks,  of  oblig- 
ing one  another.  If  they  have  any  thing  over,  they  do  not  with- 
hold it  from  their  neighbor,  lest  in  turn  he  should  do  the  same 
towards  them.  — Perils  of  Pearl  Street,  p.  123. 

The  Senator  was  shinning  around,  to  get  gold  for  the  rascally  bank-rags  which 
he  was  obliged  to  take.  — N.  Y.  Com.  Adv.,  Dec.  13,  1845. 


SHI 


581 


To  shin  round.    To  move  briskly ;  the  same  as  to  fiy  around. 

Mrs.  Stowe  relates  the  following  affectionate  conversation  between 
Cripps  and  Polly  Skinflint  soon  after  their  marriage :  — 

"  Didn't  you  tell  me,  if  I  married  you,  I  should  have  a  nigger  to  order  round, 
just  as  I  pleased  V  " 

"Well,  well,"  said  Cripps,  "  I  didn't  think  you'd  want  to  go  walloping  him, 
the  first  thing." 

"I  will,  if  he  don't  shin  round,''''  said  the  virago,  "and  you  too."  — Dred^ 
Vol.  II.  p.  159. 

To  shin  up.    To  shin  up  a  tree  or  pole  is  to  climb  it  by  the  aid  of  the 
hands  and  legs  only. 

I  am  going  to  shin  up  the  slipperj'^  rope  leading  [to  the  Goddess  of  Fame]  for 
the  purpose  of  taking  a  hand  in  the  game  of  literary  renown.  —  Doesticks,  p.  15. 

Shin-Dig.    1.  A  blow  on  the  shins.  Southern. 

2.  At  the  West,  any  kind  of  dance.  Perhaps  the  same  as  shindy. 
See  next  word. 

Shindy.    1.  A  row;  a  spree. 

If  this  ere  isn't  that  'are  singing  chap  agin.  He 's  on  a  shindy  somewhere  or  other 
every  night.  —J.  C  Neal,  P.  Ploddy,  p.  18. 

It  appears  there  was  a  shindy  on  Monday  night,  for  the  benefit  of  a  poor  widow ; 
and  it  ended,  as  too  many  of  such  sprees  do,  in  a  regular  fight,  with  guns,  bayo- 
nets, decanters,  tumblers,  &c.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Mose.    What  say  you  Lize  for  Vauxhall  to-night  ? 

Lize.    What 's  goin'  on  ?   Is  the  Vaudeville  plays  there  ? 

Mose.  No,  there's  goin'  to  be  a  first-rate  shindy,  and  some  of  our  boys  will 
be  there.  —  A  Glance  at  New  York. 

You,  my  democratic  hearers,  are  for  the  most  pai't  poor,  and  therefore  ought 
to  be  careful  how  you  cut  shindies  under  the  broadsword  of  justice.  —  Daw's 
Sermons. 

2.  A  game  of  ball,  played  with  a  stick  crooked  at  the  end.  Also 
the  name  of  the  stick  itself.  The  proper  and  more  usual  name  is 
Bandy. 

3.  A  liking,  a  fancy.    Comp.  Shine,  No.  2. 

Father  took  a  wonderful  shindy  to  Jessie ;  for  even  old  men  can't  help  liking 
beauty.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature,  p.  70. 

Paddy  had  taken  such  a  shindy  to  me,  that  nobody  could  get  him  to  budge  an 
inch  further.  —  Ibid.,  p.  159. 

Shine.    1.  Show,  display,  fine  appearance.    Hence,  to  cut  or  make  a 
shine  is  to  make  a  great  display. 

All  the  boys  and  gals  were  going  to  camp-meetin' ;  so,  to  make  a  shine  with 
Sally  I  took  her  a  new  parasol.  — Robb,  Squatter  Life. 

I  tell  you,  stranger,  in  the  settlements  men  pass  for  what  they  look  to  be,  but 
in  the  backwoods  for  what  they  are :  you  '11  find  heaps  of  bogus  money  here,  but 
bogus  men  can't  shine.  — N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 


68^ 


SHI 


So,  to  take  the  shine  off  is  to  surpass  in  beauty  or  excellence. 

Next  Sabbath  day  I  slicked  myself  up ;  and  I  do  say,  when  I  got  my  fixins  on, 
I  took  the  shine  clean  off  any  specimen  of  human  natur'  in  these  parts.  —  Quincy, 
Massachusetts  Whig. 

I 'm  sorry  he  didn't  bring  his  pitch-pipe  with  him,  jest  to  take  the  shine  o/'them 
'are  singers.  —  Majo7-  Downincfs  Letters,  p.  37. 

I 've  seen  some  evening  twilights  that  take  the  shine  off  everything  below,  and 
clap  on  a  few  extra  touches  of  their  own.  —  Dow's  Sermons,  Vol.  I. 

2.  To  take  a  shine.,  to  take  a  fancy  to,  or  liking  to,  a  person. 
Comp.  Shindy .1  No.  3. 

I  took  a  great  shine  to  the  school-marm,  Huldah  Hornbeam;  though  she  was 
ten  years  older  than  I,  and  taller  by  half  a  yard  of  neck.  — McClintock,  Beedle's 
Marriaye. 

Stranger,  I've  tuk  a  middlin'  shine  to  you  from  the  Avay  you  got  off  that 
Chinaman  them  Pikes  was  goin'  to  hang  for  stealin'  the  mule  what  he  hadn't 
stoled.  I 've  tuk  a  middlin'  shine  to  you,  and  don't  want  to  see  yer  neck  broke. 
T.  Winthvop,  John  Brent,  p.  17. 

3.  To  have  a  shine.  To  polish  boots  or  shoes;  to  black  boots.  An 
expression  used  almost  universally  by  the  street  boot-blacks. 

Have  a  shine,  boss?  "  said  the  owner  of  a  stand,  giving  his  chair  a  parting 
slap  with  his  brush.  "  Shine  'em  up  in  half  a  minute,  sah.  You  'II  jest  have 
time  to  glance  ober  de  mornin'  papers."  —  Newspaper. 

To  shine.  1.  To  get  along,  succeed,  or  rather  to  distinguish  one's 
self. 

2.  In  the  Southern  States,  the  deer  is  often  hunted  by  torchlight. 
To  shine  its  eyes  is  to  make  them  visible  by  a  light  thrown  upon 
them,  as  described  in  the  following  extract:  — 

You  see  the  way  we  does  to  shine  the  deer's  eyes  is  this.  We  holds  the  pan  of 
fire  so,  on  the  left  shoulder,  and  carries  the  gun  at  a  trail  in  the  right  hand.  Well, 
when  I  wants  to  look  for  eyes,  I  turns  round  slow,  and  looks  right  at  the  edge 
of  my  shadder,  what 's  made  by  the  light  behind  me  in  the  pan,  and,  if  there 's  a 
deer  in  gun-shot  of  me,  his  eyes  'II  shine  'zactly  like  two  balls  of  fire. —  Chron- 
icles of  Pineville,  p.  169. 

He  often  urged  me  to  accompany  him,  to  see  how  slick  he  could  shine  a  buck's 
eyes.  —  Ibid.,  p.  162. 

Bound  to  shine.,  i.  e.  a  man  is  determined  (or  is  certain)  to  distin- 
guish himself. 

When  the  public  have  an  opportunity  of  examining  this  beautiful  steamer, 
they  will  pronounce  her  the  finest  and  most  comfortable  boat  they  have  ever 
visited,  and  be  satisfied  that  she  is  bound  to  shine.  —  Hartford  Pos^,  July  14, 
1864. 

Shiner.  (Genus  Leuciscus.)  The  popular  name  of  the  fish  known  to 
naturalists  as  the  Dace.  In  different  parts  of  the  country,  however, 
other  small  fish  are  called  shiners,  from  their  glittering  or  shining 


SHI 


583 


appearance.  In  New  York,  a  small  fish  of  the  genus  Stilhe  is  known 
to  naturalists  as  the  New  York  Shiner.  It  is  also  found  in  the 
adjoining  States.  — Nat.  Hist,  of  New  York. 

Shiners.  A  mob  of  raftsmen,  so  called,  who  illegally  ruled  for  a 
while  the  village  or  settlement  of  Bytown,  in  Upper  Canada. 
(Bytown  is  now  the  city  of  Ottawa,  Ontario.) 

Shingle.  1.  A  jocose  term  for  a  sign-board  placed  over  a  shop-door 
or  office.  To  hang  out  a  shingle  "is  to  put  up  one's  sign."  The 
use  of  this  term  is  said  to  have  originated  in  the  lumbering  districts 
of  Maine,  whei-e  shingles,  being  the  handiest  plane  surface,  are 
used  to  write  directions,  &c.,  on,  and  stuck  up  against  trees. 

Doctors  and  dentists  from  the  United  States  have  stuck  up  their  shingles  in 
Mexico.  — iV^.  Y.  Com.  Adv.,  Dec.  24,  1848. 

Several  made  bold  to  peep  inside,  in  spite  of  the  "No  admittance!  "  which 
frowned  from  a  shingle  over  the  door.  —  Drama  at  Poke7'ville. 

2.  To  cut  the  hair  of  the  occiput  close  at  bottom;  to  grade  in  cut- 
ting. 

To  shingle.  To  chastise.  A  shingle  applied  a  posteriori  is  a  favorite 
New  England  mode  of  correcting  a  child. 

Shingle  Oak.  (Quercus  unbricaria.)  A  native  of  the  Middle  States 
near  the  AUeghanies,  growing  to  the  height  of  forty  or  fifty  feet.  — 
Scott^s  Suhurhan  Home,  p.  314. 

Shingle-Weaver.    A  workman  who  dresses  shingles. 

Shinner.  One  who  borrows  money  by  the  practice  of  shinning. 
See  To  shin. 

Four  weeks  ago  the  precious  stuff 

Was  rife  and  plenteous  enough, 

And  no  "  short  shinner  "  feared  rebuff, 

Who  sued  for  pelf; 
Sure  to  hear  "flush,"  or  '•'■quantum  suff. — 

Friend,  help  yourself! " 

New  York  Evening  Post. 

Shinny.    Drunk;  intoxicated. 

Shinny,  n.    A  boy's  game  with  sticks  and  a  ball. 

Shinplaster.  A  cant  term  for  a  bank-note  or  any  paper  money,  and 
especially  such  as  has  depreciated  in  value.  This  term  is  said  to 
have  arisen  during  the  Revolutionary  war.  After  the  continental 
currency  had  become  almost  worthless,  an  old  soldier  who  possessed 
a  quantity  of  it,  which  he  could  not  get  rid  of,  very  philosophically 
made  use  of  it  as  plasters  to  a  wounded  leg.  The  term  is  now 
(1877)  more  generally  used  to  designate  notes  for  less  than  a  dollar. 


584 


SHI— SHO 


The  people  ma}'  whistle  for  protection,  and  put  up  with  what  sMnjilaiter  rags 
they  can  get. —iv.  Y.  Tribune,  Dec.  3,  1845. 

What 's  become  of  all  the  specie,  — 

Where  are  all  the  dollars  gone? 
Nothing  but  shinplasters  greasy 

Do  our  meagre  pockets  own.  —  Comic  Song. 
Hope's  brightest  visions  absquatulate  with  their  golden  promises  before  the 
least  cloud  of  disappointment,  and  leave  not  a.  shinplaslei'  behind.  —  Douo's  Ser- 
mons, Vol.  I.  p.  309. 

So  here  we  sits,  and  spits  sublime, 

On  auguries  of  disaster  : 
King  Dollar  'ginst  us  he  may  turn, 

But  we  have  King  Shinplnster. 
For  all  King  Cotton's  works  and  ways. 

We  don't  conclude  to  funk  'em : 
Our  trust  is  in  our  righteous  cause, 

Our  prayer,  "So  help  us  Bunkum  !  " 

Yankee  Stories,  Punch,  July  19,  1862. 

Shiny.  Drunk. 

Shirt.  Bloody  Shirt.  The  Honorable  A.  S.  Black,  in  an  article  en- 
titled the  "  Electoral  Conspiracy,"  in  the  "  North  American  Rev.," 
for  July,  1877  (p.  11),  says:  "To  parade  acts  of  violence  and 
murder  perpetrated  within  the  jurisdiction  of  a  carpet-bag  govern- 
ment was  called,  in  the  flash  language  of  the  politicians,  waving 
the  bloody  shirt,  and  considered  a  most  effective  mode  of  electioneer- 
ing."   The  term  is  much  used  by  the  newspapers. 

If  President  Hayes  is  wrong  in  all  this,  they  [the  Republicans]  were,  when 
recommending  him  to  the  American  people  as  a  bloody-shirt  candidate,  either 
guilty  of  gross  fraud  or  the  victims  of  a  very  sorry  bit  of  imposture.  —  The 
Nation,  Sept.  27,  1877. 

Shitepoke.    (Butorides  virescens.)    A  widely  distributed  bird  of  the 

heron  species,  also  called  Green  Heron  and  Fly-up-a- Creek. 
Shoddiness.  Meanness. 

The  infinite  shoddiness  of  this  cry  against  carpet-baggers.  —  Illinois  paper. 
Shoddy.    Originally  the  name  of  an  inferior  kind  of  felt.  Mixed 
with  wool,  in  the  proportion  of  one  part  wool  to  six  parts  of  shoddy, 
it  is  woven  into  blankets  and  inferior  cloths.    Cloths  thus  made, 
although  they  look  well,  soon  come  in  pieces;  in  other  words,  they 
are  not  what  they  appear  to  be.    Hence,  the  term  has  been  applied 
to  people  whose  appearance  and  manner  would  give  them  a  respect- 
able standing  in  society,  but  to  which  they  are  not  entitled. 
Old  Shoddy  sits  in  his  easy-chair. 
And  cracks  his  jokes  and  drinks  his  ale. 

During  the  late  civil  war,  many  woollen  goods,  of  which  shoddy 
formed  a  considerable  portion,  were  furnished  to  the  government 


SHO 


585 


for  the  soldiers  by  dishonest  contractors.  A  stanza  from  a  poem 
entitled  Shoddy^'  thus  describes  the  goods  and  the  suffering 
soldiers  whose  blankets  were  made  of  them :  — 

A  soldier  lies  on  the  frozen  ground, 

While  crack  his  joints  with  aches  and  ails; 
A  shoddy  blanket  wraps  him  round, 

His  shoddy  garments  the  wind  assails. 
His  coat  is  shoddy,  well  stuffed  with  flocks; 

He  dreams  of  the  flocks  on  his  native  hill; 
His  feverish  sense  the  demon  mocks,  — 
The  demon  that  drives  the  shoddy-mill. 

See  also  illustration  to  sou-marquee. 

Shoemake.    A  very  common  corruption  of  sumach. 

It  is  curious  to  note  the  changes  in  taste  and  sentiment,  as  marked  in  the  dis- 
appearance of  various  sorts  of  trees.    Gone  are  the  Lombardy  poplars.  .  .  . 
The  gude  wife  no  longer  points  to  her  ^^shoemake  "  (as  the  sumach  was  formerly 
called),  with  its  crimson  clusters,  the  pride  of  her  trim  front  garden. — North 
Am.  Rev.,  July,  1857,  p.  181. 

Shoeman.    A  man  who  makes  or  sells  shoes. 

Shoot,  n.  A  match  at  shooting  tame  pigeons  or  firing  at  a  target  Is 
called  a  pigeon-s^oo^ ;  a  "  target-sAoo^. " 

Shoot  or  Shute.  (Also  written  chute.')  1.  A  passage-way  on  the 
side  of  a  steep  hill  or  mountain  down  which  wood  and  timber  are 
thrown  or  slid.  There  are  many  such  on  the  Hudson  and  Mohawk 
Rivers. 

2.  In  the  West,  the  term  is  applied  to  places  where  a  river 
is  artificially  contracted,  in  order  to  increase  the  depth  of  water. 
In  Lower  Canada,  a  shoot  is  a  place  where  the  stream,  being  con- 
fined by  rocks  which  appear  above  water,  is  shot  through  the  aper- 
ture with  great  force.     See  Chute.,  No.  2. 

3.  In  the  West,  a  fancy,  liking,  for  a  person. 

That  gal  was  the  prettyest  creatur  I  ever  took  a  shute  after;  her  eyes  jest  floated 
about  in  her  head  like  a  star's  shadow  on  a  Mississippi  wave.  —  JiobO,  Squatter 
Life. 

To  shoot.  1.  To  shoot  a  fall  or  rapid  is  to  float  down  it  in  a  vessel. 

We  entered  the  lake,  from  whence  we  are  forced  to  transport  our  canoes  over- 
land to  another  river,  which  has  six  or  seven  water-falls  that  we  commonly  shoot. 
La  Hontari's  Travels  in  North  Am.,  1703. 

2.  A  slang  term  of  recent  origin.  To  say,  "  ^/ioo^  that  dress," 
is  meant  to  convey  the  idea  that  the  dress  is  inferior;  that  it  is  not 
worth  much;  or,  to  use  another  slang  expression,  "it  is  no  great 
shakes,"  after  all. 


586 


SlIO 


A  lady  in  Baltimore,  having  applied  the  offensive  term  to  the 
fashionable  hat  of  another  lady,  gave  so  great  offence,  that  it  re- 
sulted in  a  law-suit.  The  "  New  York  Herald  "  thus  speaks  of  the 
affair :  — 

The  Baltimore  slang  suit  has  resulted  in  the  passage  of  a  little  mone}'  between 
the  contestants.  It  will  be  remembered  that  one  lady  in  society  gazed  with  deri- 
sive scorn  upon  the  new  spring  head-gear  of  another  lady  in  society,  and  observed 
in  the  language  of  the  day,  "  Oh,  shoot  that  hat!  "  The  hurler  of  this  offensive  re- 
mark was  arrested  by  the  hurlee  for  insuh,  but  discharged,  when  slie  came  back  on 
her  prosecutor  with  a  suit  for  perjury.  This  likewise  came  to  naught,  and  was 
followed  by  the  return  suit  for  false  arrest,  with  damages  placed  at  $20,000. 
After  alternate  top  and  bottom  fortunes,  like  wrestlers  in  an  arena,  the  last  suit 
brought  fructified,  not  in  $20,000,  but  in  a  little  over  $400,  and  the  demands  of 
feminine  honor  are  doubtless  satisfied  by  this  termination  of  their  legal  duello. 
The  moral  is,  "  Do  not  use  slang."  It  is  apt  to  be  misunderstood.  To  a  mettle- 
some lady  of  fashion,  talk  of  shooting  her  spring  hat,  in  which  her  aesthetic  and 
religious  nature  has  been  concentrated,  is  no  better  tlian  blasphemy.  She  has  a 
right  to  feel  insulted;  and  the  lady  who  has  received  such  summary  discipline  at 
her  hands  will  doubtless  in  future  follow  the  advice  of  the  Honorable  Bardweli 
Slote,  and  w  with  a  v. 

The  slang  the  gang  is  using  now, 
You  '11  hear  from  every  lip; 

It's  shoot  the  hat!  and  get  it  boiled; 
And  don't  you  lose  your  grip. 

Ed.  Burtoii's  Songs,  1876. 

Mother.  Stand  still,  Tommy,  or  I  won 't  get  your  hair  combed  in  time  for 
school. 

Tommy  (superciliously).    Oh,  shoot  the  school.  —  Banbury  News. 

Shooter.  A  revolver.  In  the  Western  States,  on  the  frontier  as 
well  as  in  California,  this  murderous  weapon  is  universally  called  a 
"  five,"  "  six,"  or  "seven  shooter,^'  according  to  its  capacity. 

Shooting-iron.    A  common  Western  term  for  a  rifle  or  fowling-piece. 

Drop  your  shooting-iron,  or  ye  '11  get  more  than  ye  '11  send.  — A  Stray  Yankee 
in  Texas. 

A  hoosier  was  called  upon  the  stand,  away  out  West,  to  testify  to  *\e  charac- 
ter of  a  brother  hoosier.    It  was  as  follows  :  — 
"How  long  have  you  known  Bill  Bushwhack?  " 
"Ever  since  he  war  born." 
"  What  is  his  general  character?  " 
"Letter  A.  No.  1,  —  'bove  par  a  very  great  way." 
"Would  you  believe  him  on  oath  ?  " 
"  Yes,  sir-ee,  on  or  off,  or  any  other  way." 

"What,  in  your  opinion,  are  his  qualifications  to  good  character?" 

"He's  the  best  shot  on  the  prairies  or  in  the  woods ;  he  can  shave  the  eye- 
winkers  off  of  a  wolf  as  far  as  a  shootin' 4ron  '11  carry  a  ball ;  he  can  drink  a  quart 
of  grog  any  day  ;  and  he  chaws  tobacco  like  a  boss." 

So  Bill  Bushwhack  passed  muster.  —  N.  Y.  Sj)int  of  the  Times. 


8H0 


587 


To  shoot  one's  Grandmother  is  a  common  though  vulgar  phrase  in 
A^ew  England  and  means  to  be  mistaken  or  to  be  disappointed; 
to  imagine  one's  self  the  discoverer  of  something  in  which  he  is  de« 
ceived.  The  common  phrase  is,  "  You 've  shot  your  granny."  It 
is,  in  fact,  synonymous  with,  "  You 've  found  a  mare's  nest." 

Short.  To  sell  short.  In  the  sale  of  stocks,  cotton,  &c.,  to  sell  short 
is  to  agree  to  deliver  the  article  sold,  at  a  futui-e  day. 

Short  transactions  are  a  stumbling-block  to  beginners.  To  sell 
what  you  have  not  got,  and  yet  make  money  by  it,  is  a  species  of 
metaphysics  that  comes  only  by  education. 

Jacob  Little  has  the  reputation  of  having  invented  short  sales,  using  options, 
however,  as  the  medium  of  his  manipulations.  —  Medbery^  p.  312. 

Short-Boys.    A  gang  of  New  York  rowdies. 

Short-Gown.    A  short  gown  with  hardly  any  skirt,  worn  by  women 

when  doing  household  work,  as  washing,  &c. 
Short  Metre.    1.  In  a  short  period;  soon.    To  make  short  metre  of 

a  thing  or  piece  of  work  is  to  do  it  quickly. 

Risin'  to  leave,  "President,"  saj'^s  I,  for  he  seemed  determined  to  stand  in  the 
market,  "  I  thought  I  might  as  well  make  short  metre  of  it,  and  sell  him  at  once." 
Sam  Slick,  Wise  Saws,  p.  41. 

2.  A  short  course  of  study. 

Shorts.    Small-clothes;  breeches. 

Shot-Gun.  A  term  for  a  smooth-bored  fowling-piece,  as  distinguished 
from  a  rifle. 

Shote  or  Shoat.  An  idle,  worthless  fellow;  as,  "  A  poor  shote.^^  It 
is  also  provincial  in  England  in  this  sense. 

Seth  Slope  was  what  we  call  Down  East  a  poor  shote,  his  principal  business 
being  to  pick  up  chips,  feed  the  hogs,  &c.  —  G.  H.  Hill,  Stories. 

If  you,  nwdear  hearers,  Avill  make  a  proper  use  of  your  time,  happiness,  peace, 
and  contentment  are  yours ;  if  not,  you  will  always  be  miserable  shoats,  though 
you  live  till  you  are  as  gray  as  woodchucks.  —  Bow^s  Sermons. 

Shot  in  the  Neck.  Drunk. 

Mr.  Shumacher  informed  the  court  that  he  was  instructed  to  remonstrate  against 
admitting  the  prisoners  to  bail  in  $500,  as  they  had  made  an  outrageous  onslaught 
upon  officers  in  the  discharge  of  their  duty,  and  had  shot  Under-Sheriff  Hegeman 
in  the  head. 

Counsellor  McCue  replied,  in  a  somewhat  facetious  strain,  that  Mr.  Hegeman 
is  often  "  shot  in  the  head  ;  "  and  his  manner  produced  much  laughter  after  the 
remark. 

Mr.  Schumacher  defended  his  client  by  observing  that  some  of  the  prisoners' 
attorneys  got  as  often  ^'shot  in  the  neck  "  as  the  Under-Sheriff  did  in  the  head. 
The  iiptness  of  this  remark  convulsed  the  bar,  and  even  disturbed  the  gi'avity  of 
the  judge.  —  Brooklyn  Journal,  April  18,  1855. 


588 


SHO— SHU 


Should.  "  Shall  "  and  "  should  "  are  very  generally  employed  instead 
of  "  will  "  and  "  would." 

Shoulder-Hitter.    A  ruffian,  bully.    A  recent  accession  to  blackguard 

nomenclature,  in  which  we  are  now  so  rich. 

Just  such  conduct  as  that  exhibited  by  Judge  R  compelled  seven  thou- 
sand citizens  to  leave  their  offices,  stores,  shops,  and  factories,  to  rid  the  city  of 
San  Francisco  of  the  pestilential  presence  of  a  band  of  shoulder-hitters  and  ballot- 
box  stufFers,  such  as  never  before  infested  an  American  city. — N.  Y.  Tribune, 
Sept.  30,  1858. 

So  long  as  substantial  citizens  choose  to  leave  politics  to  shoulder-hitters,  rum- 
sellers,  and  bummers  of  every  degree,  so  long  will  they  be  robbed  at  every  turn. 
N.  Y.  Cominercial  Advertiser,  Sept.  9,  1874. 

Shouting  Methodist.  The  prefix,  not  only  by  others,  but  also  by 
some  Methodists  themselves,  has  formerly  been  often  employed, 
with  reference  to  their  shouts. 

The  "  N.  Y.  Commercial  Adv.,"  in  noticing  the  death  of  the  Rev. 
W.  G.  Brownlow,  calls  him  "  a  shouting  Methodist  preacher." 

Shove.    A  hemp-stalk. 

Shove.  When,  with  violent  commotion,  the  ice  in  the  St.  Lawrence 
at  Montreal  in  winter  piles  up,  it  is  said  to  shove ;  and  the  glacial 
bridge  is  never  permanently  formed  or  safe  until  after  the  ice  has 
shoved.    Also  used  as  a  noun ;  as,  "  The  shove  took  place  last  night. " 

Shoveller.  {Anas  chjpeata.)  A  beautiful  duck,  chiefly  found  in 
Texas  and  in  the  streams  of  the  Rocky  Mountains;  though  it  is 
sometimes  seen  in  our  Northern  waters. 

Show.    A  good  show  means  good  prospects;  a  bad  one,  the  opposite. 

Show !   An  interjection  of  surprise ;  pshaw ! 

To  show  off.    To  make  a  display. 

Shucks.  The  outer  husk  or  shell  of  the  walnut,  chestnut,  &c.,  or  the 
husk  of  Indian  corn.  In  England,  the  word  is  applied  to  pods  as 
well  as  husks;  as,  pea-shucks.  In  the  South,  where  the  word  is 
most  in  use,  it  is  also  applied  to  the  shells  of  oysters.  Not  worth 
shucks  is  a  Southern  expression,  meaning  good  for  nothing.  In  the 
late  civil  war,  when  the  paper  money  of  the  Confederacy  depreci- 
ated, it  was  called  shucks. 

If  them  thar  is  all  he 's  got  to  offer,  he  ain't  worth  shucks;  and,  if  you  don't 
lick  him,  you  ain't  worth  shucks  neither.  —  Eobb,  Squatter  Life. 

They  had  three  or  four  hounds,  and  one  great  big  yellow  cow,  what  wasn't 
worth  shucks  to  trail.  —  Major  Jones's  Courtship,  p.  48. 


SHU 


689 


The  bear  didn't  seem  to  care  shucks  for  him  ;  for  he  sot  the  old  rifle  agin  the 
saplin',  and  walked  off  on  his  hind  legs  jest  like  any  human.  — Mike  Hooter,  by 
a  Missourian. 

To  shuck.  To  shuck  corn  is  to  strip  off  the  husks,  called  in  the 
South  "shucks,"  from  Indian  corn. 

Hence,  to  shuck  off  one's  coat  is  to  strip  or  peel  it  off,  as  for  a 
fight. 

He 'd  get  as  mad  as  all  wrath,  and  charge  like  a  ram  at  a  gate-post;  and,  the 
first  thing  you  knowed,  he'd  shuck  o/"  his  coat  to  fight.  — Southern  Sketches, 
p.  31. 

Shucking  or  Corn-Shucking.    See  Husking. 

And  when  the  lamp  is  lighted 

In  the  long  November  days, 
And  lads  and  lasses  mingle 

At  shuckinfj  of  the  maize ; 
When  pies  of  smoking  pumpkin 

Upon  the  table  stand, 
And  bowls  of  black  molasses 

Go  round  from  hand  to  hand  ; 
When  slap-jacks,  maple-sugared, 

Are  hissing  in  the  pan, 
And  cider,  with  a  dash  of  gin. 

Foams  in  the  social  can ; 

With  laughter  and  with  weeping 

Then  shall  they  tell  the  tale, 
How  Colt  his  foeman  quartered. 

And  died  within  the  jail. 

Bon  Gaultier,  Lay  of  Mr.  Colt. 

Shut.    To  get  shut  off.    See  Shet. 

To  shut  up.  1.  To  stop  talking;  to  hold  one's  tongue.  A  vulgar 
expression,  for  which  to  dry  up  is  now  sometimes  substituted.  Used 
also  in  England. 

Jones  was  singing,  "  'Tis  the  Star-Spangled  Banner  ;  "  but  was  soon  made  to 
shut  up,  and  Leviller's  name  was  called.  — Pickings  from  the  Picayune. 

Did  you  ever  see  a  marmaid  V  Well,  then,  I  reckon  you  'd  best  shut  up ;  'cause 
I  have,  —  and  marmen  too,  and  marmisses.  —  Burton,  Waggeries. 

The  musician  suddenly  "  shutup,'^  and,  after  many  suspicious  sights  at  Charley, 
jumped  over  to  the  side  of  the  lady,  and  spoke  a  few  words  in  his  own  language 
with  more  than  customary  rapidity.  — N.  Y.  Sjnrit  of  th  e  Times. 

"Look  here,  boys,"  said  the  preacher  to  a  crowd  which  had  gathered  round, 
laughing  and  betting,  with  slang  oaths  and  imprecations,  "None  of  this  at  the 
camp-meeting!  This  is  the  Lord's  ground  here;  so  shut  up  your  swearing,  and 
don't  fight."  —il/rs  Stowe,  Dred,  Vol.  I.  p.  312. 

This  odd  expression  appears  in  a  recent  work  of  one  of  England's 
most  distinguished  authors,  no  less  than  Professor  Jowett,  of  Ox- 
ford :  — 


590 


SHU— SHY 


The  Clialcedonian  giant,  Thrasymachus,  ...  is  vain  and  blustering,  refusing 
to  discourse  unless  he  is  paid,  fond  of  making  an  oration,  and  hoping  in  that  way 
to  escape  the  inevitable  Socrates;  but  a  mere  child  in  argument,  and  unable  to 
foresee  that  the  next  "move"  (to  use  a  Platonic  expression)  will  ^'shut  him  up." 
Dialogues  of  Plato,  Vol.  III.  p.  6. 

When  a  man  speaks,  he  spouts;  when  he  holds  his  peace,  he  shuts  up.  —  Rev. 
A.  Mursell,  of  Carlisle,  En<j.  (1858),  in  Lecture  on  Slancj. 

In  New  England,  we  sometimes  hear  aged  women  say,  "  We  've 
a  shut-up  winter, meaning  that  the  weather  has  been  severe,  so  that 
they  have  been  shut  up,  confined  to  their  houses. 

2.  To  cause  to  stop  talking;  reduce  to  silence. 

"I  order  you  again  to  shut  up,"  said  the  watchman,  "There  ain't  no  two 
ways  about  it:  you  must  either  shut  up  yourself,  or  I  '11  shut  you.  up  in  a  wink- 
ing." —  N.  0.  Picayune. 

Shut  up  your  Clam-Shells.  Close  your  lips  together;  be  silent. 
Common  along  the  shores  of  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,  where 
clams  abound.    Same  as  shut  up  your  head. 

Shute.    See  Shoot. 

To  shy.  To  throw  a  light  substance,  as  a  flat  stone  or  a  shell,  with 
a  careless  jerk.    And  so  in  England. 

Just  to  make  matters  lively,  I  headed  xip  alongside  of  Molly,  and  shied  a  few 
soft  things  at  her,  such  as  asking  how  she  liked  bar  steaks  cooked,  and  if  Jim 
warn't  equal  in  the  elbow  to  a  mad  panter's  tail,  and  such  amusin'  conversa- 
tion. —  Robb,  Squatter  Life. 

To  shy  around.    To  hang  about. 

I  was  kind  of  shying  round,  and  looking  at  the  everlastin'  sight  of  books,  when 
he  came  in.  —  Major  Downing,  May-day  in  New  York,  p.  1. 

Shyster.  A  term  applied  to  a  set  of  men  who  hang  about  the  Police 
Courts  of  New  York  and  other  large  cities,  and  practise  in  them  as 
lawyers,  but  who,  in  many  cases,  have  never  been  admitted  to  the 
bar.  They  are  men  who  have  served  as  policemen,  turnkeys,  sher- 
iff's officers,  or  in  any  capacity  by  which  they  have  become  familiar 
with  criminals  and  criminal  courts. 

The  miserable  creature  who  has  fallen  into  the  watchman's  clutches  may  make 
his  escape,  if  he  has  money;  but,  if  not,  he  must  go  to  quod,  and  wait  next  day 
for  the  visits  of  the  shyster  lawyers,  —  a  set  of  turkey-buzzards,  whose  touch  is 
pollution  and  whose  breath  is  pestilence.  — New  York  in  Slices,  The  Tomhs. 

When  a  man  or  woman  is  thrown  into  prison,  a  shyster  leech  gets  access  to 
him,  and  extorts  from  him  his  last  cent  under  the  pretence  of  obtaining  his  liber- 
ation. —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

The  appearance  of  a  large  number  of  abandoned  women  in  the  Police  Court 
drew  together  a  large  concourse  of  people.  The  shysters,  or  Tombs  lawyers,  w^ere 
on  hand,  and  sought  to  intercede  for  their  clients;  but  the  magistrates  would 
listen  to  no  appeals.  —  Ibid.,  March  13,  1857. 


SIC— SID 


691 


rhe  Prison  Association  held  its  monthly  meeting  last  night.  The  report  Avas 
rich  in  incidents  and  developments  about  the  skinners,  sharks,  and  shysters  of  the 
Tombs.  —  New  York  Express. 

Sick.    Afflicted  with  disease.  — Johnson.    Ill  in  health. 

In  England,  and  in  the  genteel  society  of  onr  Eastern  cities,  the 
word  ill  is  invariably  used  for  a  person  afflicted  with  disease.  The 
good  old  English  word  sick  is  going  out  of  use,  and  is  seldom  heard 
except  when  applied  to  one  who  is  sick  at  the  stomach  or  afflicted 
with  nausea.  In  both  the  Bible  and  New  Testament,  the  word 
"  sick  "  is  always  used  for  one  out  of  health,  disordered,  or  afflicted 
with  disease,  while  ill  is  not  used  in  a  single  instance.  Shakspeare 
uses  ill  in  a  few  instances,  but  generally  the  term  sick,  thus:  — 

In  poison  there  is  physick ;  and  this  news 
That  would,  had  I  been  well,  have  made  me  sick, 

Being  sick,  hath  in  some  measure  made  me  well.  — Henry  IV.,  Part  II.  1.  1. 
Pro.    When  I  was  sick,  you  gave  me  bitter  pills. 
And  I  must  minister  the  like  to  you.  —  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona,  Act  ii.  Sc.  4. 
P.    Shut,  shut  the  doors,  good  John!  fatigued  I  said. 
Tie  up  the"  knocker,  say  I 'm  sick,  I 'm  dead.  —  Pope,  Prolorjue  to  Satires. 

Chaucer,  Gower,  Milton,  Dryden,  Cowper,  and  the  best  English 
writers,  use  the  word  precisely  in  the  sense  given  by  Johnson. 

2.  Very  indifferent,  contemptible.  The  word  is  expressive,  but 
vulgar. 

Sick  Market.  AVhen  brokers  very  generally  hesitate  to  buy  stocks, 
there  is  said  to  be  a  sick  market.  Such  a  state  of  things  is  generally 
the  consequent  of  a  previous  over-speculation.  When  the  reverse 
is  the  condition  of  things,  and  every  thing  is  buoyant,  it  is  called  a 
swimming  market.  — Medhery. 

Side-Hill,  for  hill-side.  The  side  or  slope  of  a  hill;  sloping  gromid. — 
Webster. 

Above  the  creek  on  the  side-hill,  they  have  dug  rifle-pits,  and  keep  up  a  reg- 
ular system  of  pickets  of  considerable  strength.  —  Cor.  New  Hampshire  Pal- 
ladium. 

Side-Lines.    In  Canada,  the  secondary  roads,  the  main  ones  being 

called  concession  roads,  to  which  the  side-lines  run  at  right  angles. 
Sideling.    Inclined  to  one  side ;  directed  towards  one  side;  as,  "The 
gi'ound  was  sideling.''^ 

There  are  no  rebel  picket  stations.  ...  On  the  sidelinr/,  they  have  dug  rifle- 
pits,  .  .  .  and  still  occupy  the  fort  in  view  of  Edwards's  Ferry. — N.  Y.  Tribune. 

A  fellow  nailed  up  maps  in  a  gentleman's  closet,  some  sideline/,  and  others 
upside  down,  the  better  to  adjust  them  to  the  panels.  — Swift. 

To  sidle  up  is  also  heard,  meaning  to  approach  sidewise;  to  make 
indirect  motions. 


592 


SID— sia 


Side-Walk.  The  walk  for  foot-passengers  on  each  side  of  the  car- 
riage-way in  a  street  or  road.  In  England,  it  is  called  the  "  pave- 
ment." 

As  there  is  but  very  little  mud  at  any  time  in  Copiapo,  and  few  suitable  pebble 
stones,  only  a  street  or  two  has  been  paved;  nor  has  the  municipal  council  given 
much  thought  to  the  necessity  of  side-walks. —  Gilliss's  Chili,  Vol.  I.  p.  252. 

Side-Winder.    A  heavy  blow  with  the  fist.    New  York. 

Mayor  Wood  is  just  the  man  to  seize  and  improve  in  an  inaugural  address  the 
opportunity  of  dealing  Recorder  Smith  what  the  boys  call  a  side-winder.  — N.  Y. 

Tribune. 

Side-Wipe.    A  heavy  blow  with  the  fist.  Southern. 

Arch  would  fetch  him  a  side-wipe  on  the  head,  and  knock  him  into  the  middle 
of  next  week.  —  Southern  Sketches,  p.  31. 

Sidings.  Wedge-shaped  boards  used  for  the  sides  and  roofs  of 
houses. 

To  sidle  out.    To  get  out  sideways ;  to  back  out.  Southern. 

If  he  tried  to  sidle  out  of  the  quarrel,  Arch  would  get  as  mad  as  wrath,  an' 
swar,  an'  curse,  an'  run.  —  Southern  Sketches,  p.  31. 

Sidling.  A  place  at  which  to  turn  off  on  a  railroad  to  wait  for  a  pass- 
ing engine.    The  English  term  is  siding. 

Sierra.  (Span.)  A  ridge  of  mountains.  The  term  is  universally 
applied  to  mountain  ridges  in  New  Mexico  and  California. 

At  night,  above  their  rocky  bed 

They  saw  the  stars  march  slow; 
The  Avild  Sierra  overhead. 
The  desert's  death  below.  —  Whittier. 
The  sperms,  which  surround  the  plain,  teem  with  the  precious  metals;  .  .  .  one 
person,  without  capital  or  machinery,  derives  a  considerable  income  from  a  mine 
which  produces  gold,  silver,  lead,  and  sulphur  from  the  same  sierra.  —  Ruxton's 
Mexico,  p.  131. 

Sight.  1.  A  great  many;  a  great  deal.  An  old  meaning  of  the  ^ 
word,  still  colloquial  in  England,  and  of  ancient  use.  "  A  sight  of 
people  "  is  a  great  multitude ;  ' '  my  husband  is  a  sight  handsomer 
than  yours,"  i.  e.  much  handsomer. 
A  wonder  sight  of  flowers. —  Gower,  Conf.  Amantis  {ed.  Pauli.),  Vol.  I.  p.  121. 
Sight  is  used  in  most  of  the  Northern  and  Eastern,  and  heap  in 
the  Southern  and  Western  States. 

Yes,  Mr.  Speaker,  I 'd  a  powerful  sight  sooner  go  into  retiracy  among  the  red, 
wild  aborigines  of  our  wooden  country,  nor  consent  to  that  bill.  —  Carlton,  The 
New  Purchase,  Vol.  I.  p.  74. 

2.  In  North  Carolina,  the  distance  that  can  be  seen  on  a  road  is 
called  a  sight. 


SIG— SIL 


593 


3.  The  pupil  or  interior  of  the  eye,  as  distinguished  from  the 
whole  of  the  eye;  as,  "  He  was  hurt  in  the  sight  of  his  eye."  New 
England. 

Sign.    In  the  unsettled  parts  of  the  far  West,  the  traces  of  the  recent 
presence  of  men  or  animals  are  called  signs^  or,  more  technically, 
sign.    One  hears  of  Indian  sign^  cow  sign,  bear  sign,  hog  sign,  &c. 
"What 's  the  sign  out  on  the  plains  ?  " 

"War-party  of  Rapahoes  passed  Squirrel  at  sundown  yesterday,  and  nearly 
raised  my  animals.  Sign,  too,  of  more  on  the  left  fork  of  Boiling  Spring."  — 
N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  negro  brain  is  incapable  of  that  acute  reason- 
ing Avhich  constitutes  a  cunning  hunter.  I  have  known  black  men  who  could 
read  "^i^«"  or  lift  a  trail  with  as  much  intuitive  quickness  as  either  red  or 
M'hite.  —  Captain  Mayne  Rtid,  Osceola,  p.  113. 

Several  deer  jumped  out  of  the  bottom  when  we  entered,  and  on  the  banks  of 
the  river  I  saw  some  fresh  beaver  sign.  —  Buxton's  Mexico  and  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, p.  173. 

The  men  scoured  the  country  around  in  search  for  the  missing  mules ;  and, 
having  seen  Indian  sign  keeping  near  us  for  miles,  they  believed  the  animals  had 
been  taken.  —  BartletVs  Personal  Narrative. 

Our  Delawares  report  that  they  have  seen  numerous  fresh  buffalo  signs,  and 
that  we  shall  soon  come  upon  the  herds.  —  Captain  Mar cy,  Rejjort  onthe  Red 
River. 

To  signalize.  To  communicate  information  by  means  of  signals  or 
telegraph ;  to  signal.    An  absurd  use  of  the  word. 

The  ship  was  signalized  about  eight  o'clock  this  morning,  and  came  up  the 
harbor  in  fine  style.  —  N.  Y.  Com.  Adv.,  Jan.  17,  1848. 

To  sign  off.  To  release  a  debtor  by  agreeing  to  accept  whatever  he 
offers  to  pay;  to  give  a  receipt  in  full  of  all  demands.  An  expres- 
sion common  among  merchants. 

In  Connecticut,  the  law  provided  that  dissentients  resident  in  a 
parish  might  become  free  from  taxation  there,  as  for  maintenance 
of  pastor  and  support  of  schools,  on  presentation  of  a  certificate 
appropriately  signed,  stating  that  they  conscientiously  dissented, 
&c.,  and  that  they  were  members,  &c.,  of  another  "  approved  eccle- 
siastical organization.  Hence  arose  the  expression  sign  off,  as  well 
as  that  of  certificate  off,  which  see. 

Silk-Grass.    See  Bear-Grass. 

Silk-Plant.  "  A  plant  resembling  sumac,  growing  near  springs  on  the 
great  plains  of  the  West.  The  bark  is  tough  and  resembles  flax. 
The  Ottoes  and  Omahaws  make  lariats  of  the  bark,  which  are  said 
to  be  stronger  and  better  than  those  made  of  hide.  The  French 
call  it  vache  a  lait ;  the  Mexicans,  capote  des  acarte ;  the  Pueblo 

38 


594 


SIL— SIN 


Indians,  noche.  The  latter  make  fishing-lines  and  fine  thread  of  it, 
while  the  root  is  used  for  medicinal  purposes."  —  Slanshurij'' s  Sail 
Lake  Expedition,  p.  175. 

Silver  Fox.  (Canis  argentatus.)  A  black  fox,  with  white  hairs 
interspersed  on  the  back.  Like  the  Cross-fox,  this  variety  is  rare. 
It  is  found  in  the  United  States  and  Canada.  Its  skin  is  used  for 
ladies'  muffs,  and  brings  a  high  price. 

Silver  Gar.    See  Bill-Fish. 

Silver  Grays.  This  term  originated  in  the  State  of  New  York,  and 
was  applied  to  the  conservative  portion  of  the  Whig  party.  At  a 
political  convention  in  that  State,  certain  measures  proposed  not 
being  agreeable  to  many,  they  at  once  withdrew.  As  they  left  the 
meeting,  it  was  observed  that  many  were  men  whose  locks  were  sil- 
vered by  age,  which  drew  forth  the  remark  from  some  one  present, 
"  There  go  the  silver  grays  !  "  The  term  remains,  and  is  the  only 
one  now  (1859)  used  to  distinguish  one  branch  of  the  Whig  party. 

To  similate.    To  be  like  another  thing. 

And  this  holds  true  both  of  actions  which  similate  the  intellect,  and  those 
which  similate  the  moral  sense,  such  as  gratitude  and  shame  in  a  dog.  —  Tap- 
pan's  Psychology. 

'Simmon.  A  contraction  for  persimmon ;  as  in  the  Southern  adage, 
"  The  longest  pole  knocks  down  the  ^simmotis.^' 

A  possum  on  a  'simmon  tree 

With  one  eye  looked  right  down  on  me. 

Fast  by  his  tail  the  creature  hung, 

And  in  the  chorus  sweetly  sung.  —  Comic  Song. 

Simolin.    Simlin  and  Symlin.    See  Cimlin. 

Sin.  Used  occasionally  by  the  illiterate  for  since  :  as,  "  Sin  yesterday;  " 
"  Sin  I  went."  Connecticut. 

Sinews.    Money;  funds. 

Sing,  n.   A  meeting  for  practice  in  singing. 

Singed  Cat.  An  epithet  applied  to  a  person  whose  appearance  does 
him  injustice. 

Who  would  have  thought  that  milksop  of  a  lawyer  would  have  done  so  well  V 
Howsomever,  you  can't  judge  a  fellow  from  his  looks.  After  all,  that 's  a  fact ; 
for  that  critter  is  Yike  a.  singed  cat,  better  nor  he  seems.  —  Sajn  Slick,  The  Old 
.Tudge,  Vol.  I.  p.  4-i. 

Parson  Brownlow  has  found  an  antagonist  in  the  Rev.  Mr.  Pryne.  of  Cii  cin- 
nati.  So  when  the  Tennessee  parson  visits  Philadelphia,  they  are  to  have  it :  ^Ve 
reckon  there'll  be  fun,  as  a  Cincinnati  paper  says  Pryne  is  a  perfect  singed  cat! 
New  Orleans  Bulletin,  May,  1858. 


SIN— SIT 


595 


I'd  made  sure  you'd  played  hookej'-.  But  I  forgive  you,  Tom.  I  reckon 
j'ou're  a  kind  of  a  singed  cat,  as  the  saying  is,  —  better 'n  you  look.  —  Marie 
Twain,  Tom  Sawyer,  p.  20. 

Singing.    In  Pennsylvania,  a  singing-school. 

Sink-Hole  or  Sink.  A  hole  or  depression  in  limestone  lands  where 
the  waters  sink  and  are  lost.  These  places  are  common  in  the  INIid- 
dle  and  Western  States.    See  Cavern  Limestone. 

A  hunter,  while  in  the  pursuit  of  a  deer,  fell  into  one  of  those  deep,  funnel-shaped 
pits,  formed  on  the  prairies  the  settling  of  waters  after  heavy  rains,  and 
known  by  the  name  of  sink-holes.  —  Irving,  Tour  on  the  Prairies,  p.  147. 

Leaving  the  Pecos,  we  stopped  to  look  at  some  limestone  sifiks  near  the  road. 
The  earth  and  stones  had  caved  in,  or  sunk,  in  spots  varying  frpni  ten  to  thirty 
feet  in  diameter. — Bartletfs  Personal  Narrative,  Vol.  I.  p.  110. 

The  limestone  of  Jones  County  [Virginia]  is  not  far  off,  and  sinks  are  frequent 
in  limestone  beds  ;  in  Georgia,  they  are  called  limestone  sinks.  —  Si/linum's  Jour- 
nal, Oct.,  1831. 

Sir,  to  You.  Said  by  a  man  returning  another's  salutation  viva  voce 
received;  as,  "Good  morning.  Sir,"  —  "Sir,  to  you."  Low, 
though  intended  to  be  extra-respectful  and  polite. 

Sirree.  "  Yes,  sj'rree,"  and  "  No,  sirree,^^  for  "  Yes,  sir,"  and  "  No, 
sir."  This  vulgar  slang,  which  originated  in  New  York,  is  now 
heard  throughout  the  Union.  Sometimes,  as  if  not  already  puerile 
enough,  the  word  "      "  is  added;  as,  "  Yes,  sirree,  hob.'''' 

■  While  hearing  a  case,  the  attorney  stated  in  his  plea  that  he  believed  one  of 
the  jurors  was  intoxicated.   The  judge,  addressing  the  man  alluded  to,  said  :  — 
"  Sir,  are  you  drunk  V  " 

The  juror,  straightening  himself  up,  in  a  bold,  half-defiant  tone,  replied,  "  Vo, 
sirree,  boh  !  " 

"  Well,"  said  the  judge,  "  I  fine  you  five  dollars  for  the  ^  ree  '  and  ten  for  the 
'  bob.'  "  —  Baltimore  Sun,  March  30,  1857. 

Sirs.  This  plural  is  adopted  by  many  persons  in  commercial  corre- 
spondence, in  beginning  their  letters.  Instead  of  the  word  Gentlemen, 
addressed  to  a  firm,  they  write,  Dear  Sirs. 

Sirs,  said  the  umpire,  cease  your  pother.  —  Chamelion. 

Siss  and  Sissy.  Contractions  for  sister,  often  used  in  addressing 
girls,  even  by  their  parents. 

Sistern,  for  sisters.  A  vulgar  pronunciation,  sometimes  heard  from 
uneducated  preachers  at  the  West. 

Brethurn  and  sisturn,  it's  a  powerful  great  work,  this  here  preaching  of  the 
gospel,  as  the  great  apostle  hisself  allows  in  them  words  of  hissin  what 's  jest 
come  into  my  mind ;  for  I  never  knowed  what  to  preach  till  I  ris  up.  —  Carlton, 
The  New  Purchase,  Vol.  I.  p.  203. 

Sit.  (Pron.  set.)  To  sit  up  with  is  to  court  a  young  woman 


596 


SIT— SKE 


Sithe.    A  sigh.    Used  also  in  England.  —  Halliwell. 

Sitio.  (Span.)  A  Spanish  superficial  measure,  used  in  the  States  and 

Territories  of  Sj^anish  origin.    The  sitio  is  a  league  of  land  of 

5,000  varas,  and  is  equal  to  4,428  English  acres. 
Six-Shooter.    A  revolver  with  six  chambers.    See  Shooter. 
To  sizz.    To  sizzle;  to  make  a  hissing  sound;  used  in  the  same  sense 

as  sizzle.    See  below.    He  sat  under  a  sun  whose  rays  fairly  made 

the  flesh  to  sizz.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 
To  sizzle.    To  hiss  from  the  action  of  fire.  —  Forhy. 

From  the  ends  of  the  wood,  the  sap  fries  and  drips  on  the  sizzlinr/  coals  below, 
and  flies  off  in  angry  steam.  —  Margaret,  p.  159. 

Skale.    See  Squale. 

Skanes.    Iron  plates  to  keep  an  axle-tree  from  wearing.  In  England, 

called  clouts. 
Skearsome  or  Skeersome.    See  Scaresome. 
Skeary  or  Skeery.    Easily  frightened,  timid.    See  Scary. 

Give  her  the  house  and  homestead,  —  a  man  can  thrive  and  roam,  — 
But  women  are  skeery  critters,  unless  they  have  a  home. 

Carlton,  Farm  Ballads,  p.  18. 

To  skedaddle.  To  rim  away;  a  hurried  and  confused  retreat;  a  slang 
term  which  originated  with  our  soldiers  during  the  late  civil  war. 
It  is  synonymous  with  "to  cut  stick,"  "to  vamose  the  ranch," 
"to  slope,"  "to  cut  your  lucky,"  "to  clear  out,"  "to  absquat- 
ulate." The  term  came  into  general  use  in  the  contending  armies, 
and  is  now  as  common  in  England  as  in  this  country. 

Various  have  been  the  attempts  to  trace  the  origin  of  the  word, 
one  of  the  most  remai-kable  of  which  is  to  trace  it  to  Greece.  First, 
a  writer  thinks  he  has  discovered  its  etymology  in  the  word  sktdan- 
numi  (o-fceSavi/u/xt) ,  of  which  the  root  is  skeda,  used  by  Thucydides 
(IV.  56,  112)  and  Herodotus  (V.  102)  to  describe  the  dispersion 
of  a  routed  army.  Another  writer,  who  appears  in  the  "  Louisville 
Journal,"  also  claims  a  Grecian  birth  for  the  word.  "  The  primi- 
tive of  skedaddle ^''^  he  says,  "  is  a  pure  Greek  word  of  great  anti- 
quity. It  occurs  in  Homer,  Hesiod,  ^schylus,  Sophocles,  Herodo- 
tus, Thucydides,  and  Xenophon;  and  it  was  used  to  express  in 
Greek  the  very  idea  that  we  undertake,  in  using  it,  to  express  in 
English.  Homer,  in  the  Iliad,  uses  only  the  aorist  eskedasa  or 
skedasa.  Thus  in  Iliad,  19-171,  we  have  skedason  laon  for  scat- 
tering, dispersing. 

In  Prometheus,  ^schylus  thus  uses  it  (skeda)  in  making  "  the 
sun  disperse  the  hoar  frost  of  the  morn."    And  again  Prometheus 


SKE 


597 


uses  this  word  in  predicting  woes  upon  Jupiter,  when  he  says  that 
"  a  flame  more  potent  than  the  lightning  "  shall  be  "  invented,  which 
shall  (skeda)  shiver  the  ocean  trident,  the  spear  of  Neptune." 

In  the  Odyssey,  we  find  Homer  using  skedasis  in  describing  the 
scattering  of  the  suitors  of  Penelope  when  Ulysses  should  come,  and 
in  the  twentieth  book  of  the  Odyssey  we  have  the  same  word  used  for 
"  the  dispersing  oi  the  suitors  to  their  houses,"  as  the  result  of  the 
return  of  Ulysses. 

Another  writer,  in  the  "  Albany  Evening  Journal,"  scoffs  at  the 
claims  of  the  Hellenists  for  a  Grecian  origin  of  the  word,  and  finds 
no  difficulty  in  tracing  it  alike  to  the  Gaelic,  the  Welsh,  and  the 
Irish,  in  each  of  which  languages  he  discovers  analogous  words. 
His  Welsh  word  is  ysgudaw,  to  scud  about.  With  this  example,  it 
is  unnecessary  to  follow  this  etymologist  farther.  A  fourth  writer 
says  it  is  a  common  Scottish  word;  that  it  means  to  "  spill  milk," 
and  that  we  have  wholly  misapplied  the  word.  A  fifth  says  in  the 
"Boston  Journal  "  that  it  is  a  word  which  has  long  been  in  use 
among  the  lumbermen  of  Wisconsin  in  the  same  sense  in  which  our 
soldiers  used  it. 

Recently  (Sept.  15,  1877)  appeared  in  the  "  Philadelphia  Times  " 
a  claimant  for  an  Irish  origin  of  the  word.  The  writer  says  it 
occurs  in  the  Irish  version  of  the  New  Testament  quotation  from  the 
prophets,  thus:  "  I  will  smite  the  shepherd,  and  the  sheep  shall  be 
scattered,"  which  last  word  is  said  to  be  sgedadoL  In  the  same 
newspaper  is  a  communication,  the  writer  of  which  says  he  first  heard 
the  word  on  the  4th  of  March,  1861,  the  day  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  first 
inauguration,  and  made  this  statement  in  the  New  York  "  Hearth 
and  Home  "  several  years  ago.  This  led  to  a  communication  from 
Kansas,  in  which  the  writer  said  he  had  heard  the  word  in  Kansas 
several  years  before,  during  the  struggle  between  the  anti-slavery 
and  pro-slavery  parties  in  that  (then)  Territory. 

A  writer  in  the  "  Atlantic  Monthly,"  for  August,  1877,  discusses 
the  etymology  of  the  word,  and  mentions  its  presumed  Greek  origin, 
"from  skedannumi,  which  means  to  scatter,  and  also  to  be  scat- 
tered, to  disperse,  to  put  or  take  flight."  The  same  writer  says 
that  some  English  friends  from  Lancashire  told  him  they  "  had 
heard  skedaddle  there  every  day  of  their  lives;  "  that  it  means 
"to  scatter,  or  drop  in  a  scattering  way."  Regarding  this  state- 
ment, we  will  only  observe  that  we  have  examined  the  English  Pro- 
vincial Dictionaries  of  Halliwell  and  Wright,  which  profess  to  give 
all  the  English  provincial  words,  as  well  as  a  large  number  of  se[)a- 
rate  glossaries,  in  none  of  which  do  we  find  the  word  in  question. 


698 


SKE— SKI 


Congressmen  may  plan  and  twaddle 

How  the  fighting  should  be  done; 
Bull  Run  taught  them  to  skedaddle, 

Ely  took  too  slow  a  run.  — Sum/. 

With  the  South-east  clear  and  General  Price  retiring  into  Arkansas  in  the 
South-west,  we  may  expect  to  witness  such  a  grand  skedaddle  of  Secesh  and  its 
colored  property  as  was  never  seen  before.  —  Missouri  Cor.  N.  Y.  Tribune,  18G1. 

No  sooner  did  the  traitors  discover  their  approach  than  they  skedaddled,  a 
phi-ase  the  Union  boys  up  here  ai)ply  to  the  good  use  the  seceshers  make  of  their 
legs  in  time  of  danger.  —  Cor.  Missouri  JJemocrat,  Aug.,  1861. 

Their  noisy  drums  had  ceased,  and  suddenly  I  perceived  a  general  skedaddle, 
as  those  upon  our  right  flank  started  off  in  full  speed.  —  Sir  Samuel  Baker, 
Ismailia,  p.  211. 

Skeezicks.    A  mean,  contemptible  fellow.  Western. 

At  a  Republican  meeting  in  Indiana,  the  other  day,  a  speaker  named  Long  re- 
sponded to  a  loud  call  and  took  the  stand.  But  a  big,  strapping  fellow  persisted 
in  crying  out  in  a  stentorian  voice,  "  Long,  Long!  "  This  caused  a  little  confu- 
sion; but,  after  some  difficulty  in  making  himself  heard,  the  president  succeeded 
in  stating  that  Mr.  Long,  the  gentleman  honored  by  the  call,  was  now  address- 
ing them.  "Oh,  he  be  d— d!"  replied  the  fellow:  "he's  the  little  skeezicks 
that  told  me  to  call  for  Long !  "  This  brought  down  the  house.  —  (  Wash.)  Even- 
ing Star,  Nov.,  1858. 

Skid.  A  piece  of  light  timber,  from  ten  to  twenty  feet  in  length, 
upon  which  heavier  timber  is  rolled  or  slid  from  place  to  place. 

Skilts.  A  sort  of  brown  tow  trowsers  formerly  worn  in  New  England, 
very  large,  and  reaching  just  below  the  knees.  In  Dorsetshire, 
England,  half -boots  are  called  slcilty-hoots. 

Her  father  .  .  ,  wore  a  sort  of  trowsers  known  at  the  time  as  skilts;  they  were 
short,  reaching  just  below  the  knee,  and  very  large,  being  full  a  half-yard  broad 
at  the  bottom,  and,  without  braces,  were  kept  up  by  the  hips,  sailor-fashion.  — 
Judd's  Maryaret,  p.  8. 

The  lad's  skilts,  through  which  were  thrust  his  lean,  dry  shanks,  gave  him  a 
semblance  to  a  peasant  of  Gascony  on  stilts.  —  Tbid.,  p.  22. 

Skimping.  Scanty,  as  the  pattern  of  a  dress.  Used  also  in  the 
south  of  England. 

To  skin.  To  get  a  lesson  by  the  help  of  a  "pony  "  (translation)  or 
by  cramming  from  a  fellow-student. 

Barefaced  copying  from  books  and  reviews  in  their  compositions  is  familiar  to 
our  students,  as  much  so  as  skinning  their  mathematical  examples.  —  Bristed's 
Five  Years  in  an  Engl.  Univ.,  p.  394. 

But  now  that  last  Biennial 's  past ; 
I  skinned  and  fizzled  through. 

C.  E.  Trumbull,  Song  of  the  Sheepskin. 


SKI— SKU 


590 


Among  the  cadets  at  the  U.  S.  Military  Academy,  West  Point, 
^'■tohe  skinned  "  is  to  be  demented. 
Skin.    "  Skin  your  own  skunk,^^  i.  e.  do  yom'  own  dirty  work. 
Skinner.    See  Shyster. 

Skipjack.  The  skipjack  of  the  Boston  market  is  the  Bonito  (Sarda 
pelamys,  Linn.) ;  but  the  fish  more  generally  known  by  the  name  is 
the  Scomheresox  scutellatus  of  Lesuem',  also  called  "saury"  and 
"  skipper. ' '    See  Blue-Fish. 

Skipper.  The  cheese-mite.  Also  called  in  England  the  Cheese- 
hopper. 

Skippery.    Abounding  in  cheese-mites. 

With  the  opening  of  spring,  insects,  caterpillars,  and  reptiles  will  start  from 
their  hiding-places,  and  the  earth  appear  as  animated  as  a  plate  of  skippery 
cheese  or  the  carcass  of  a  dead  horse  in  dog-days.  —  Dow's  Ser7)ions,Yoh  II. 
p.  268. 

To  skite.    To  skite  about  is  to  go  running  about. 

To  skive.  To  pare;  to  cut  thin,  especially  a  piece  of  leather  so  as  to 
leave  a  bevelled  edge,  as  also  of  an  inner  shoe-sole,  so  as  to  leave 
the  central  part  thicker  or  rounded  up.  In  general  use  in  New 
England. 

Skivings.    Scraps  of  leather ;  leather  waste. 
Skullduggery.    Underhand  plotting.  Missouri. 

Skunk.  1.  (Mephitis  mephitica.)  A  small,  carnivorous  American 
quadruped,  allied  to  the  weasel  and  badger,  and  which,  on  being 
irritated,  emits  a  very  fetid  secretion.  The  name  is  from  the 
Abenaki  Seganku. 

Old  men,  you  can't  conceal  the  sad  changes  time  has  wrought  upon  you.  You 
may  scent  your  persons  with  the  sweetest  perfume;  but  they  will  no  more  com- 
pare with  the  rich  fragrance  that  youth  and  beauty  emit,  than  the  atmosphere 
which  surrounds  a  wounded  skunk  can  equal  the  odor  of  an  orange  grove.  — 
Dow's  Sermons,  Vol.  II.  p.  244. 

2.  A  vile  or  good-for-nothing  fellow. 

Now,  Tom,  vou  skunk,  this  is  the  third  time  you've  forgot  to  set  on  that 
switch.  —  Notes  on  Canada,  (fc,  Blackwood. 

To  skunk.  1.  To  utterly  defeat  In  games  of  chance,  if  one  of  the 
players  fails  to  make  a  point,  he  is  said  to  be  skunked.  To  defeat 
an  adversary  at  draughts  or  checkers,  without  having  permitted  him 
to  reach  the  king-row,  is  to  skunk  him.  A  Presidential  candidate 
who  fails  to  secure  one  electoral  vote  is  said  to  be  skunked. 

2.  A  student  who  leaves  college  without  settling  up  is  said  to 
skunk  his  bills. 


600 


SKU— SKY 


Skunk-Bear.    {Gulo  Imcm.')    The  wolverine;  so  called  in  the  Far 

West.    Also  known  as  the  Carcajou.  —  Captain  Ludlow^s  Report  on 

the  Yelloivstone^  p.  65. 
Skunk-Blackbird.    The  common  marsh  blackbird,  so  called  in  the 

rural  districts  of  New  England,  New  York,  and  Canada.  See 

Boholink. 

We  followed  that  old  Polyglot,  the  skunk-blackbird,  and  heard  him  describe  the 
way  they  talked  at  the  winding  up  of  the  Tower  of  Babel.  —  H.  W.  Beecher, 
Star  Papers,  p.  192. 

Skunk-Cabbage.  (Symplocarpus  fcetidus.)  A  strong-scented,  repul- 
sive plant,  exceedingly  deserving  of  the  name  it  bears.  The  odor 
depends  on  a  volatile  principle,  not  separable  by  distillation.*  This 
plant  has  been  found  useful  in  asthma  and  some  other  diseases.  — 
Bigelow^s  Plants  of  Boston. 

The  green,  tender  blades  of  youth,  the  ripened  stems  of  manhood,  and  the 
blooming  flowers  of  beauty,  all  fall  indiscriminately  before  the  fell  stroke  of  time, 
and  wither  together  like  skunk-cabbage,  clover-heads,  and  lilies. — Dow's  Sermons, 
Vol.  II.  p.  183. 

To  think  you  have  got  to  believe  every  thing  your  party  does  seems  jest  as 
unreasonable  as  it  would  be,  when  you  go  out  to  pick  greens,  to  pick  skunk- 
cabbage  because  cow  cabbage  is  good  and  wholesome.  Why,  skunk-cabbage  is 
pison,  jest  as  pison  as  ratsbane. — Betsy  Bobbet,  p.  250. 

Skunkhead.  The  popular  name,  on  the  sea-coast,  of  the  Pied  Duck 
(Anas  Lahradora)  of  ornithologists.  —  Nat.  Hist,  of  New  York. 

To  skylark.    To  play  in  a  rude  style. 

Others,  alike  indifferent  to  heat,  fatigue,  or  hunger,  were  romping  and  sky- 
larhing  with  each  other.  —  Cor.  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Skylarking.  A  term  used  by  seamen  for  games  or  tricks  with  each 
other  in  the  rigging,  tops,  &c.,  of  ships,  and  hence  transferred  to 
any  kind  of  rough  play. 

The  "  New  York  Courier  and  Enquirer,"  May  19,  1858,  in  speak- 
ing of  an  election  for  officers  of  the  Mercantile  Library,  says:  — 

There  was  a  considerable  amount  of  skylarking  carried  on  from  sunset  until 
midnight  in  the  halls  and  passages  of  the  building,  hats  were  smashed,  and 
members  tumbled  on  the  floor;  but  everybody  preserved  good  humor,  and  even 
the  defeated  candidates  3'ielded  to  the  contagious  influence  of  merriment  and 
hilarity. 

Sky-Parlor.    A  cockloft;  a  chamber  in  a  garret,  or  the  garret  itself. 

Sky-Pilot.  A  minister  of  the  gospel;  particularly  applied  to  chap- 
lains in  the  navy. 

Sky-Racket.    The  vulgar  pronunciation  of  sky-rocket. 

Skyugle,  Scyugle.  A  queer  word  that  originated  with  the  Union 
soldiers  during  the  late  war.    An  army  officer,  writing  from  head- 


SLA 


601 


quarters  in  Virginia,  says  :  "  The  word  scyugle,  it  will  be  perceived, 
has  any  meaning  one  chooses  to  attach  to  it:  it  has  not  only  a 
variety,  but  a  contrariety  of  meanings.  It  is  synonymous  M'ith 
'  gobble  '  and  with  '  skedaddle,'  is  used  for  any  other  word,  and  for 
want  of  any  other  word." 

A  corps  staff  officer  dismounted  near  me  a  moment  ago.  I  inquired  where  he 
had  been  riding.  He  informed  me  that  he  had  been  out  on  a  general  scyugle ; 
that  he  had  scyuyled  along  the  front,  when  the  Rebels  scyugltd  a  bullet  through 
his  clothes;  that  he  should  scyugle.  his  servant,  who,  by  the  way,  had  scyugled 
three  fat  chickens,  for  a  supply  of  ice  ;  that  after  he  had  scyuvled  his  dinner,  he 
proposed  to  scyugle  a  nap.  —  Army  and  Navy  Journal,  July  11,  1864. 

Slabbing.    Among  the  White  Mountains,  a  mountain  is  said  to  be 

slabbed  when  a  road  is  made  around  its  sides. 
Slab-bridged.    Whoever  has  driven  over  a  stream  by  a  bridge  made 

of  slabs  will  feel  the  force  of  this  epithet  applied  to  a  fellow  of 

shaky  character.  —  Lowell. 
To  slab  oflF.    To  throw  aside  as  useless,  like  the  outside  piece  of  a  log 

when  sawn  up  into  planks,  which  is  called  a  slab. 

You  must  take  notice  that  I  am  slabbed  off  from  the  election,  and  am  nothing 
but  a  "  voter;  "  and  this  gives  me  a  right  to  dictate  to  the  rest.— Crc»cA;e^  Tour, 
p.  212. 

Slab-sided.    Having  perpendicular  sides,  wall-sided. 

To  get  any  thing  to  eat  was  only  to  be  accomplished  by  taking  a  stand  some 
one  or  two  hours  before  meal-time,  and  this  was  invariably  done  by  a  slab-sided 
genius  from  the  hungry  side  of  the  Granite  State  Hills. — N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the 
Times. 

"  My  dear  girls,"  said  the  preacher,  "  I  like  to  see  a  small  waist  as  well  as 
anybody ;  and  females  with  hour-glass  shapes  suit  my  fancy  better  than  your 
Dutch-churn,  soap-barrel,  slab-sided  sort  of  figures  ;  but  I  don't  want  to  give  the 
credit  to  corsets."  —  Doiv's  Sermons,  Vol.  H.  p.  200. 

Jack  Downing  says  that  Maine  is  the  middle  and  kernel  of  real  Yankeeism  ; 
Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut  point  to  each  other  as  the  focus  of  the  article ; 
while  the  Massachusetts  man  will  tell  you  that  the  real  slab-sided  whittler  is 
indigenous  to  Varmount  and  New  Hampshire.  —  Knickerbocker  Mag.,  March, 
1856. 

Slack-baked.    Applied  to  character;  wanting  in  native  good  sense; 

deficient  in  sagacity. 
Slang.    A  narrow  valley.    The  place  settled  by  the  French  Huguenots 

in  Rhode  Island  has  ever  been  called  the     slang  orchard."  The 

word  is  provincial  in  England,  where  it  means  a  long  slip  of  land. 

Wright. 

Slang-Whanger.  This  curious  word  is  defined  by  Mr.  Pickering  as 
signifying  "  a  writer  or  noisy  talker,  who  makes  use  of  that  sort  of 
political  or  other  cant  which  amuses  the  rabble,  and  is  called  by  the 


602 


SLA 


vulgar  name  of  slang.''^  The  word  frequently  occurs  in  Paulding's 
Salmagundi,  but  it  is  now  seldom  heard. 

"Mere  availability,"  and  the  "available  candidate,"  are  not  the  phrases  with 
which  the  slan(j-whan(jers  of  all  sides  assail  the  Philadelphia  Convention.  —  New 
York  Battery. 

Parson  Brownlow  is  a  local  preacher  and  editor  in  Knoxville,  Tennessee,  and 
one  of  the  slancj-whanyers  of  the  South-west.  — Harper's  Magazine,  Dec,  1857. 

Slang- Whanging.  Political  cant.  In  Hotten's  "  Slang  Dictionary" 
is  Slang-whanger,  "  a  long-winded  speaker. "  Parliamentary. 

Part  of  the  customary  slang-whanginr/  against  all  other  nations  which  is  habit- 
ual to  the  English  press.  —  iV".  Y.  Coin.  Adv.,  Oct.  10,  1845. 

If  the  word  is,  as  has  been  supposed,  of  American  origin,  it  has 
been  adopted  in  the  mother  country:  — 

What  else  ?    No  part  I  take  in  party  fray, 
With  tropes  from  Billingsgate's  slany-whanying  Tartars; 

I  fear  no  pope,  —  and  let  Ernest  play 
At  Fox  and  Goose  with  Fox's  Martyrs! 

Hood,  Ode  to  Ray  Wilson. 

Slant.    A  side  blow.    A  slang  word. 

Slantendicular.    Aslant ;  oblique.    A  factitious  vulgarism. 

Slantendicularly  or  Slantwise.  Obliquely. 

Pony  got  mad,  and  sent  the  Elder  right  slap  over  his  head  slantendicularly,  on 
the  broad  of  liis  back,  into  the  river.  — Sam  Slick  in  England,  ch.  28. 

Slap- Jack.  A  pancake.  A  country  girl  formerly  was  not  considered 
eligible  for  marriage  until  she  could  make  a  shirt  and  toss  a  slap- 
jack fairly  right  into  the  middle  of  the  pan.  In  England,  they  are 
called  Jlap-jacks. 

To  the  Van  Nests  of  Kinderhook,  if  report  may  be  believed,  are  we  indebted 
for  the  invention  of  slajJ-jacks  or  buckwheat  cakes.  —  Knickerbocker'' s  New  Yoi-kj 
p.  352. 

Slashes.  Swampy  or  wet  lands  overgrown  with  bushes.  Southern 
and  Western.    Also  heard  in  the  State  of  New  York. 

In  the  Adirondacks,  the  term  is  applied  to  a  swath  cut  by  a  whirl- 
wind through  the  woods. 

Although  the  inner  lands  want  the  benefit  of  game  (which,  however,  no  pond 
or  slash  is  without),  yet  even  they  have  the  advantage  of  wild-turkeys,  &c. — 
£everly''s  Virginia,  1705,  Book  II. 

Between  this  and  Edenton  there  are  many  whortleberry-sZas^es,  which  afford 
a  convenient  harbor  for  wolves  and  foxes.  —  Westover  Papers,  p.  28. 

Slash-Ground.  Land  on  which  the  brush  has  been  cut  and  left  lying. 
New  York. 

Slat.  A  narrow  piece  of  board  or  timber,  used  to  fasten  together  large 
pieces;  as,  the  slats  of  a  cart  or  chair.  — Webster.    Mr.  Wright  saya 


SLA 


603 


the  word  is  used  in  Northamptonshire  to  denote  "  the  flat  step  of  a 
ladder." 

To  slat.  A  word  of  uncertain  derivation,  signifying  to  throw  down 
with  violence.  —  Toone^s  Glossary. 

Slatted  his  brains  out,  then  soused  him  in  the  briny  sea.  —  Old  Flay,  The 
Malcontents. 

With  that,  T  handed  him  my  axe,  and  he  slatted  about  the  chamber  a  spell.  — 
Major  Downing's  Letters,  p.  200. 

Suz  alive!  but  warn't  my  dander  up  to  hear  myself  called  a  flat?  down  I  slat 
the  basket,  and  upsought  all  the  berries.  — Lafayette  Chronicle. 

Aunt  Nancy  would  retire  to  the  kitchen,  and,  taking  up  the  dipper,  would  slat 
round  the  hot  water  from  a  kettle.  —  iV".  Y-  Com.  Adv.,  May  15,  1846. 

Slate.  A  programme;  a  list;  a  nomination.  "To  make  a  slate." 
"The  party  has  got  up  a  new  slate  foi-  Members  of  Congress," 
i.  e.  they  have  prepared  a  new  programme  or  a  new  ticket.  A 
"portfolio." 

The  facts  about  the  latest  Cabinet  slate  ...  are  interesting,  as  showing  what 
is  thought  by  many  persons  of  political  prominence  as  to  the  course  of  President 
Hayes  in  choosing  his  advisers.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  March  1,  1877. 

Slathers.    A  great  quantity. 

I  am  going  to  be  a  clown  at  a  circus.  They  get  slathers  of  money,  —  most  a 
dollar  a  day.  —  Mai'h  Twain,  Tom  Sawyer,  p.  76. 

Slave-Breeder.  A  breeder  of  slaves.  Formerly  slaves  were  raised 
in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  to  be  sold  to  planters  farther  South, 
where  they  were  in  demand,  and  hence  commanded  a  higher  price. 

The  slave-breeders,  slave-drivers,  and  slave-traffickers  of  the  South.  —  Lett,  of 
Count  Garowski. 

Slave-Code.    A  body  or  digest  of  laws  relating  to  slaves  and  slavery. 

There  being  no  slave-code  of  the  government  [of  the  United  States],  nor  any 
power  by  which  that  government  can  hold  a  slave.  —  Dr.  Cheever  in  N.  Y. 
Independent. 

Slave-Dealer.    A  slave-trader. 

Well  known  to  have  been  the  slave-dealers,  men  who  wield  a  large  amount  of 
money,  and  are  very  numerous  in  Richmond.  —  Baltimore  Patiiot,  Nov.,  18G1. 

Slave-Driver.  A  negro-driver,  a  subordinate  overseer  of  slaves  on  a 
plantation.    See  Driver. 

Slave-Hunt.  During  slavery  times,  a  hunt  after  run-away  slaves, 
often  with  the  aid  of  blood-hounds. 

Have  ye  heard  of  our  hunting,  o'er  mountain  and  glen, 
Through  cane-brake  and  forest,  —  the  hunting  of  men  ? 

Whittier,  The  Hunters  of  Men. 


604 


SLA 


Slave-Labor.    The  labor  of  slaves. 

But,  when  I  hear  you  avowing  that  slave-labor  shall  not  come  in  competition 
with  free  labor,  ...  I  am  led  to  infer  that  when  the  throat-cutting  tragedy  comes 
off,  you  hope  to  see  the  whites  the  victors.  — A  Voice  from,  the  South,  p.  19. 

Slave-Liberator.    A  person  who  liberates  a  slave. 

By  the  refusal  of  Mr.  Lincoln  to  act,  Gordon,  the  slave-dealer,  Avas  hung;  by 
his  direct  interference,  Gordon,  the  slave-liberator,  was  taken  from  the  dungeon 
where  the  cruel,  slave-catching  law  put  him.  —  Washington  Cor.  N.  Y.  Tribune, 
April,  1862. 

Slave-Lord.    A  man  made  arrogant  and  imperious  by  slave-holding. 
N.  Y.  Times,  Dec.  16,  1861. 

Slaveocraoy.    The  owners  of  slaves,  as  a  class;  slaveholders.  The 
persons  or  interest  representing  slavery  politically. 

Arnold  Buffum  was  the  next  talker  [at  the  meeting  of  the  National  Reformers]. 
The  burden  of  his  song  was  the  Constitution  —  Slavery  —  Free  Soil  —  an  anec- 
dote or  two  —  and  an  exhortation  to  curb  the  slaveocracy. — JV.  Y.  Express, 
Sept.  4,  1848. 

To  this  end,  the  entire  influence  and  patronage  of  the  government,  its  civil, 
military,  and  moral  power,  are  all  directed;  and  alongside  of  these,  prominent 
and  threatening,  stands  the  bullying  of  the  slaveocracy,  boastingly  pointing  to 
the  bowie-knife,  the  pistol,  and  the  bludgeon,  and  impudently  taunting  the  entire 
North  with  cowardice.  — N.  Y.  Courier  and  Enq  ,  May  27,  1856. 

Slaveoorat.    A  slaveholder. 

Slave-Owner.    A  slaveholder. 

It  has  raised  the  price  of  slaves,  thus  diminishing  the  profit  to  slave-owners.  — 
N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Slaveownia.    What  were  formerly  the  slaveholding  States. 

Their  [the  Confederate]  officers  besought  them  to  stand  firm,  ...  to  recall  the 
valorous  deeds  of  their  ancestors  on  other  fields,  the  honor  of  Secessia,  the  repu- 
tation of  Slaveownia  for  valor  and  chivalry,  and  a  great  many  other  things. — 
Letter  from  Kansas,  N.  Y.  Tribune,  1862. 

Slave-Pen.    A  place  for  confining  slaves. 

The  slave-pens  which  have  so  long  disgraced  the  capital  and  the  nation,  and 
enriched  their  keepers,  are  at  last  to  be  swept  away.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  1832. 

Slave  Power.    The  political  power  of  slaveholders;  the  body  of 
slaveholders. 

Slaver.    1.  A  vessel  engaged  in  the  slave-trade. 

2.  A  person  engaged  in  the  purchase  and  sale  of  slaves;  a  slave- 
merchant  or  trader.  — Webster. 

The  slaver's  hand  was  on  the  latch. 

He  seemed  in  haste  to  go.  —  Longfellow. 


SLA— SLE 


605 


Slave-Ship.    A  ship  employed  in  the  slave-trade ;  a  slaver.  —  Webster, 

Up  from  the  slave-shijys  prison, 

Fierce,  bearded  heads  were  thrust ; 
Now  let  the  sharks  look  to  it, 

Toss  up  the  dead  ones  first. 

Whittier,  The  Slave  Ships. 

Slave  State.    A  State  in  which  negro  slavery  exists. 

Either  the  cotton  and  rice  fields  of  South  Carolina  and  the  sugar  plantations  of 
Louisiana  will  ultimately  be  tilled  by  free  labor,  and  Charleston  and  New  Orleans 
become  marts  for  legitimate  merchandise  alone,  or  else  the  rye-fields  and  wheat- 
fields  of  Massachusetts  and  New  York  must  again  be  surrendered  by  their  farmers 
to  slave  culture  and  to  the  production  of  slaves,  and  Boston  and  New  York  be- 
come once  more  markets  for  trade  in  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men.  It  is  the  failure 
to  apprehend  this  great  truth  that  induces  so  many  unsuccessful  attempts  at  final 
compromise  between  the  slave  and  free  States,  and  it  is  the  existence  of  this  great 
fact  that  renders  all  such  pretended  compromises,  when  made,  vain  and  epheme- 
ral." —  S/)eec/«  of  Hon.  W.  H.  Seward,  Oct.,  1858. 

Slavist.    A  pro-slavery  person. 

The  "X.  Y.  Independent,"  of  May  29,  1862,  in  speaking  of  a 
letter  of  G.  Gratz  Brown,  of  Missouri,  says:  — 

It  is  a  brief  and  bold  avowal,  and  proof  of  the  financial  necessity  of  emancipa- 
tion in  Missouri.  Mr.  Brown's  figures  are  unanswerable,  though  doubtless  some 
slavist  will  babble  against  them. 

Sled.    See  Ferry  Flat. 

To  sleep.  Sometimes  used  as  an  active  verb;  as,  "This  steamboat 
can  sleep  three  hundred  passengers,"  i.  e.  can  furnish  sleeping  ac- 
commodations for  them.  We  have  heard  of  a  landlady  who  said 
"she  could  eat  fifty  people  in  her  house,  although  she  could  not 
sleep  half  the  number." 

Sleeper.    A  sleeping-car. 

Sleeping-Car.  A  railway  car  or  carriage,  arranged  with  apartments 
and  berths  for  sleeping. 

A  sleeping-car  always  makes  a  jolly,  family-like  company,  and  there  is  noth- 
ing that  destroys  the  conventionality  of  society  so  speedily  and  so  thoroughly, 
in  the  matter  of  getting  acquainted,  as  turning  in  on  board  one  of  these  wandei*- 
ing  lodging-houses  .  .  .  Occasionalh',  a  coy  damsel  or  a  veteran  spinster  seems 
to  rebel  against  the  free-and-easy  manners  of  [\\&  sleejnrKj-cars ;  but  they  make 
themselves  uncomfortable,  and  are  sure  to  provoke  just  that  notice  and  comment 
thev  least  want.  —  McClure,  Three  Thousand  Milts  throuyh  the  Rochj  Mountains, 
p.  24. 

Sleigh.  A  vehicle  moved  on  runners,  and  gi'eatly  used  in  America 
for  transporting  persons  or  goods  on  snow  or  ice.  —  Webster.  In 
England,  it  is  called  a  sledge.  During  the  winter  of  1844,  after  a 
fall  of  snow  in  London,  an  English  newspaper  observed  that  "the 


606 


SLE— SLI 


(^ueen  was  making  preparations  for  sledge-driving^^''  which  in 
America  few  would  understand  to  mean  that  her  Majesty  was 
about  taking  a  sleigh-ride. 

Bards  may  sing  with  a  musical  ring 

To  their  love  for  a  summer's  day, 
But  better  for  me  the  crystal  sea, 

With  a  ride  in  a  bouncing  sltigh. 

Son(js  of  Amherat  Coll. 

Sleigh-Bell.  A  small  hollow  ball,  made  of  bell-metal,  having  a  slit 
in  it  that  passes  half  round  its  circumference,  and  containing  a 
small,  solid  ball  of  a  size  not  to  escape.  These  bells  are  fastened 
to  leathern  straps,  which  pass  round  the  necks  or  bodies  of  the 
horses.  They  produce  a  musical  and  lively  sound,  which  is  useful 
to  give  warning  of  the  approaching  vehicle,  and  is  pleasing  to  the 
ear. 

Sleighing.  1.  The  state  of  the  snow  which  admits  of  running 
sleighs. —  Webster.  As,  good  sleighing,''^  had  sleighing  and, 
in  the  winter  when  there  is  no  snow,  we  say  there  is  "no  sleigh- 
ing.^' 

2.  The  act  of  riding  in  a  sleigh.  —  Webster. 
Sleigh-Ride.    Used  both  as  a  noun  and  as  a  verb. 

Men  do  not  derive  the  right  to  do  good  from  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  nor  need 
they  go  to  the  Westminster  Confession  for  liberty  to  recover  the  intemperate,  set 
free  the  bond,  feed  the  hungry,  clothe  the  naked,  educate  the  ignorant,  and  give 
sleigh-rides  to  beggars'  children  that  never  before  laughed  and  cuddled  in  a 
buffalo-robe.  — Rev.  H.  W.  Beecher. 

In  winter,  we  sleigh-ride,  coast,  skate,  and  snow-ball. —  Margaret. 

Slewed.  Tipsy;  drunk.  A  common  expression  in  the  United 
States,  and  also  used  in  Yorkshire,  England. 

"Never  go  to  bed,"  said  a  father  to  his  son,  "without  knowing  something 
you  did  not  know  in  the  morning."  "Yes,  sir,"  replied  the  youth,  "I  went  to 
bed  slewed  last  night,  — didn't  dream  of  such  a  thing  in  the  morning."  —  Whig 
Almanac,  1855. 

Slice.  A  common  term  in  New  England,  N"ew  York,  and  Canada,  for 
a  large  fire-shovel.  Provincial  in  England.  See  Halliwell  and 
Wright. 

Slick.  1.  The  popular  pronunciation  of  sleek,  and  so  written  by 
some  authors.  —  Webster.  It  is  also  used  adverbially  in  vulgar 
language,  like  many  other  adjectives. 

"  This  word,"  says  Todd,  "  was  formerly  written  slick ;  and  slick 
or  slicken  is  still  our  northern  word."  It  is  also  provincial  in  Kent; 
while,  in  other  parts  of  England,  the  verb  to  slick,  to  comb  or 
make  sleek  the  hair,  is  provincial.  —  Hollowaifs  Prov.  Diet. 


SLT 


607 


Her  flesh  tender  as  is  a  chicke, 
With  bent  browes,  smooth  and  slike. 

Chaucer^  Rom.  of  the  Rose. 
That  the  bodie  thereof  is  not  all  over  smoothe  and  sUcke  (as  we  see  in  birds' 
eggs)  is  shewed  by  good  arguments.  —  Holland,  Trans,  of  Pliny. 

The  railroad  company,  out  of  sheer  parsimony,  have  neglected  to  fence  in  their 
line,  which  goes  slick  through  the  centre  of  your  garden.  — BlaclcwoocC s  ]\In(j.^ 
July,  1847. 

But  you 've  all  read  in  ^sop,  or  Phredrus,  or  Gay, 
How  a  tortoise  and  hare  ran  together  one  day ; 
How  the  hare,  making  play, 
"Progressed  right  slick  away," 
As  them  tarnation  chaps,  the  Americans,  say. 

Ingoldsby  Legends,  Vol.  I.  p.  241. 

"Well!  one  comfort  is,  that  there  ain't  many  folks  to  see  how  bad  vou  look 
here  in  the  woods!  We  ain't  used  to  seein'  folks  look  so  dreadful  slick,  —  so  it 
don't  matter.  —  Mrs.  Clavei^s's  Forest  Life,  Vol.  I.  p.  114. 

Then  here 's  to  women,  then  to  liquor; 
There's  nothing  swimmin'  can  be  slicker. 

Boatman's  Song. 

Singin'  is  a  science  which  comes  pretty  tough  at  first:  but  it  goes  s/<c^  after- 
wards.—  Peter  Cram  of  Tinnecum,  Knickerbocker  Mag.,  1841. 

The  Senate  could  not  pass  Mr.  Stevenson  tlirough  for  England.  The  reason 
was,  he  was  a-going  through  right  slick,  till  he  came  to  his  coat-pockets,  and  they 
were  so  full  of  papers  written  by  Ritchie  that  he  stuck  fast,  and  hung  by  the 
flaps.  —  Crockett,  Tour,  p.  120. 

I've  hearn  tell  that  courtin'  is  the  hardest  thing  in  the  world  to  begin,  though 
it  goes  on  so  .slick  arterwards.  —  Traits  of  American  Humor,  Vol.  II.  p.  18. 

Nobody  can  waltz  real  slick,  unless  they  have  the  spring-halt  in  one  leg,  as 
horses  sometimes  have.  —  Doic's  Sermons. 

2.  A  smooth  place  in  the  water  where  fish  abound.  New  Eng- 
land. 

You  have  seen  on  the  surface  of  the  sea  those  smooth  places  Avhich  fishermen 
and  sailors  call  slicks.  Our  boatman  said  they  were  caused  by  the  blue-tish  chop- 
ping up  their  prey  [the  menhaden],  and  that  the  oil  from  this  butchery,  rising  to 
the  surface,  makes  the  slick.  Whatever  the  cause  may  be,  we  always  found  fish 
plenty  whenever  we  came  to  a  slick. —  Daniel  Webster,  Private  Cor.,  Vol.  II. 
p.  332. 

3.  A  long-handled,  thin,  and  broad  paving-chisel. 

Slick  as  a  Whistle.  A  proverbial  simile,  in  connnon  use  throughout 
the  United  States.  To  do  any  thing  as  slick  as  a  ichisde  is  to  do 
it  very  smoothly,  perfectly,  adroitly. 

You  know  I  told  you  in  my  last  letter  I  was  going  to  bring  INIiss  Mary  up  to 
the  chalk  at  Christmas.  Well,  I  done  it  slu  slick  as  a  whistle.  —  Major  Jones's 
Courtship,  p.  94. 

Slick  as  Grease.  Another  classical  expression,  conveying  the  same 
idea  as  the  foregoing;  sometimes  varied  into  slick  as  He  (oil). 


608 


SLI 


To  slick  up.    To  make  sleek;  to  make  fine. 

Mrs.  Flyer  was  slicked  up  for  the  occasion,  in  the  snuff-colored  silk  she  was 
married  in.  —  Mrs.  Clavers,  A  New  Home.,  p.  211. 

Tlie  house  was  all  slicked  up  as  neat  as  a  pin,  and  the  things  in  every  room  all 
sot  to  rights.  — Major  Downing/,  May-day,  p.  43. 

The  caps  most  in  vogue  then  were  made  of  dark,  coarse,  knotted  twine,  like 
a  cabbage-net,  worn,  as  the  wives  said,  to  save  slickiny  up,  and  to  hide  dirt. 
Carlton,  The  New  Purchase,  Vol.  I.  p.  72. 

To  slide.    To  go,  be  gone,  be  off.    See  also  To  let  slide. 

We  have  fought  the  field  together. 

We  have  struggled  side  by  side ; 
Broken  is  the  band  that  held  us,  — 

We  must  cut  our  sticks  and  slide. 

R.  S.  Willis,  Student's  Song. 

To  slide  out.    To  leave  by  stealth;  to  avoid  by  artifice  one's  share  of 

labor  or  responsibility. 
Slim.    "  He 's  looking  rather  i.  e.  in  poor  health. 

Slimsy .    Flimsy ;  frail.    Most  frequently  applied  to  cotton  or  other 

cloth. 

The  building  is  old  and  slimpsy.  —  Margaret,  p.  329. 

Sling,    A  drink  composed  of  equal  parts  of  rum  and  water  sweetened. 
Rush.    Gin-slings  are  more  commonly  drunk  now. 

To  sling.    1.  Sometimes  used  vulgarly  instead  of  to  swing. 

2.  To  do  with  ease  or  rapidity.  "I  just  slung  that  article." 
"  To  sling  a  leg,"  to  dance. 

We  swung  round  the  wharf;  and,  when  the  captain  told  the  people  who  I  was, 
they  slung  their  hats,  and  gave  three  cheers.  —  Crockett,  Tour  down  East,  p.  37. 

Slink.    A  sneaking  fellow. 

I  despise  a  slink.  —  Chron.  of  Pineville,  p.  139. 

Slinky.    Thin;  lank. 

Slip.    1.  The  opening  between  wharves  or  in  a  dock.  —  Wehsfer. 

This  word  is  peculiar  to  New  York,  where  we  have  Peck  Slip, 
Burling  Slip,  Old  Slip,  Coenties  Slip,  &c. 

2.  In  New  England,  a  long  seat  or  narrow  pew  in  a  church  with 
or  without  doors,  in  contradistinction  to  the  old-fashioned  "  square  " 
or  "  body  pew."  In  some  churches,  when  there  is  a  door,  they  are 
called  pews;  when  without  doors,  and  free  to  all,  slips. 

3.  A  loose  garment  worn  by  women. 

4.  Milk  turned  with  rennet,  &c.,  before  the  whey  separates  from 
the  curd. 

To  slip.    To  furnish  a  church  with  slips. 


SLI— SLO 


609 


Slipe.    A  distance. 

Well,  I  've  got  a  long  slipe  off  from  my  steamboat,  the  "  Hunter ;  "  and  I  had 
better  look  up  the  captain.  —  Crockett,  Tour,  p.  145. 

Slip-Gap.    See  Gap. 

Slipper-down.  A  vulgar  name  in  some  parts  of  Connecticut  for 
hasty-pudding.    The  etymology  is  obvious. 

Slippy-Noose.    A  running  knot;  a  slip  knot.  Connecticut. 

Slip-Slops.    Old  shoes  turned  down  at  the  heel.  Southern. 

The  term  is  probably  English ;  at  all  events,  a  loose  shoe  or 
slipper  is  called  a  slip-shoe  in  Norfolk. 

To  slip  up.    To  make  a  mistake. 

Sliver.  A  piece  of  any  substance,  as  wood  torn  or  split  off.  This 
word  is,  in  this  country,  commonly  pronounced  sliver;  but  the  Eng- 
lish orthoepists  all  pronounce  it  sliver.  —  Worcester. 

In  New  England,  this  word  is  used  as  a  verb  as  well  as  a  noun. 

As  there  was  nothin'  else  to  get  hold  of,  I  just  slivered  a  great  big  bit  off  the 
leg  of  the  chair,  and  made  a  tooth-pick  of  it.  —  Sam  Slick  in  England. 

2.  A  term  in  constant  use  among  the  Gloucester  fishermen, 
meaning  a  bait  made  from  small  fishes.  Slivers  for  fishermen's 
use  are  now  bought  and  sold,  and  charged  in  account  books,  as  a 
part  of  the  expenses  of  a  vessel's  outfit.  In  Newfoundland,  they  are 
called  kihlings. 

To  let  sliver.    To  let  slip,  let  fly,  i.  e.  to  fire. 

Old  Yelp  smelled  the  bar;  and,  as  soon  as  I  clapped  peeper  on  him,  I  let  sliver^ 
when  the  varmint  dropped.  — Robb,  Squatter  Life. 

Sloo.    A  slough.    See  Slue. 

The  excessively  high-water  divided  us  as  a  congregation.  The  water  in  the 
sloo,  as  every  run  or  wet  place  is  called  at  the  West,  .  .  .  overflowed  our 
causeway. 

Sloonly.    Ill  or  slovenly  dressed. 

Slope.    A  running  away,  elopement,  escape. 

Now  Sol  Wheelwright,  I  regret  to  say,  was  a  rowdy. 
Who  played  all-fours,  and  kept  late  hours  at  the  grog-shop, 
And,  forgetting  his  debts  and  the  girl  he  had  just  got  engaged  to. 
He  left  Mudfog,  made  a  slope,  and  went  off  to  Texas. 

Ballad  of  Blouzelinda. 

To  slope.    To  run  away.    A  common  vulgarism. 

As  the  officers  approached,  some  hid  themselves  in  their  ovens,  some  under  their 
beds ;  but  a  majority  sloped  without  hats,  shoes,  or  coats.  —  N.  Y.  Com.  Adv.^ 
Nov.  3,  1845. 

39 


610 


SLO 


The  editor  of  the  "Eagle"  cannot  pay  his  board  bill,  and  fears  are  entertained 
that  he  will  s%>e  without  liquidating  the  debt.  —  Robb^  Squatter  Life. 

The  constables  appeared  with  attachments;  each  person  interested  foized  his 
own  goods,  while  the  master  and  clerk  sloj)er2  to  parts  unknown.  —  Baltimore 
Patriot,  July  10,  1846. 

The  instant  an  English  mob  sees  two  dragoons  coming,  they  jist  run  like  a 
flock  of  sheep  afore  a  couple  of  bull-dogs,  and  slope  off,  properly  skeered.  —  Sam 
Slick  in  Enyland,  ch.  27. 

Ducange  Anglicanus  defines  "  to  slope,"  not  to  be  forthcoming. 
He  sloped;  i.  6.,  he  went  off.  —  Glosmry  of  the  Vulgar  Tongue. 

Many  a  night  from  yonder  ivied  casement,  ere  I  went  to  rest, 
Did  I  look  on  great  Orion  sloping  slowly  to  the  West. 

Tennyson,  Locksley  Hall. 
To  slop  over.    To  be  too  demonstrative ;  to  make  a  mistake  (par- 
ticularly from  excess  of  emotion).    "  B  completely  slopped  over 

in  his  late  speech  in  Congress."     "George  AVashington  never 
slopped  over.'' ^  —  Artemas  Ward. 
Slosh.    Sludge.    See  Slush. 

Sloshing  about.  Slashing.  A  Western  term,  which  is  said  to  have 
been  thus  explained  by  a  witness  who  was  testifying  in  court  rela- 
tive to  a  row :  — 

"  Come,  witness,  what  had  Mr.  Saltonstall  to  do  with  the  affair  V  " 

"Well,  I've  told  you,  they  clinched  and  paired  off,  but  Saltonstall  he  jest 
kept  sloshin''  about. ''^ 

"  That  isn't  legal  evidence,  my  good  fellow,  in  the  shape  you  put  it.  Tell  us 
what  you  mean  by  sloshin^  about.' ^ 

"  I  '11  try,"  answered  the  witness.  "  You  see  Brewer  and  Sykes  clinched  and 
fout.    That 's  in  a  legal  form,  ain't  it  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes  !  "  said  the  judge :  "  go  on." 

"  Abnev  and  Blackman  then  pitched  into  one  another,  and  Blackman  bit  off  a 
piece  of  Abney's  lip,  —  that 's  legal  too,  ain't  it  V  " 
"  Proceed !  " 

"  Simpson,  and  Bill  Stones,  and  Murry  was  all  together  on  the  ground,  a 
bitin',  gougin',  and  kickin'  one  another,  —  that 's  legal  too,  is  it  ?  " 
"Very!  but  go  on." 

"  And  Saltonstall  made  it  his  business  to  walk  backward  and  forward  through 
the  crowd,  with  a  big  stick  in  his  hand,  and  knock  down  every  loose  man  in  the 
crowd.   That's  what  I  call  sloshin''  about.''  —  Cairo  {Illinois)  Times,  Nov.,  1854. 

Sloshing  around.  Like  the  foregoing.  A  Western  term,  conveying 
the  same  meaning. 

Why,  how  you  talk !  Flow  could  their  [the  witches']  charms  Avork  till  mid- 
night V— and  then  it's  Sundav.  Devils  don't  slosh  around  umch  of  a  Sunday. 
Mark  Tivain,  Tom  Sawyer,  p.  67. 

The  "  New  York  Tribune,"  Feb.  21,  1877,  in  discussing  the  pro- 
ceedings in  the  House  of  Representatives  on  the  electoral  votes, 
says : — 


SLO— SLU 


611 


Speaker  Kandall  hammered  too  much  on  the  Democratic  side,  tore  through  too 
many  rules  to  get  a  decision  favorable  to  his  party,  paid  too  little  deference  to 
the  minority.  .  .  .  Washington  despatches  report  his  almost  certain  defeat  for 
Speaker  of  the  next  Congress.   Let  the  epitaph  be,  —  "Died  of  sloshing  around.^'' 

Slouch.  No  slouch.  "He's  no  slouch  at  a  picture ;"  {.  e,  he's  an 
excellent  artist. 

Slough-Grass.    A  coarse  grass  growing  in  sloughs  or  wet  places. 

The  old  gentleman  wadded  the  long  slough-grass,  their  only  fuel,  into  small 
bundles  for  the  stove. — Home  Missionary,  Lett,  from  Nebraska. 

Slue.    A  slough.    See  Sloo. 

The  Ohio  has  seldom  been  so  high  here  as  now.  All  the  creeks  and  slues 
above  and  below  are  full.  —  Lett,  from  Illinois,  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Sluice.  In  California,  Colorado,  and  other  mining  districts,  a  wooden 
trough  about  fifteen  inches  wide,  and  ten  or  twelve  deep,  of  various 
lengths,  used  for  washing  out  "pay-dirt."  A  ground-sluice  is  a 
trough  in  the  ground.  A  tail-sluice  is  a  sluice  below  other  sluices 
through  which  the  earth  and  water  passes.  A  sluice-hoic  is  a  box 
placed  at  the  lower  end  of  the  sluice  to  catch  the  gold. 

To  sluice.  A  term  used  by  gold-miners.  Sluicing  is  the  process  of 
separating  gold  from  earth,  through  a  wooden  trough,  into  which  a 
stream  of  water  is  turned.     See  Ground- Sluicing. 

To  sluice  off.    To  divert;  to  lay  aside. 

Something  of  present  earning  must  thus  be  sluiced  off,  to  repair  the  poverty  of 
the  past.  —  The  Congregationalist,  June  3,  1862. 

Slump.  A  favorite  dish  in  New  England,  called  an  apple-slump,  is 
made  by  placing  raised  bread  or  dough  around  the  sides  of  an  iron 
pot,  which  is  then  filled  with  apples  and  sweetened  with  molasses. 
It  is  also  called  Apple  Jonathan,  Apple  Pot-pie,  or  Pandowdy;  and, 
in  Pennsylvania,  an  Apple  Cobbler. 

To  slump.  To  sink  in  mire. — Jamieson.  To  sink  in  the  snow  or 
break  through  ice.    Provincial  in  the  former  sense  in  England. 

By  the  side  of  yon  river  he  sleeps  and  he  shimps. 
His  boots  filled  with  water  as  if  there  were  pumps. 

0.  W.  Holmes. 

Slumpy.  Marshy,  swampy.  — Jamieson,  Scottish  Die.  In  New  Eng- 
land and  Canada,  applied  to  wet,  loose  snow.  The  word  is  not  in 
the  English  dictionaries  in  any  sense. 

The  softening  of  the  great  body  of  snow  renders  the  roads  slumjjy  and  full  of 
•*  Thank-\'e-ma'ams,"  so  that  sleighing  is  not  altogether  a  blissful  experience 
just  now.  —  Providence  Journal,  Lett,  from  Maine. 

Slung-Shot.  An  offensive  weapon  formed  of  two  leaden  or  iron  bul- 
lets fastened  together  by  a  piece  of  rope  five  or  six  inches  long. 


612 


SLU— SMA 


One  bullet  is  held  in  the  hand,  while  the  other  hangs  outside  by  the 
rope,  which  passes  between  the  second  and  third  fingers.  A  blow 
from  it  on  the  head  will  fell  the  strongest  man.  It  is  also  called  a 
Billy. 

About  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  two  men  entered  the  store  of  C.  J.  Jansen 
&  Co.,  and,  professing  to  be  purchasers,  asked  to  see  some  blankets.  Mr.  Jan- 
sen, Avho  was  alone  in  the  store,  was  in  the  act  of  producing  the  articles,  when 
he  was  violently  struck  with  a  slunc/shot,  and  fell  insensible  on  the  floor.  — 
Annals  of'  San  Francisco,  p.  314. 

Slunk.  Produced  immaturely,  as  the  young  of  a  beast;  slink.  This 
form  of  the  word  is  also  used  in  the  eastern  counties  of  England. 

A  butcher  in  Cincinnati  was  arrested  for  killing  a  dog,  dressing  it  like  mutton, 
and  offering  it  for  sale.  Two  witnesses  testified  before  the  court  that  they  had 
known  the  prisoner  to  purchase  a  slunh  calf,  three  days  old,  and  offer  its  meat  for 
sale.  — Newspaper. 

Slut.  (Du.  slet,  an  old  clout  or  rag.)  A  substitute  for  a  lamp  or  can- 
dle, which  is  thus  described:  "  The  kerosene  was  all  gone,  and,  bein' 
out  of  candles,  I  made  what  they  call  a  slut,  which  is  a  button  tied 
up  in  a  rag,  and  put  into  a  saucer  of  lard ;  you  set  fire  to  the  rag,  and 
it  makes  a  light  that  is  better  than  no  light  at  all,  jest  as  a  slut  is 
better  than  no  woman  at  all." — Betsy  Bobbet,  p.  50. 

To  smack.    To  slap  the  face.  South-western. 

Small  Potatoes.  An  epithet  applied  to  persons  or  things,  and  signi- 
fying petty,  mean,  contemptible;  as,  "  He  is  very  small  potatoes.''^ 
Small  potatoes,  except  for  the  feeding  of  hogs  and  cattle,  are  worth- 
less; hence  the  expression  as  applied  to  men.  It  is  sometimes  put 
into  the  more  emphatic  form  of  small  potatoes,  and  few  in  a  hill.  Far- 
ther intensified  by  adding,  "  The  hills  a  good  loay  apart, — and  a 
great  way  to  go  to  dig  them.^' 

It's  small  potatoes  for  a  man-of-war  to  be  hunting  poor  game  like  us  little  fore- 
and-aft  vessels.  —  Sain  Slick,  Nature  and  Human  Nature,  p.  38. 

I  took  to  attendin'  Baptist  meetin' ;  because  the  Presbyterian  minister  here  is 
such  small  potatoes  that't  wan't  edifying  to  sit  under  his  preachin'. —  Widow 
Bedott  Papers,  p.  188. 

Give  me  an  honest  old  soldier  for  the  Presidency,  —  whether  a  Whig  or  Demo- 
crat, —  and  I  will  leave  your  small  potato  politicians  and  pettifogging  lawyers  to 
those  who  are  willing  to  submit  the  destiny  of  this  great  nation  to  such  hands. — 
N.  Y.  Herald,  Dec.  13,  1846. 

Smart.  1.  Qitick,  active;  keen,  shrewd,  intelligent.  Ex.:  "That's 
a  smart  lively  lad  of  yours;  "  "  He  is  a  smart  business  man."  These 
are  the  senses  in  which  the  word  is  most  commonly  used  in  this 
country  ;  while  in  England  it  now  usually  has  the  meaning  of  showy 
or  witty. 


SMA 


613 


I  say,  stranger,  that 's  a  powerful  smart-look'mg  cliunk  of  a  pony  you 've  got 
atwixt  your  legs  thar;  but  ponies  is  mighty  onsartin.  — A  Stray  Yankee  in  Texas. 
New  Haven,  with  its  shady  elms, 

And  Hartford,  Avith  its  charter,  — 
Connecticut,  my  native  State!  — 
Say,  can  you  find  a  smarter? —  AUin,  Home  Ballads. 
I  expect  we  free-born  Americans  is  the  smartest  people  under  the  sun;  we  do 
know  a  heap,  —  that  is,  some  on  us,  —  but  we  might  know  a  cord  more,  ef  we  warn't 
too  powerful  smart  to  learn.  —  iV^.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

2.  In  the  South  and  West,  the  word  is  frequently  used  (as  it  also 
is  in  the  east  of  England)  in  the  sense  of  considerable;  and  espe- 
cially in  such  phrases  as  "right  smart,^^  "  .smar^  chance,"  '■'■smart 
sprinkle,"  &c. 

The  invariable  answer  of  a  Negro  to  the  questions,  "  How  much?  " 
"  How  many?  "  &c.,  is,  "  Right  smart,"  and  it  is  difficult  at  times  to 
get  a  more  definite  reply. 
Smart  Chance.    1.  A  good  opportunity;  a  fair  chance.    A  vulgar 
expression. 

He  has  a  smart  chance  of  getting  a  better  character.  —  Sam  Slick  in  England, 
ch.  9. 

Says  I,  "  Friend  Wolfe,"  for  I  seed  there  was  a  smart  chance  of  a  row,  "play 
I  won't."  — 5.  Slick,  3d  Ser.,  p.  117. 

2.  A  good  deal;  a  large  quantity.  A  smart  chance  oi  anything 
means  a  considerable  quantity;  quite  a  smart  chance,  or  a  right  smart 
chance,  means  more;  and  a  mighty  smart  chance  is  the  superlative, 
and  means  a  very  large  quantity.  These  singular  expressions, 
used  in  the  Southern  and  Western  States,  are  never  heard  in  the 
Eastern.  Right  smart  is  often  used  alone;  as,  "  We  have  had  fine 
weather  this  season,  and  I've  right  smart  of  peaches,"  or  right 
smart  peaches." 

"There's  a.  smart  chance  o(  cigars  there  in  the  bar,  stranger,  if  you'll  try 
some  of  them,"  said  one  of  the  hoosiers.  —  Hoffman,  Winter  in  the  West. 

We  had  a  smart  chance  "  of  snow  on  Thursday;  it  fell  during  the  day  to  the 
depth  of  two  inches,  which  makes  a  considerable  snow-storm  in  this  part  of  the 
world.  —  Wilmington,  N.  C.,  Commercial,  Dec.  10. 

I  thought  of  the  new  wagon  that  we  wanted,  and  such  a  smart  chance  of  other 
things  about  the  farm.  —  Simms,  The  Wigwam  and  Cabin,  p.  85. 

How  is  the  old  woman  and  the  boys  ? 

Considerable  sassy,  only  thar 's  been  a  smart  chance  of  ague  down  in  our  neck 
of  the  woods.  —  A  Stray  Yankee  in  Texas. 

I  don't  pretend  to  say,  stranger,  what  sort  of  cattle  you  have  m  your  country; 
but  I  reckon  there 's  a  right  smart  chance  of  self-conceit  among  you  Yankees.  — 
Letter  from  the  South,  N.  Y.  Journ.  of  Com. 

A  correspondent  of  the  "  New  York  Evening  Post,"  in  giving  the 
peculiarities  of  diction  prevalent  near  Galena,  in  Illinois,  says:  — 


614 


SMA— SME 


If  you  should  go  into  the  house  where  the  ladies  are  making  a  fine  quilt,  and 
say  to  them,  "  Ladies,  you  are  making  a  fine  quilt,"  they  would  reply,  "Yes,  but 
it  takes  a  heap  of  truck  and  riyht  smart  thread." 

Smart  EUicks.  Stupid  fellows  who  think  themselves  smart.  South- 
western. 

Smartness.     Shrewdness;  keenness  in  a  trade. 

It  is  a  great  error  to  suppose  that  the  New  England  States  continue  to  deserve 
their  character  for  ''■smartness."'  Their  day  is  past.  Wooden  nutmegs  and  bass- 
wood  hams  were  well  eno4igh  some  years  ago;  but  that  sort  of  business  at  best 
was  beneath  the  dignity  of  rascals  who  "go  in  "  for  their  hundreds  of  thousands, 
and  whose  operations  ruin  households  instead  of  merely  giving  them  indigestioa. 
The  keen  fellows  now  live  in  the  West.  —  N.  Y.  Herald,  Sept.  11,  1857. 

Smart  Piece.    A  good  bit;  a  considerable  time. 

The  first  time,  stranger,  that  I  ever  see  Charle}'  Birkham  was  a  smart  piece 
ago,  — nigh  on  to  a  year  or  so  arter  I  left  up  thar  in  Tennessee,  whar  I  was  raised. 
N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

Smart  Sprinkle.  A  good  deal ;  a  good  many.  Used  in  the  interior 
of  the  Western  States. 

In  answer  to  some  query  about  snakes,  our  landlord  said  there  was  a  smart 
sprinkle  of  rattlesnakes  on  Red  Run,  and  a  powerful  nice  day  to  sun  themselves. 
Carlton,  The  New  Purchase,  Vol.  I.  p.  85. 

I  hadn't  sot  more  'n  a  minit  when  I  heerd  a  snort,  and  a  roar,  and  a  growl,  and 
a  right  smart  sprinMin'  of  fast  travellin',  all  mixed  up  together.  —  Western  Tale, 
Smoking  a  Grizzly  Bear. 

It  is  too  late  for  me  to  commence  plainin'  my  language,  though  I  once  had  a 
pretty  smart  sprinkVai'  of  larnin' ;  but  I  have  always  thought  when  I  was  young 
I  collapsed  a  flue,  and  a  right  smart  chance  of  it  leaked  out.  —  Tale  of  the  Berk- 
shire Pig. 

Smasher.  A  low  word  denoting  any  thing  very  large  or  grand  of  the 
kind.    It  is  of  English  origin. 

Put  up  your  benefit  for  that  night;  and  if  you  don't  have  a  smasher,  with  at 
least  six  wreaths,  say  I  don't  understand  managing  the  theatres.  — Field,  Drama 
at  Pokerville. 

Them 's  the  right  kind  o'  parties,  where  there  are  married  folks  and  young 
folks  together.  Mrs.  Knight  is  going  to  give  such  a  one  a  regular  smasher,  and 
she  's  able  to  do  it.  —  Widow  Bedott  Pajyers. 

Smear.    Food;  hash;  grub,  especially  a  society  spread  or  supper. 

Smear  Case.  (Dutch,  smeer-kaaff.)  A  preparation  of  milk  made  to 
be  spread  on  bread,  whence  its  name;  otherwise  called  Cottage- 
cheese.    In  New  York,  it  is  called  Pot-cheese. 

Smellage.    The  plant  lovage.    (^Ligusticum  levisticum.)  Connecticut. 

Smelling-Committee.  Persons  appointed  to  conduct  an  unpopular 
investigation.  The  phrase  originated  in  the  examination  of  a  con- 
vent in  Massachusetts  by  legislative  order. 


SMI— SMU 


615 


Smile.    A  drink,  dram.    A  cant  word. 

A  sturdy  young  German,  with  a  buxom  lass  of  recent  importation,  called  upon 
an  alderman  to  be  married.  .  .  .  When  the  ceremony  had  been  performed,  the 
alderman  smiled  upon  the  twain;  and  thereupon  the  "crowd"  was  invited  into 
the  Fifth  Ward  Hotel,  and  one  general  smile  entirely  absorbed  the  fee.  —  iV.  Y. 
Tribune,  Jan  31,  1855. 

Smiling.    Drinking,  tippling. 

A  writer  from  the  White  Sulphur  Springs  says :  — 

Last  night,  a  young  man  here  was  borne  to  another  world  on  the  wings  of 
spirits,  —  that  is  died  of  mania-a-potu.  Another  impetuous  youth  is  said  to  have 
dosed  himself  with  too  much  morphine,  through  the  effects  of  too  much  love  or 
folly.  They  say,  too,  he  is  dead.  There  are  many  more  fast  boys  about,  —  some 
devoted  to  the  sex,  some  to  horses,  some  to  "s»w7mr/,"  and  some  to  "  the  tiger." 
(.Bait.)  Sun,  Aug.  23,  1858. 

Smoke-Stack.  The  iron  chimney  or  smoke-pipe  of  a  steamboat. 
Thus  John  Hay,  after  describing  an  explosion  and  the  escape  of  the 
passengers,  says:  — 

Sure  as  you  're  born,  they  all  got  off, 
Afore  the  smohe-stacks  fell. 

Jim  Bludsoe  of  the  Prairie  Belle. 

Smoke  the  Pipe  of  Peace.  An  expression  of  the  Indians,  indicating 
friendly  relations;  a  ceremony  preparatory  to  making  a  treaty  of 
peace. 

To  our  great  King  your  gifts  we  will  convey, 
And  let  him  know  the  Talk  we  've  had  with  you; 
We  're  griev'd  we  cannot  smoke  the  Pipe  of  Peace, 
And  part  with  stronger  proofs  of  Love  and  Friendship. 

Robert  Rogers,  Ponteac,  A  Tragedy  (1766),  p.  -25. 
He  says  he  came  to  smoke  the  pipe  of  peace  with  the  Onondagas  ;  but  I  see  he 
came  to  knock  them  in  the  head,  if  his  Frenchmen  were  not  too  weak  to  fight. 
Speech  of  an  Iroquois  Chief  to  La  Barre,  Parkman's  Count  Frontenac,  p.  108. 
Let  him  sport  his  hound  and  hickorj--, 

Let  him  whiff  the  weed  of  peace. 
Olden  Oakwood,  live  for  ever! 

May  thy  fame  with  years  increase ! 
Win.  Boyd,  Oakwood  Old,  a  Colored  Quillograph,  Cambridge  (Mass.)  Chronicle,  1857. 

Smooth.    A  meadow,  or  grass  field. 

Get  some  plantain  and  dandelion  on  the  smooth  for  greens. 
To  smouch.    To  gouge;  to  take  unfair  advantage 
New  York. 

To  smouze.    To  demolish,  as  with  a  blow.    Used  in  Ohio. 

Smudge.  A  heap  of  damp  combustibles  placed  on  the  windward  side 
of  the  house  and  partially  ignited,  that  the  inky  steam  may  smother 
or  drive  away  mosquitoes.    It  is  a  north  of  England  word. 


—  Mnrgnret. 

.    Colloquial  in 


616 


SNA 


We  had  taken  about  ten  pounds  of  trout;  and  the  first  procedure,  after  reach- 
ing the  camj),  was  to  buUd  a  srnudf/e  or  smoke-fire,  to  drive  away  these  abomina- 
ble gnats,  wlio  fortunately  take  lliglit  with  the  first  wliiff  of  smolse. — N.  Y. 
Couritr  and  Knquirei'. 

I  have  liad  a  stnudrje  made  in  a  chafing  dish  at  m}'  bedside,  after  a  serious 
deliberation  between  choking  and  being  devoured  at  small  mouthfuls;  and  I 
conscientiously  recommend  choking.  — Afrs.  Cldvers's  Fairest  Life. 
Snabby,  or  Snab.  Stylish;  tasteful;  good-looking.  A  college  word. 
Snag.  A  tree  having  its  roots  fastened  in  the  bottom  of  a  river;  or  a 
branch  of  a  tree  thus  fastened.  These  are  common  in  the  Missis- 
sii^pi  and  Missomd  Rivers,  and  frequently  destroy  steamboats  which 
come  in  contact  with  them,  by  piercing  their  bov/s  or  sides.  The 
word  itself  is  not  a  new  one,  and  is  defined  by  Johnson  as  "  a  jag 
or  sharp  protuberance." 

Thar  war  jest  light  enough  as  we  floated  down  the  Missouri  to  tell  that  snafjs 
war  plenty,  and  jest  enough  corn-juice  inside  to  make  a  fellar  not  care  a  cuss  for 
them.  —  The  Americans  at  Home,  Vol.  I.  p.  278. 

To  snag.    To  run  against  a  snag  or  projecting  branch  of  a  sunken 
tree. 

Drove  a  pretty  fair  business  last  year;  only  sunk  one  broad-horn,  and  that  war 
snagged  in  the  Mississippi.  — Ben  Wilson'' s  Jug  Race. 

Snag-Boat.    A  steamboat  fitted  with  apparatus  for  removing  snags  or 

other  obstructions  to  navigation,  in  rivers.  —  Simmonds. 
To  snake.    1.  To  crawl  like  a  snake.    A  common  expression  at  the 
West.    The  following  illustration  of  the  use  of  this  term  is  from  a 
Western  newspaper  : — 

In  Iowa,  as  in  other  new  countries,  the  duties  of  a  judge  often  begin  before  a 
court-house  or  place  of  shelter  has  been  provided.  Not  long  since,  Judge  Wil- 
liams was  obliged  to  hold  his  first  court  beneath  the  shade  of  a  large  tree,  where 
logs  were  rolled  up  for  seats,  a  larger  one  being  provided  for  the  Judge.  The 
clerk  used  a  shingle  on  his  knee  for  a  desk  ;  and  the  jury,  after  being  charged  by 
the  judge,  were  sent  in  care  of  a  sheriff  to  a  hollow  or  ravine,  where  they  could 
sit  in  conclave  beyond  the  view  of  the  court  or  spectators. 

The  grass  grew  very  tall  in  the  neighborhood,  and  the  jurymen  lay  down  in  a 
ring  in  the  grass,  where  they  could  more  perfectly  exclude  themselves  from 
observation.  The  jury  had  not  been  long  in  their  quarters,  when  a  tall,  raw- 
boned  fellow  rose  up  and  addressed  the  Judge  as  follows:  — 

"May  it  please  your  honor,  I  wish  to  speak  to  you."  "Order,  sir;  what  is 
it'?  "  "Judge,"  continued  he,  with  the  utmost  gravity,  "is  it  right  for  fellows 
to  snake  in  the  grass  '?  "  "  How  V  what  is  that,  sir  ?  "  "  Why,  you  see,"  said 
the  Yankee,  "ther's  some  fellows  who 's  tarnal  'fraid  the  Grand  Jury  will  find 
something  agin  'em,  which  they  desarve ;  and  they  are  snaking  up  to  the  Grand 
Jury  on  their  bellies  in  the  grass,  kind  of  trying  to  hear  what  the  jury  are  talking 
about."  "No,"  responded  the  judge,  with  as  much  gravity  as  he  could  com- 
mand, "  I  do  not  allow  of  snaking.  Here,  Mr.  Sheriff,  go  station  a  guard  around 
each  jury's  hollow  ;  and  if,  a  man  is  found  ^  snaking,^  have  him  brought  before 
me,  and  I  will  cause  him  to  be  punished." 


SNA 


617 


But  while  I  drink'd  the  peaceful  cup  of  a  pure  heart  and  mind 

(Mixed  with  some  whisker,  now  and  then),  Pomp  he  snaked  up  behind, 

And,  creepin'  gradually  close  to,  as  sly  as  any  mink, 

Jest  grabbed  my  leg,  and  then  pulled  foot  quicker  than  you  could  wink. 

J.  R.  Lowell,  Biglow  Pajjers. 

2.  To  beat;  to  thrash.  Southern. 

Any  gal  like  me,  what  can  take  a  bag  of  meal  on  her  shoulder  and  tote  it  to 
mill,  ought  to  be  able  to  snake  any  man  of  her  heft.  —  Southern  Sketches,  p.  120. 

Snake-Doctors.    Dragon  flies.  South-western. 

Snake-Fence.  A  zig-zag  fence  built  up  of  split  rails;  common  in  all 
newly  settled  districts  where  w^ood  abounds.  Also  called  a  Virginia 
fence. 

Snake-Head.  An  object  of  dread  to  travellers  on  the  early  railways. 
It  consisted  of  the  end  of  a  flat  iron  rail,  which  was  sometimes 
thrown  up  in  front  of  the  car-wheels,  and  passed  through  the  cars. 
Serious  accidents  have  been  caused  by  them.  This  species  of  rail, 
however,  is  no  longer  used,  except  for  temporary  purposes. 

The  road  to  Petersburg  consists  of  an  iron  strap  laid  upon  pine  timbers,  and  is 
beautifully  diversified  with  that  peculiar,  half-horizontal,  vibrating  rail,  known 
as  ^'■snake's  head.''''  Frequently,  during  our  short  ride,  an  iron  snake  would  strike 
his  heavy /lea-^^  against  the  iron  fenders  of  our  car;  and  then,  as  we  rolled  on 
unharmed,  he  would  shake  himself  as  if  in  wrath,  awaiting  another  opportunity 
for  vengeance. — N.  Y.  Tribune. 

To  snake  in.    To  take  in ;  to  draw  in. 

They  had  a  tough  subject  in  the  inquiry-room  [in  Boston]  this  week.  Moody 
wrestled  with  him.  and  San  key  sang  with  him,  but  the  man  seemed  to  despair 
of  forgiveness.  Finally,  Moody  asked  him  what  heavy  sin  burdened  his  mind, 
and  he  confessed  to  having  beat  a  newspapei'  publisher  out  of  three  years'  sub- 
scription. The  evangelist  informed  him  that  they  did  not  profess  to  perform 
miracles;  but  if  he  would  settle  up  his  dues,  with  compound  interest,  and  pay  for 
three  years  more  in  advance,  although  they  could  not  open  the  doors  of  the 
church  to  him,  perhaps  he  might  be  snaked  in  under  the  canvas.  —  Boston  Bulle- 
tin, Feb.,  1877. 

To  snake  out.  To  drag  out;  to  haul  out,  as  a  snake  from  its  hole. 
A  farmer,  in  clearing  land,  attaches  a  chain  to  a  stump  or  log, 
whereby  to  draw  it  out;  this  he  calls  snaking  it  out.  Major  Down- 
ing says,  in  speaking  of  a  person  who  fell  into  the  river:  — 

We  snaked  him  out  of  that  scrape  as  slick  as  a  whistle.  —  Letters,  p.  14. 

I  went  down  again,  and  found  the  cow  as  dead  as  a  herrin'.  We  skinned  her, 
and  snaked  her  out  of  the  barn  upon  the  snow. —  Boston  Daily  Advertiser,  March, 
1848. 

Snake-Rail.    A  rail  occasioning  snake-heads;  a  train-rail. 

The  Winchester  Railroad  was  built  many  A-ears  ago  with  the  snake-rail,  the 
ends  of  a  large  number  of  which,  having  become  unfastened,  spring  up  and  down 
whenever  a  train  passes.  —  Winchester  Cor.  N.  Y.  Tribune. 


618 


SNA 


Snake-Root.  Many  plants  have  obtained  a  reputation  as  cures  for 
the  poison  of  the  rattlesnake;  and,  while  none  of  them  have  retained 
their  character  in  this  respect,  the  really  active  properties  which 
brought  them  into  notice  have  obtained  for  some  of  them  a  place  in 
our  JNIateria  Medica.  Among  the  best  known  and  most  important 
are  Black  snake-root  {Cimicifuga  racernosa),  Virginia  snake-root 
(Aristolochia  serpentaria),  and  Seneca  snake-root  (Poly gala  senega). 
Other  species  of  these  genera  are  sometimes  known  as  snake-roots. 

Snap.  1.  Applied  to  the  weather;  as,  "A  cold  snap,^^  i.  e.  a  period 
of  sudden  cold  weather.    A  common  expression. 

Even  the  cold  snaps  as  well  as  the  threatened  storms  have  turned  into  genial 
breezes  and  bright  sunshine.  — Providence  Journal. 

2.  Energy;  smartness.  "  There 's  no  snap  in  him;  "  i.  e.,  he  has 
no  energy,  no  spirit. 

Snap,  adj.  Rapid,  quick,  off-hand.  "A  snap  judgment,"  snap 
bargain." 

Snap-Beans  or  Snaps.    See  Bush-Bean. 
Snapneck.    A  New  Jersey  name  for  Apple-brandy. 
Snapped.    Drunk.    Used  at  thg  South. 

I  like  to  forgot  to  tell  you  'bout  Cousin  Pete.  He  got  snapt  on  egg-nog  when 
he  heard  of  my  engagement.  — Major  Jones's  Courtship,  p.  102. 

Snapping  Turtle.  (Genus  Chelonura.)  A  reptile  common  to  all 
parts  of  the  United  States,  so  named  from  its  propensity  to  snap  at 
every  thing  withJn  its  reach. 

A  member  observed,  who  in  speeches  was  fertile, 
They  handled  the  knight  like  a  vile  snapping  turtle. 

House  of  Wisdom  in  a  Bustle  (1798),  p.  21. 

Snarl.  1.  A  quarrel;  an  angry  contest.  Provincial  in  England,  and 
colloquial  in  the  United  States.  — Worcester. 

This  gallant  officer  and  estimable  man  [Sir  John  Harvey]  has  been  transferred 
from  Nova  Scotia  to  Newfoundland,  where  Lord  Falkland  had  got  into  a  snarl. 
Com.  Adv.,  April  1,  1846. 

The  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  got  themselves  into  a  most 
admirable  snarl  on  Saturday  afternoon,  by  their  proceedings  in  reference  to  the 
recent  case  of  resistance  to  the  serving  of  a  habeas  corpus  writ.  —  Boston  TraV' 
eller,  Feb.  12. 

2.  A  brood ;  a  tribe. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Scrantum,  having  expressed  a  wish  to  withdraw 
from  his  parish  in  consequence  of  the  insufficiency  of  his  salaiy, 
which  was  four  hundred  dollars  a  year  with  a  "  donation  party," 
one  of  his  miserly  parishioners  said :  — 


SNA— SNI 


619 


He  hoped  Mr.  Scrantum's  request  would  be  granted;  that  for  his  part  he'd 
long  been  of  opinion  they 'd  ought  to  have  a  cheaper  minister,  and  one  that  hadn't 
such  a  snarl  of  young  ones.  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  270. 

Snatched.    "  Don't  be  snatched ;  "  i.  e. ,  do  not  be  in  too  great  a  hurry. 
South-western. 

Sneaking  Notion.    1.  To  have  a  sneaking  notion  for  a  lady  is  to  have 
a  timid  or  concealed  alfection  for  her. 

Well,  I  always  used  to  have  a  sort  of  a  sneakin'  notion  for  Mary  Stallins.  — 
Major  Jones's  Courtship,  p.  11. 

I  e'en  a'most  made  up  my  mind  to  break  the  ice  to  Hannah  Downer,  and  tell 
her  I  shouldn't  wonder  if  I  had  a  meaJcin'  notion  arter  her,  — then  I  should  ha' 
been  reglar  courtin'  in  less  than  a  month.  —  Traits  of  American  Humor,  Vol.  H. 

2.  An  idea;  an  indefinite  opinion,  rough  guess;  a  half  conception. 

An  army  such  as  me  would  fright  the  devil,  — 

What  are  ye  giggling  at  ?    Can't  ye  be  civil  ? 

There,  —  that 's  well  done  ;  now  I 've  a  sneaking  notion  — 

When  I  get  hum  — I  '11  git  some  grand  promotion. 

D.  IIumph7-eys,  The  Yankee  in  England,  p.  102, 

To  be  sneezed  at.    Used  with  reference  to  magnitude.    A  thing  that 
is  not  to  be  sneezed  at  is  not  to  be  despised 

My  knowledge  of  horse-flesh  ainH  to^be  sneezed  at.  I  buy  a  horse  for  fifty 
dollars,  and  sell  him  for  two  hundred  ;  that 's  skill,  —  it  ain't  cheat.  —  Sam  Slick, 
Human  Nature,  p.  173. 

Sneezer.    A  dashing,  thorough-going  fellow.    Allusive  to  a  horse's 
snorting. 

It 's  awful  to  hear  a  minister  swear;  and  the  only  match  I  know  for  it  is  to 
hear  a  regular  sneezer  of  a  sinner  quote  Scripture.  —  Sam  Slick. 

Snell.    See  Leader. 

Snifter.    A  dram  of  alcoholic  liquor. 

A  young  man  at  the  dinner  of  a  distinguished  statesman,  having 
refused  a  glass  of  wine,  was  complimented  on  the  picture  of  moral 
grandeur  he  had  shown  in  so  doing:  — 
"Not  a  single  glass  ?  "  asked  the  host. 

*'No,"  said  the  excellent  young  man,  "I  never  drink  wine;  but,  if  you  have 
got  a  little  good  old  rye  whiskey,  I  don't  mind  taking  a  snifter.'''' 

Snipe.    In  Wall  Street  slang,  a  curbstone  broker. 

Solid  brokers  are  wont  to  scoffingly  declare  that  [the  Open  Board]  represents 
some  hundred  millions  of  defunct  capital,  its  members  being  mainly  street  bank- 
rupts who  have  lost  credit  by  unfortunate  speculations.  They  nre  simply  snij^es 
and  lame  ducks.  —  Medbery,  Men  and  Mysteries  of  Wall  Street,  p.  131. 

Snipe-Bill.  (Pron.  snihill.)   The  iron  bolt  which  connects  the  body  of 
a  cart  or  other  two-wheeled  vehicle  with  the  axle.    Rhode  Island. 


620 


SNI— SNU 


Snippy.  Finical;  and,  substantively,  a  finical  person.  A  woman's 
word.    In  the  South,  they  use  the  word  sniptious.    See  Nipping. 

To  snoop.  (Dutch,  snoepen.)  To  clandestinely  eat  dainties  or  other 
victuals  which  have  been  put  aside.  A  servant  who  goes  slyly  into 
a  dairy-room  and  drinks  milk  from  a  pan,  or  a  child  who  makes 
free  with  the  preserves  in  the  cupboard,  is  said  to  be  snooping. 
The  term  is  peculiar  to  New  York. 

Snooser.  A  thief  who  follows  the  business  of  robbing  the  boarders 
at  hotels.  He  takes  board  and  lodgings,  and  endeavors  to  share  a 
room  and  become  familiar  with  some  country  merchant;  after  which, 
by  various  tricks,  he  succeeds  in  robbing  him.  The  police  reports 
of  New  York  exhibit  frequent  cases  of  this  system  of  depredation. 

Snore.  (Dutch,  snoer,  a  string.)  A  string  with  a  button  on  one  end 
to  spin  a  top  with.  This  term  is  retained  by  the  boys  of  New 
York. 

To  snore.  /  snore !  is  one  of  the  many  euphemistic  oaths  used  in 
New  England. 

A  countryman,  discussing  the  "  Stamp  Act"  of  which  he  had 
just  heard,  says: —  , 

I  vow,  I  swamp,  I  swear,  I  snoi'e, 
I  never  heard  the  like  before. 

Moving  Times  and  No  Friends  (1750),  p.  4. 

I  hain't  lived  in  the  woods  to  be  skeered  at  owls,  /  snore.  —  Margaret. 

To  snort.  To  laugh  outright.  —  BrocketVs  Glossarg.  Used  in  low 
language  in  New  England. 

We  all  snorted  and  snickered.  — Major  Downinf/s  Letters,  p.  15. 
Snorter.    1.  A  dashing,  riotous  fellow.    A  vulgar  Western  term. 

"I'm  a  roaring  earthquake  in  a  fight,"  sung  out  one  of  the  half-horse,  half- 
alligator  sort  of  fellows,  "  a  real  snorter  of  the  universe.  I  can  strike  as  hard  as 
fourth -proof  lightning,  and  keep  it  up,  rough  and  tumble,  as  long  as  a  wild-cat." 
Thorpe's  Backwoods,  p.  183. 

2.  A  gale  of  wind. 

The  skipper  said,  after  we  have  had  our  grub,  we  must  make  all  snug,  for  we  're 
going  to  have  a  snorter. —  The  Cape  Ann  Fisherman. 

3.  The  edge  pieces  of  tortoise-shell,  called  also  toe-nails  or  nails. 
Snowball.    A  jeering  appellation  for  a  Negro. 

Snow-bound.    Obstructed,  hindered,  delayed  by  snow. 

Snub  up.  An  expression  used  by  canal-boatmen,  meaning  "to  tie 
up  "  their  boats. 


SNU— SOA 


621 


A  man  came  rushing  from  a  house, 

Saying,  "  Snub  up  yom  boat,  I  pray, 
Snub  up  your  boat,  snub  up,  alas, 
Snub  up  while  yet  you  may." 

Mark  Twain,  Roughing  It,  p.  369. 
Snucks.    To  go  sniicks,  to  share  equally. 

Snuff-Dipper.    One  who  makes  a  practice  of  chewing  snuff.    See  To 

dip  Snuff. 

Snuff-Taker.  {Melanetta  velvetina.}  The  coot  or  white  wing.  So 
called,  perhaps,  from  the  bright  red  of  the  bill  near  the  nostril. 
Connecticut. 

Snug.  A  projection  or  shoulder  against  which  a  piece  fits,  in 
machinery. 

To  snug.  To  conceal  from  the  owner;  to  purloin.  English  boys  use 
the  word  smug  in  a  similar  sense. 

I  'cl  rather  starve  than  make  money  in  any  low  way.  I 'd  stuff  watches,  drop 
pocket-books,  or  do  any  thing  in  the  genteel  way,  but  I  'd  never  condescend  to 
snug  dogs.  — A  Glance  at  New  York. 

I  snum  !    A  New  England  euphemism  for  /  swear ! 

The  Yankee  boy,  with  staring  eyes, 

When  first  the  elephant  he  espies. 

With  wonder  snums,  and  swons,  and  cries, 

"  By  golly !  "  —  Home  Journal. 

So  is  often  used  for  such.  An  old  form  of  speech,  which  may  now  be 
considered  antiquated. 

Professor  W  ,  who  has  acquired  so  high  distinction  in  teaching  the  elements 

of  music  and  singing.  — N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Soak.  A  carousal;  thorough  drunkenness.  In  England,  as  well  as 
in  the  United  States,  a  "soaker"  is  an  habitual  drunkard. 

When  reciprocatmg  a  treat  with  comrades,  they  take  a  less  quantity  at  a  time 
than  is  taken  at  the  North.  .  .  .  When  a  Southron  intends  to  have  a  soak,  he 
takes  the  bottle  to  his  bedside,  goes  to  bed,  and  lies  there  till  he  gets  drunk,  and 
becomes  sober,  when  he  gets  up.  —  Parsons' s  Tour  among  the  Planters. 

Soak,  Soaker.    An  old  soak  or  soaker  is  an  habitual  drunkard. 

To  soak.  To  bake  thoroughly.  It  is  particularly  applied  to  bread, 
which,  to  be  good,  must  be  macerated,  as  it  were,  in  the  caloric  of 
the  oven.  If  it  be  dough-baked,  the  complaint  is  that  it  has  not 
been  sufficiently  soaked.  —  Hollo  wag.  This  word  is  used  in  tlie  same 
sense  in  New  England. 

Soap-Berry.  (Sapindus  marginntus.)  A  tree  growing  along  the  coast 
of  Georgia,  Florida,  and  Texas,  bearing  hard  black  nuts,  which 
are  strung  for  beads  and  crosses. 


622 


SOA— SOC 


Soap-Lock.  A  lock  of  hair  made  to  lie  smooth  by  soaping  it.  Hence, 
also,  a  name  given  to  a  low  set  of  fellows  who  lounge  about  the 
markets,  engine-houses,  and  wharves  of  New  York,  and  are  always 
ready  to  engage  in  midnight  broils.  It  is,  in  fact,  but  another 
name  for  a  Rowdy  or  Loafer.  The  name  comes  from  their  wearing 
long  side-locks,  which  they  are  said  to  smear  with  soap,  in  order  to 
give  them  a  sleek  appearance. 

The  way  my  last  letter  has  cradled  off  the  soap-locks^  and  imperials,  and  goat- 
knots,  and  musty  shows,  is  truly  alarming.  —  Major  Jones's  Coui-tshlp. 

Soap-Plant.  (Chlorogalum  pomeridianum.)  A  plant  common  in 
California  and  Xew  Mexico,  where  it  is  called  amole,  and  which, 
w^hen  pounded  and  broken,  answers  the  purposes  of  soap.  Besides 
its  detergent  quality,  the  leaves  are  used  for  making  mats  for  saddle- 
cloths. 

After  leaving  the  creek,  we  passed  a  barren  rolling  prairie  with  scanty  herbage, 
and  covered  with  the  palmilla  or  soap-plant.  — Buxton's  Adv.  in  Mexico,  p.  217. 

Scary.    Inclined  to  soar;  taking  high  views ;  imaginative. 

The  newspaper  correspondents  from  Western  Virginia  are  a  very  soa^'ij  or  a 
very  hoaxy  set  of  fellows. — Pittsburg  Democrat. 

Sobbed.  Soaked;  wet.  Applied  to  lands.  An  English  word,  though 
little  used. 

The  high  lands  are  sobbed  and  boggy.  —  Lett,  from  Charleston,  N.  Y.  Herald. 

Socdolager.  This  strange  word  is  probably  a  perversion  in  spelling 
and  pronunciation  of  doxology,  a  stanza  sung  at  the  close  of  religious 
services,  and  as  a  signal  of  dismissal.  Hence,  a  socdolager  is  a  con- 
clusive argument ;  the  winding  up  of  a  debate ;  a  settler ;  and  figura- 
tively, in  a  contest,  a  heavy  blow,  which  shall  bring  it  to  a  close. 
The  term  is  also  applied  to  a  patent  fish-hook,  having  two  hooks 
which  close  upon  each  other  by  means  of  a  spring  as  soon  as  the 
fish  bites,  thereby  securing  its  victim. 

In  his  remarks  on  an  excellent  move  at  a  game  of  chess,  the  editor 
of  the  "  N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times  "  observes:  — 

This  is  a  socdolager;  there  is  not  even  temporary  relief  to  be  obtained;  the 
manner  in  which  the  game  is  now  brought  to  a  conclusion  is  certainly  neat. 

I  gave  the  fellow  a  socdolager  over  his  head  Avith  the  barrel  of  my  gun,  when 
he  sot  off  as  if  the  devil  had  kick'd  him  on  eend.  —  Crockett's  Bear-Hunt. 

Oh  !  I  forgot  to  tell  you  that  in  the  fight,  as  I  aimed  a  socdolager  at  the  fellow, 
he  ducked  his  head,  and,  hitting  him  awkwardly,  I  sprained  my  wrist.  —  Colonel 
Jones's  Fight,  A  Kentucky  Story. 

This  word  has  been  adopted  in  England,  and,  not  understanding 
it  in  the  least,  it  is  written  slogdollager,  from  the  vulgar  slog,  to  hit 
out  hard 


SOC— SOD 


623 


Up,  niggers !  slash,  smash,  sack,  and  smite, 

Slogdollagize^  and  slay  'em  : 
Them  Southern  skunks  ain't  much  to  tight, 

So  at  'em,  darn  'em  !  flay  'em  ! 

[London]  Punch,  Jonathan's  Appeal  to  Sambo,  Aug.,  1862. 

Sociable.    1.  A  name  sometimes  applied  to  a  sofa. 

2.  A  gathering  of  people  for  sociable  purposes.    New  England. 

Notice.  —  A  Sociable  will  be  given  at  Camp's  Hall,  on  Monday  evening. — 
Winstead  (Conn.)  Herald. 

One  of  the  sociables  of  the  Soldiers'  Aid  Society  was  held  in  Camp'a  Hall,  on 
Monday  evening.  —  Litchjield  Enquirer. 

Socialistic.    Appertaining  to  the  principles  of  socialism. 

And  now  let  us  briefly  assure  the  "  Courier  "  that  it  is  greatly,  grievously  wrong 
in  supposing  that  we  shrink,  or  falter,  or  despond  with  regard  to  the  future  of 
France,  in  view  of  the  prominence  and  imminence  given  to  social  theories  and 
ideas  bv  the  neAv  Revolution.  On  the  contrary,  our  columns  will  bear  witness 
that  we  have,  from  the  hour  that  the  fall  of  Louis  Philippe  was  known  here,  to 
this  moment,  profoundly  rejoiced  in  the  Revolution  itself,  and  more  especially 
in  its  socialistic  aspects  and  tendencies.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  April  25,  1848. 

Society.  1.  In  Connecticut,  a  number  of  families  united  and  incor- 
porated for  the  purpose  of  supporting  public  worship  is  called  an 
ecclesiastical  society.  This  is  a  parish,  except  that  it  often,  in  recent 
usage,  has  not  territorial  limits.  In  Massachusetts,  such  an  incorpo- 
rated society  is  usually  called  a  "parish,"  though  consisting  of 
persons  only,  without  regard  to  territory.  —  Webster. 

2.  A  small  assembly  for  worship.  N'ew  Jersey;  formerly  in  New 
England. 

3.  The  communicants  and  catechumens,  or  "  members  received 
on  trial"  (probationers)  by  a  preacher,  &c.  Methodist  Episc.  Ch. 
Both  these  applications  of  the  word  came  from  England.  —  See 
Hist,  of  Methodism. 

To  sock.  To  press  by  a  hard  blow  a  man's  hat  over  his  head  and 
face.  Used  in  Rhode  Island.  I  have  never  heard  it  elsewhere. 
The  New  York  term  is  to  croiun.  In  Berkshire,  England,  to  sock 
is  to  strike  a  hard  blow.  —  Wright,  Prov.  Die. 

In  this  sense,  we  sometimes  hear  the  word.  Two  loafers  are 
fighting:  one  of  the  crowd  cries  out,  "  Sock  it  to  him." 

Soda.  Generally  said  instead  of  "  soda-water  ;  "  as,  "  Take  a  glass  of 
soda. ' '    See  A  Ikali  Desert. 

Soda-Prairie.  A  plain  covered  with  an  efflorescence  of  soda,  else- 
where called  natron.  These  plains,  of  great  extent,  are  found  in 
New  Mexico,  Texas,  and  Arizona. 


624 


SOF 


Soft-Corn.  Flattery.  The  more  common  terms  are  "  soft  sawder  " 
and  "  soft  soap,"  which  see. 

I  allowed  that  the  old  man  was  pretty  green,  or  he 'd  never  swalloAved  all  the 
soft  corn  I  fed  him  on.  — Major  Bunkum,  SjnHt  of  the  Times. 

Softliness.  Manner  of  one  who  moves  or  works  softly;  quality  of 
moving,  or  of  that  which  is  done  softly. 

The  inefficiency  and  decline  of  .  .  .  are  the  natural  results  of  the  softliness 
and  pliancy  which  have  characterized  it.  —  Reflections  of  a  Visitor  upon  the 
Character  of  Dr.  Emmons,  by  Rtv.  E.  A.  Park. 

Soft  Money.  Paper  money;  greenbacks.  In  the  contest  for  and 
against  the  I'esumption  of  specie  payment  (in  1876),  the  term  soft 
money  was  applied  to  the  issues  of  paper,  and  hard  money  to  those  of 
gold  and  silver.  So,  those  who  would  flood  the  country  with  paper 
money  wei-e  called  the  soft  money  party;  and  the  advocates  of  a  re- 
sumption of  specie  payments,  the  hard  money  party. 

Hendricks,  after  being  defeated  by  Tilden's  organization,  was  persuaded  to 
take  the  second  place  on  the  [Presidential]  ticket:  it  was  from  this  that  Tilden 
surrendered  to  his  soft  money  associate.  —  Providence  Journal,  Oct.  10,  1876. 

Soft  Sawder,  i.  e.  Soft  Solder.    Flattery;  blarney. 

Sam  Slick  said  he  trusted  to  soft  sawder  to  get  his  wooden  clocks  into  a  house, 
and  to  human  nature  that  they  should  never  come  out  again.  —  Nature  and 
Human  Nature,  p.  311. 

There 's  all  sorts  of  ways  of  soft  sawderin' .  Here 's  a  politician;  and,  if  he 
don't  know  how  to  lay  it  on  thick,  it 's  a  pity.  He  intends  his  whitewash  shall 
stick.  —  Sam  Slick,  Wise  Saws,  p.  32. 

To  soft  sawder.    To  flatter;  to  blarney. 

I  don't  like  to  be  left  alone  with  a  gall :  it 's  plaguy  apt  to  set  me  a  soft  sawder- 
in'' and  a  courtin'.  —  Sam  Slick  in  Enyland,  p.  19. 

Soft-Shell  Crab  or  Soft  Crab.    See  Shedder  Crab. 

Soft-Shell  Democrats,  Soft-Shells,  or  Softs.    The  less  conservative 

division  of  the  New  York  Democrats.    See  Hardshell  Democrats. 

At  a  Democratic  meeting  in  the  County  of  Orleans,  N.  Y.,  in 
September,  1858,  it  was:  — 

Resolved, — That  the  terms  Hunker,  Barnburner,  Soft-shell,  and  Hardshell, 
have  become  obsolete,  and  hereafter  we  will  be  known  only  by  the  term  Demo- 
crat; and  that  we  will  regard  all  as  such  who  are  sound  upon  national  politics, 
and  adhere  to  the  usages  of  the  party. 

Soft  Soap.    Flattery;  blarney.    A  vulgar  phrase,  though  much  used. 

See  Soft  Sawder. 
To  soft  soap.    To  flatter;  to  blarney. 

I  am  tired  of  this  system  of  placemen  soft  soaping  the  people,  —  telling  them 

just  before  an  election  what  tine,  honest,  noble,  generous  fellows  they  are,  and 


SOF— SOM 


625 


then,  just  after  election,  turning  their  backs  on  them. — Jliice  Walsh,  Speech^ 
Sept.,  1843. 

My  popularity  with  the  ladies  was  amazin'.  To  see  them  flattering  and  soft 
soaping  me  all  at  once,  you  would  have  sworn  I  had  nothing  to  do  but  pick  and 
choose.  —  McClintocTc's  Tales. 

You  don't  catch  me  a  slanderin'  folks  behind  their  backs,  and  then  soft  soapin' 
them  to  their  faces.  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  308. 

Soft  Tiling.    Any  piece  of  luck  or  success. 

Soft  Woodlands.  A  term  applied,  in  ttiQ  British  Provinces,  to  the 
districts  or  intervals  covered  with  various  species  of  pine-trees. 

Sog.    A  lethargy. 

Sold.    Cheated ;  deceived ;  taken  in.    See  Sell. 
An  advertiser  of  American  watches  says :  — 

The  foreign  watch  is  made  by  women  and  boys  by  hand,  and  are  irregular  in 
their  movement.  They  are  only  designed  to  sell,  and  the  buyer  is  most  thor- 
ough Ij'  sold.  —  Newspaper. 

So  Long.    Used  in  taking  leave,  like  "  Good-by."  Louisiana. 

Some.  1.  Somewhat;  something.  Ex. :  "  He  is  .w/^e  better  than  he 
was;"  "It  rains  some,"  &c.  Used  chiefly  by  the  illiterate. — 
Pickeringh  Vocabulary. 

2.  Of  some  account;  considerable;  notable;  famous.  A  modern 
slang  use  of  the  word. 

A  mere  glance  would  tell  the  gazer  that  this  gentleman  was  no  ordinary  man, 
either  in  a  physical  or  mental  point  of  view ;  as  an  ancient  Roman  poet  used  ele- 
gantly to  express  it,  it  at  once  became  evident  that  he  was  "  some."  —  N.  Orleans 
Delta. 

I  do  not  know  whether  you  have  any  canebrakes  at  the  North ;  but  our  Georgia 
canebrakes  are  some,  I  can  tell  you.  —  Lett,  from  Georgia,  N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the 
Times. 

When  a  boy,  our  trapper  was  '■^  some,''''  he  said,  with  the  rifle,  and  always  had 
a  hankering  for  the  West.  —  Ruxfon,  Far  West,  p.  54. 

We  don't  remember  a  closer  or  severer  winter  since  that  in  which  the  old 
Tribune  office  burnt  down,  which  was  admitted  by  the  oldest  inhabitant  to  be 

some  "  in  the  way  of  cold  winters.  — N.  Y.  Tribune,  May  15,  1849. 

Hiram  Twine  was  a  good  specimen  of  a  go-ahead  Yankee.  He  was  some  on 
horses,  numerous  at  billiards,  immense  at  ten-pins,  and  upwards  of  considerable 
among  the  politicians.  —  Knickerbocker  Mag.,  March,  1856. 

The  following  upon  the  Carpet-bagger  is  from  a  newspaper:  — 

I 'm  some  on  "  Constitutions  " 

For  a  late  rebellious  State ; 
And  I 'm  some  on  persecutions 

Of  disloyal  men  I  hate; 
I 'm  some  at  nigger  meetings, 

When  white  folks  ain't  about, 
40 


626 


SOM 


And  some  among  the  nigger  gals, 

When  their  marms  don't  know  they're  out. 

I 'm  some  on  a  convention, 

When  I  draw  an  "X  "  per  day, 
And  opposed  to  all  adjournments, 

If  I  only  draw  my  pay. 
I  drew  it  down  at  Jackson, 

Where  for  months  I  kept  my  seat, 
And  I  laid  a  heavy  tax  on 

All  ypu  wear  and  drink  and  eat. 

But  now  my  day  is  over, 

My  Constitution's  killed, 
Again  I  am  a  rover, 

And  my  pockets  are  not  filled. 
All  my  money  has  been  spent  on 

An  electioneering  "  bum,"  — 
Farewell  to  Mississippi, 

"  Oh,  I  loisli  I  ivas  ttr  hum  /" 

ome  Pumpkins.  A  term  in  use  at  the  South  and  West,  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  equally  elegant  phrase  "  small  potatoes."  The  former 
is  applied  to  any  thing  large  or  noble;  the  latter  to  any  thing  small 
or  mean. 

A  writer  in  the  "  Pennsylvanian,"  under  date  of  Nov.  15,  1849, 
thus  explains  its  origin  :  — 

"  I  am  not  aware  of  the  saying  being  incorporated  into  any  play 
extant,  although  it  can  claim  an  existence  of  nearly  sixty  years. 
It  originated  with  James  Fennell,  the  celebrated  tragedian,  who 
came  to  this  country  in  the  year  '92.  As  the  circumstance  which 
gave  rise  to  it  is  somewhat  singular,  I  take  the  extract  from  his 
life,  published  in  the  year  1814,  which  gave  birth  to  an  expression 
that  has  now  become  a  part  and  portion  of  our  polite^  and  I  may 
say  new,  style  of  conversation.  AVhen  quite  a  lad,  Fennell,  in  com- 
pany with  Dr.  Mosely,  and  the  celebrated  philosopher  Mr.  Walker, 
and  son,  made  the  tour  of  France.  Speaking  of  this  portion  of  the 
journey,  the  author  says:  — 

'  I  recollect  nothing  of  consequence  that  took  place,  till  we  arrived  at  the  cele- 
brated city  of  Rouen.  Physic  and  philosophy  had,  from  their  situation  in  front, 
a  wide  share  of  vision;  but  young  Walker  and  myself  could  only  look  down. 
Wishing,  however,  to  see  all  we  could,  we  kept  peejnng  through  our  little  win- 
dows. As  we  were  passing,  without  our  [the  young  ones]  knowing  it,  the  famous 
Cathedral  of  Rouen,  young  Walker,  peeping  through  his  little  square,  exclaimed, 
"  Look,  Fennell,  what  immense  pumpkins.'''  His  father,  who  had  been  attentively 
gazing  at  the  building,  turned  round,  exclaiming,  "  God !  can  you  be  looking  at 
pumpkins,  while  you  are  passing  such  a  cathedral  as  this?"  Young  Walker 
observed  that  he  did  not  know  what  he  was  passing,  for  he  could  see  nothing 
above  the  ground.' 


SOM— SOO 


627 


"Young  Fennell  could  not  resist  the  temptation  of  plaguing 
Walker  about  the  pumpkins;  so,  whenever  they  approached  a  stately 
building  or  towering  spire,  he  would  invariably  exclaim,  '  Look, 
Walter,  there  are  "  some  pumpkins  /  "  '  It  is  almost  needless  to  say 
it  became  a  favorite,  if  not  a  common  saying,  as  it  is  to  this  day." 

This  story  is  sufficiently  circumstantial,  and  the  origin  it  assigns 
may  be  the  true  one  ;  yet  the  stress  which  is  always  laid  on  the 
"  some  "  in  this  phrase  shows  that  it  has  the  purely  adjectival  sense 
which  we  have  ascribed  to  the  word  under  number  two,  whei  eas  tlie 
anecdote  gives  it  its  usual  pronominal  meaning. 

Although  the  Mexican  women  are  not  distinguished  for  beauty,  I  never  re- 
member once  to  have  seen  an  ugly  woman.  Their  brilliant  eyes  make  up  for  any 
deficiency  of  feature,  and  their  figures  are  full  and  voluptuous.  Now  and  then, 
moreover,  one  does  meet  with  a  perfectly  beautiful  creature ;  and,  Avhen  a  Mexi- 
can woman  does  combine  such  perfection,  she  is  some  pumpkins,''''  as  the  Missou- 
rians  say  when  they  wish  to  express  something  superlative  in  the  female  line.  — ^ 
Ruxton's  Adventures  in  Meccico,  p.  57. 

General  Cass  is  some pum2)kins,  and  will  do  the  needful  in  the  office  line,  if  he 
is  elected,  which  I  hope  and  trust  will  be  his  fate.  I  am  no  Democrat,  as  em- 
braced on  their  whole  platform;  but  I  am,  what  I  conceiv^e  to  be,  a  "least  evil" 
man.  —  N.  Y.  Herald,  June  21,  1848. 

Franklin  was  a  poor  printer-boy,  and  Washington  only  a  land  surveyor;  yet 
they  growed  to  be  some immjykins.  —  Sam  Slick,  Nature  and  Human  Nature. 

I'm  out  of  my  cradli,  I 'm  safe  through  my  teens, 

I  guess  I 'm  '^some pu7npkins,'''  and  think  I  know  beans; 

Henceforth  I'm  to  battle,  with  banner  unfurled, 

And  carve  my  wa}'  through  a  thundering  rough  world  — Doesticks. 

From  a  poem  that  appeared  in  the  "  London  Times,"  on  American 
affairs,  during  the  late  civil  war:  — 

And  these  vos  the  tidins  this  news  it  did  tell, 
That  great  Yankee  Doodle  vos  going  to  —  veil, 
That  he  vos  a-volloped  by  JeffV.rson  D., 
And  no  longer  some  jninkins  vos  likely  to  be. 

Somewheres,  like  anywheres  and  norcheres,  is  a  common  vulgarism; 
as,  "A  hundred  dollars,  or  somewheres  there  along,"  i.  e.  there- 
abouts. 

Soon.  At  the  South,  this  word  is  frequently  used  by  all  classes  as  a 
substitute  for  earl?/.  Thus  one  says,  if  about  to  depart  on  a  journey, 
"  I  shall  put  out  (i.  e.  start)  soon  in  the  morning."  "  I  sliail  be  there 
soon  in  the  evening." 

Soot-Tea.  A  decoction  of  soot  taken  from  a  chimney,  believed  by 
some  old  grannies  to  be  a  sovereign  remedy  for  the  colic  or  cholera. 


628 


SOP 


"Is  any  thing  the  matter?  "  said  she. 

Said  I,  not  to  be  impolite,  "A  sudden  pain,  ma'am.    It's  over." 

And  then,  —  oh  !  Thomas,  — and  then  she  scraped  the  chimney,  — the  kitchen 
chimney,  —  and  made  soot-tea,  which  she  said  was  the  only  remedy  for  symp- 
toms of  cholera.  —  Grinder  Papers,  p.  198. 

Soph.  In  the  American  colleges,  an  abbreviation  of  Sophomore.  — 
Hairs  College  Words. 

Sophs  wha  ha'  in  commons  fed  ! 
Sophs  wha  ha'  in  commons  bled  ! 
Sophs  wha  ne'er  from  commons  fled  ! 

Puddings,  steaks,  or  wines  !  —  Eebelliad,  p.  52. 

Sophomore.  This  word  has  generally  been  considered  an  American 
barbarism,  but  was  probably  introduced  into  our  country  at  a  very 
early  period  from  the  University  of  Cambridge,  England.  Among  the 
cant  terms  at  that  University,  as  given  in  the  "  Gradus  ad  Canta. 
brigiam,"  we  find  Soph-Mor  as  the  next  distinctive  appellation  to 
Freshman.  It  is  added  that  a  writer  in  the  "  Gentleman's  Maga- 
zine "  thinks  Mor  an  abbreviation  of  the  Greek  ficapla,  introduced 
at  a  time  when  the  "  Encomium  Morise,"  the  "  Praise  of  Folly,"  by 
Erasmus,  was  so  generally  used.  The  ordinary  derivation  of  the 
word,  from  cro(j)6s  and  ficopos,  would  seem,  therefore,  to  be  incorrect. 
The  young  Sophs  at  Cambridge  appear  formerly  to  have  received 
the  adjunct  mor,  pcopos,  to  their  names,  either  as  one  they  courted 
for  the  reason  mentioned  above,  or  %s  one  given  them  in  sport  for 
the  supposed  exhibition  of  inflated  feeling  in  entering  upon  their 
new  honors.  The  term  thus  applied  seems  to  have  passed  at  a  veiy 
early  period  from  Cambridge  in  England  to  Cambridge  in  America, 
as  the  next  distinctive  appellation  to  Freshmen,  and  thus  to  have 
been  attached  to  the  second  of  the  four  classes  in  our  American  col- 
leges, while  it  has  now  almost  ceased  to  be  known,  even  as  a  cant 
word,  at  the  parent  institution  in  England  from  whence  it  came.  — 
Prof.  Goodrich,  in  Wehster^s  Dictionary. 

When  first  we  enter  Freshman  year, 
Sophomore  malice  oft  we  fear  ; 
But  soon  the  trying  hour  is  past, 
And  free  from  care  we  sing  at  last. 

Songs  of  Hamilton,  Carm.  Collegensia,  p.  144. 

Another  meaning,  derived,  it  would  appear,  from  the  characteristics  of  the 
Sophomore,  yet  not  very  creditable  to  him,  is  bombastic,  inflated  in  style  and 
manner. — C.  Calhoun. 

Sophomorical.  Pertaining  to  or  like  a  Sophomore.  —  HalVs  College 
Words.  A  term  also  applied  to  speeches  and  writings  containing 
high-sounding  words  and  but  little  sense. 


SOP— SOT 


629 


Better  to  face  the  prowling  panther's  path 
Than  meet  the  storm  of  Sopkomoric  wrath. 

Ila7'vardiana. 

Sopsyviue.  A  variety  of  apple  much  prized  for  its  delicate  flavor. 
Connecticut.  The  name  is  clearly  made  from  Sapsonvine  or  Sops- 
in-icine,  a  gilly-flower.  Gilly-flower  is  also  a  name  designating  a 
kind  of  apple. 

Sora  or  Soree.  (Rallus  Carolinus.)  The  Carolina  rail,  a  bird  which 
assembles  in  large  numbers  on  the  reedy  shores  of  the  larger  rivers 
in  the  Middle  and  adjoining  warmer  States,  at  the  approach  of 
autumn,  and  affords  abundant  employment  to  the  sportsman  at  that 
season.  —  Nuttall. 

Sorrel-Tree.    See  Sour-Wood. 

Sorter,  for  sort  o\    Sort  of,  kind  of. 

They  had  with  them  a  long-legged  chap,  a  sorter  lawyer ;  and  he  advised  them 
to  try  and  get  the  time  of  punishment  put  off,  and  that  would  give  'em  a  chance 
to  run  them  off.  —  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

Sossle  or  Sozzle.  A  lazy  or  sluttish  woman.  Connecticut.  In  the 
south  of  England,  soss-hrangle  is  used  in  the  same  sense. 

To  sossle  or  sozzle.  To  splash.  Connecticut.  In  Sussex,  England, 
as  well  as  in  Connecticut,  it  means  to  make  a  slop. 

A  sand-piper  glided  along  the  shore;  she  ran  after  it,  but  could  not  catch  it; 
she  sat  down,  and  sozzled  her  feet  in  the  foam.  — Margaret^  p.  8. 

Sot.  1.  A  corrupt  pronunciation  of  the  past  tense  or  past  participle  of 
to  set. 

I  wish  Seth  would  talk  with  you  some  time,  Doctor.  Along  in  the  spring,  he 
was  down  helpin'  me  to  lay  stone  fence,  —  it  was  when  we  was  fencin'  off  the 
south  pastur'  lot,  —  and  we  talked  pretty  nigh  all  day,  and  it  re'lly  did  seem  to 
me  that  the  longer  we  talked,  the  sotter  Seth  grew.  —  Atlantic  Monthly^  Jan., 
1859. 

2.  A  vulgar  pronunciation  for  sat. 

A  story  is  told  of  a  Bostonian's  first  appearance  in  polite  society  in  Arkansas. 
The  compan}'  were  engaged  in  dancing,  but  the  loveliest  female  present  occupied 
a  chair  at  the  window  without  a  partner.  Stepping  up  to  the  lad\^  with  a  palpi- 
tating heart,  his  mind  greatly  excited  for  fear  of  a  refusal,  he  exclaimed  :  — 

Will  you  do  me  the  honor  to  grace  me  with  your  company  for  the  next 
set  ?  " 

Her  lustrous  eyes  shone  with  unwonted  brilliancy,  her  white  pearly  teeth  fairly 
glistened  in  the  flickering  candle-light,  her  heaving,  snowy  bosom  rose  and  fell 
with  joyful  rapture,  as  she  replied  :  — 

"  Yes,  sir-ee!  for  I  have  sot,  and  sot,  and  sot,  till  I  have  about  tuk  root  !  "  — 
Washington  Evening  Star,  Sept.  2,  1858. 

Sots.    Yeast.  Virginia. 


630 


SOT— SOU 


Sot- Weed.  Tobacco,  formerly  so  called  in  Maryland.  A  Sot-iceed 
Factor  was  a  dealer  in  tobacco.  One  who  cultivated  it  was  called  a 
"  Sot- weed  Planter." 

These  sot-weed  planters  crowd  the  shoar, 
In  hue  as  tawny  as  a  Moor. 

Cook,  Sot-weed  Factor  (1708),  p.  2. 
When  aged  Roan,  not  us'd  to  falter, 
If  you  remember,  slip't  liis  Halter; 
As  Presbyterians  leave  the  Church, 
Left  Sot-wetd  Factor  in  the  Lurch. 

Cooh,  Sot-weed  Redivivus  (1730),  p.  9. 

Sou-marquee.  An  old  copper  coin  known  as  the  sou,  crossed  or 
marked,  thereby  rendering  it  of  little  or  no  value  as  cuiTency.  "  I 
would  not  give  a  sou-marquee  for  a  thing,"  means  that  the  article 
in  question  is  not  worth  a  marked  sou;  that  is,  good  for  nothing, 
worthless. 

But  what  cares  shoddy  for  all  these  things  ? 
Sliodd}'-,  the  richest  of  paper  kings; 
Shoddy,  who  dances,  fiddles,  and  sings 

On  the  crater  of  wild  inflation  ? 
What  does  he  care  V    Not  a  sou-marquee  ; 
He  fattens  and  battens  in  luxury, 
As  if  his  reign  were  a  thing  to  be 

Of  eternal  perpetuation.  —  Song,  Shoddy. 

Sound  on  the  Goose.    A  phrase  originating  in  the  Kansas  troubles, 

and  signifying  true  to  the  cause  of  slavery. 

Sour-Grum.    A  species  of  Nyssa.    See  Gum. 

Sour  Krout.  (Germ,  sauer  Kraut.)  Sour  cabbage;  that  is,  cabbage 
cut  fine,  pressed  into  a  cask,  and  suffered  to  ferment  until  it  becomes 
sour. 

The  Dutch  burghers  were  ordered  not  to  buy  [of  the  Yankees]  any  of  their 
Weathersfield  onions,  w^ooden  bowls,  &c.,  and  to  furnish  them  with  no  supplies  of 
gin,  gingerbread,  or  sour  krout.  —  Knickerbocker's  New  York. 

Sour  Sop.  A  AVest  India  fruit.  The  Anona  muricata,  called  by  the 
Spaniards  Guandhana  ;  by  the  French,  Corossol,  said  to  be  a  corrup- 
tion of  the  Indian  name,  Suirsaak.  — Bost.  Jour.  Nat.  Hist.,  II.  211. 

See  Sioeet  Sop  and  Custard  Apple. 

Sour-Wood.  (Andromeda  arborea.)  A  beautiful  tree,  which,  from 
the  large  quantity  of  acid  present  in  all  parts  of  it,  is  sometimes 
called  Sorrel-tree. 

South.  The  term  Southern  States,  or  the  South,  is  very  commonly 
used  to  denote  all  the  States  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  in 
which  slavery  exists.    See  North. 


sou— SPA 


631 


South  Americans.  That  branch  of  the  American  or  Know-Nothing 
party  which  belongs  to  the  South,  and  favors  slavery. 

Southernism.  Sentiment,  principle,  or  characteristic  peculiar  to  the 
Southern  States. 

South eiiiism  has  raised  the  standard  and  gauge  of  social  condition  absolutely; 
and  those  who  are  so  unfortunate  as  not  to  be  high-born,  i.  e.  born  at  the  South, 
.  .  .  must  eke  out  their  shortcomings  with  Southern  ardor  and  pro-slavery  faith. 
N.  y.  Tribune,  July  15,  1861. 

Southern-wise.    Toward,  in  favor  of,  the  South. 

I  found  them  Southernwise  inclined  in  sentiment  and  feeling.  —  N.  Y.  Herald. 
Southron  or  Southerner.    A  native  of  the  Southern  States. 
Southrons,  hear  your  country  call  you! 
Up,  lest  worse  than  death  befall  you  ! 

To  arms!  To  arms !  To  arms,  in  Dixie! 
Lo !  all  the  beacon-fires  are  lighted, 
Let  all  hearts  be  now  united ! 

Albert  Pike,  Southrons,  hear  your  Country  call  you. 
Great  Seward  shall  gull  the  Southrons,  like  a  wily  diplomat. 
With  promises  and  tlummery,  with 't  other,  this,  and  that. 

Charleston  Mercury,  1861,  Song,  Fort  Sumter. 
Of  all  the  mighty  nations,  in  the  East  or  in  the  West, 
Our  glorious  Southern  nation  is  the  greatest  and  the  best; 
We  have  room  for  all  true  Southrons,  with  our  stars  and  bars  unfurled, 
And  a  general  invitation  to  the  people  of  the  world. 

Rebellion  Record,  Song  for  the  South. 

Sovereign.    1 .  One  of  the  people  of  the  United  States ;  a  voter. 

2.  One  who  favors  the  (so  called)  "doctrine  of  State  Sovereignty." 
Nisson  said  that  he  could  not  be  forced  to  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 

Confederacy.  .  .  .  Instantly  the     sovereigns''''  in  attendance  pitched  into  the 

audacious  recusant,  and  beat  him  till  he  could  not  stand.  — New  Orleans  Cor. 

N.  Y.  Tribune,  1862. 
Sovereigns  of  Industry.    A  name  assumed  by  artisans  in  the  United 

States,  who,  by  co-operative  measures,  endeavor  to  secure  labor's 

products  at  cost,  dispensing  with  middlemen. 
Sozodont.    A  certain  or  uncertain  dentifrice,  extensively  made  known 

by  placards  on  fences  and  rocks  by  the  roadside. 
To  sozzle.    To  splash.    See  Sossle. 

Space.    Floor.    Second  space,  first  floor.  Massachusetts. 

Spake.  The  preterite  of  speak.  This  antiquated  word  is  still  heard 
occasionally  from  the  pulpit,  as  well  as  in  conversation.  —  Pickering. 

Spalt.  (Germ,  spalten.)  A  split.  New  England.  Provincial  in  Eng- 
land as  a  verb,  to  split.    Holinshed  (1577)  used  it  as  an  adjective. 

Span.  (Dutch.)  A  span  of  horses  consists  of  two  of  nearly  the  same 
color,  and  otherwise  nearly  alike,  which  are  usually  harnessed  side 


632 


SPA 


by  side.  The  word  signifies  properly  the  same  as  "yoke  "when 
applied  to  horned  cattle,  from  buckling  or  fastening  together.  But 
in  America,  span  always  implies  resemblance  in  color  at  least;  it 
being  an  object  of  ambition  with  gentlemen  and  with  teamsters  to 
unite  two  horses  abreast  that  are  alike.  —  Webster.  This  use  of  the 
word  is  not  mentioned  in  any  of  the  English  dictionaries  or  glos- 
saries. 

To  span.    To  agree  in  color  or  in  color  and  size;  as,  "  The  horses  span 

well."    New  England.  —  Webster. 
To  spancel.    1.  To  tie  the  hind  legs  of  an  animal,  particularly  a  cow 

when  milking.    Provincial  in  England. 

2.  To  prevent  a  crab  from  biting,  by  sticking  the  point  of  a  leg 

into  the  base  of  each  movable  claw. 
Span  Clean  or  Spandy  Clean.    Very  clean,  perfectly  clean, 
Spanish  Bayonet.    {Yucca  trecuUana.^    A  name  commonly  given  to 

the  very  sharp-pointed,  rigid  leaves  of  a  species  of  Yucca  growing 

in  Texas,  New  Mexico,  and  Arizona.    The  fruit  is  edible  and 

resembles  the  papaw. 

The  cactus  growing  rank,  tortuous,  and  grotesquely,  and  the  yucca,  or  Spanish 

bayonet,  here  a  low  clump  of  sharp-pointed,  stiff,  tusk-like  leaves,  indicated  our 

approach  to  Mexico.  —  Olmsted's  Texas,  p.  138. 

Spare  Room.    Usually  a  furnished  chamber  for  a  guest ;  also  called 

a  Spare  Chamber. 
To  spark  it.    To  court.    Used  chiefly  in  New  England. 

You  were  a  nation  sight  wiser  than  Brother  Jonathan,  Sister  Keziah,  poor  little 
Aniinadab,  and  all  the  rest ;  and,  above  all,  my  ownv  towny  Lydia,  the  Deacon's 
darlin'  darter,  with  whom  I 've  sparked  it,  pretty  oftentimes,  so  late.  —  D.  Huin- 
jphreys,  The  Yankee  in  England. 

Miss  Sal,  I 's  going  to  say  as  how 

We  '11  spark  it  here  to  night; 
I  kind  of  love  you,  Sal,  I  vow, 
And  mother  said  I  might. 

J.  G.  Fessenden,  Song,  Yankee  Doodle. 
Some  think  I  ought  to  get  married,  and  two  or  three  have  tried  to  spark  it  with 
me ;  but  I  never  listen  to  none  of  their  flattery.  —  Southern  Sketches,  p.  120. 

Sparking.  "To  go  a  sparking  is  to  go  a  courting.  A  common 
expression  in  the  Northern  States. 

Mr.  Justice  Crow  was  soon  overtaken ;  Lieutenant-colonel  Simcoe  accosted 
him  roughly,  called  him  "Tory,"  nor  seemed  to  believe  his  excuses,  when,  in 
the  American  idiom  for  courtship,  he  said  "  he  had  only  been  sparking.''^  — Sim- 
coe, Military  Journal,  p.  73. 

He  rolled  his  eyes  horribly,  and  said  that  that  was  the  way  the  young  men 
cast  sheep's  eyes  when  they  went  a.  sparking.  —  ilfrs.  Clavers's  Western  Clear- 
ings, p.  16. 


SPA— SPE 


6S3 


She's  courted  been,  by  many  a  lad, 

And  knows  how  sparMng  's  done,  sir; 
With  Jonathan  she  was  right  glad 

To  have  a  little  fun,  sir.  —  Sony^  Yankee  Doodle. 

Finally  I  swore  that  if  I  ever  meddled,  or  had  any  dealings  with  the  feminine 
gender  again  in  the  s/?ar^'my  line,  I  wish  I  might  be  hanged.  —  McClintock, 
Beedle's  Courtship. 

Sparse.  (Lat.  sparsus.)  Scattered;  thinly  spread;  not  dense. — 
P.  Mag.  This  word  has  been  regarded  as  of  American  origin; 
but  it  is  found  in  Jamieson's  Dictionary  of  the  Scottish  Language, 
It  is  in  common  use  in  America,  though  little  used  in  England.  — 
Worcester. 

Sparsely.    In  a  scattered  or  sparse  manner;  thinly.  —  Worcester. 

The  country  between  Trinit}'^  River  and  the  Mississippi  is  sparsely  settled,  con- 
taining less  than  one  inhabitant  to  the  square  mile,  one  in  four  being  a  slave.  — 
Olmsted's  Texas,  p.  365. 

Sparrow- Grass.  A  vulgar  pronunciation  of  asparagus  both  in  Eng- 
land and  America,  sometimes  in  the  New  York  market  contracted 
to  grass. Hence  the  celebrated  charade  by  a  certain  alder- 
man :  — 

My  first  is  a  little  thing  vot  hops  —  (sparrow); 
My  second  brings  us  good  hay  crops  —  (grass) ; 
My  whole  I  eats  with  mutton-chops  —  (sparrow-grass). 

Pegge,  Anecdotes  of  the  English  Language,  p.  54. 

Spat.    1.  A  slap.    "  He  gave  me  a  spat  on  the  side  of  the  head. " 

2.  A  petty  combat ;  a  little  quarrel  or  dissension.  A  vulgar  use 
of  the  word  in  New  England.  —  Webster. 

The  National  Bank  and  the  Mechanic's  Banking  Association  have  had  a  stand- 
ing spat  for  some  time.  —  N.  Y.  Com.  Adv. 

We  do  not  believe  that  Messrs.  B  and  W  have  resigned  their  seats  in 

the  cabinet.  There  has  been  a  qmt  of  course ;  but  there  mav  be  many  more 
before  either  of  the  Secretaries  will  resign  $6,000  a  year.  — N.  Y.  Tribune. 

To  spat.    1.  To  slap. 

The  little  Isabel  leaped  up  and  down,  spatting  her  hands.  —  Margaret. 
2.  To  dispute ;  to  quarrel.    A  low  word.    New  England. 

Speaker.    A  book  of  declamatory  pieces. 

Spec.  A  contraction  of  speculation;  as,  "He  made  a  good  spec  in 
flour." 

Special  Deposit.  A  deposit  made  in  a  bank  subject  to  the  control  of 
the  depositor,  and  which  is  not  made  a  part  of  the  funds  of  the  bank 
to  be  used  by  it  in  its  business. 


634 


SPE 


Special  Partner.  A  member  of  a  limited  partnership,  who  furnishes 
certain  funds  to  the  common  stock,  and  whose  liability  extends  no 
further  than  the  funds  furnished.  — KenVs  Commentaries^  Vol.  III. 
p.  85. 

Special  Partnership.  A  partnership  limited  to  a  particular  branch  of 
business,  or  to  one  particular  subject.  — Judge  Story. 

Specie,  for  a  species.  A  grammatical  blunder  occasionally  heard  in 
speaking,  but  not  often  met  with  in  writing.  The  "  New  York 
Tribune,"  however,  of  May  19,  1858,  in  describing  a  new  game- 
trap,  says : — 

The  size  of  the  trap,  the  height  at  which  it  ought  to  be  suspended,  and  the 
nature  of  the  bait,  depends  upon  the  specie  of  the  animal  hunted  for. 

Speck  or  Spec.    A  bit;  in  the  least;  a  specule. 

I  doubled  up  my  fist,  for  I  did  not  like  the  treatment  a  .tpec.  —  S.  Slick  in 
England,  ch.  2. 

Speck  and  Applejees.  (Dutch,  spek  en  appeltjes.)  Pork  fat  and 
apples  cut  up  and  cooked  together. ,  An  old-fashioned  Dutch  dish 
still  made  in  New  York. 

Specs,  for  spectacles. 

My  ma'  was  used  to  put  on  her  specs,  and  sar, — .  — NeaVs  Charcoal  Sketches. 

Spell.  A  turn  of  work ;  a  vicissitude  of  labor.  Often  used  in  a  sec- 
ondary sense,  to  denote  a  short  turn,  a  little  time,  a  bout,  a  fit; 
and  is  applied  particularly  to  work,  to  sickness,  or  to  the  weather. 
Common  in  England. 

Their  toil  is  so  extreme  as  they  cannot  endure  it  above  four  hours  in  a  day, 
but  are  succeeded  by  spells ;  the  residue  of  their  time  they  wear  out  at  coytes 
and  kayles.  —  Carew. 

Come,  thou 's  had  thy  spell,  it 's  now  my  time  to  put  in  a  word.  —  Carr's 

Craven  Glossary. 

This  spell  of  bad  weather,  though  in  summer,  well-nigh  outlasted  their  provi- 
sions ;  and,  when  at  length  they  were  able  to  make  the  signal  that  a  landing 
would  be  practicable,  scarcely  a  twenty-four  hours  stock  remained  on  the  rock. 
Lond.  Quarterly  Rev.,  No.  1G8,  p.  379. 

Nothing  new  has  happened  in  this  quarter  since  my  last,  except  the  setting 
in  of  a  severe  spell  of  cold  weather  and  a  considerable  fall  of  snow.  — Letter  of 
George  Washington,  Dec.  25,  1775. 

A  gentle,  misty  air  from  the  S.  E.  makes  me  hope  that  we  are  going  to  have 
a  warm  spell.  —  Kane,  Arctic  Explorations,  Vol.  I.  p.  182. 

Josiah  Norton  said  he  had  come  home  from  the  South,  where  he  had  been  ped- 
dling a  spell.  —  Crockett,  Tour,  p.  90. 

Spain  has  obtained  a  breathing  spell  of  some  duration  from  the  internal  con- 
vulsions which  have,  through  so  man}' years,  marred  her  prosperity. — Presi' 
dent  Tyler^s  Message  to  Congress,  ISii. 


SPE— SPI 


635 


I  and  the  General  have  got  things  now  pretty  considerable  snug :  public  af- 
fairs go  on  easier  than  they  did  a  spell  ago,  when  Mr.  Adams  was  President.  — ■ 
Major  Downing'' s  Letters,  p.  35. 

The  Havana  "  Prenza"  notices  a  remarkable  incident  as  one  of  the  results  of 
the  shock  from  the  recent  terrible  explosion.  No  less  than  the  restoration  to 
reason  of  a  lady  of  that  city,  who  had  entirely  lost  h(!r  mind  some  six  months 
ago,  from  a  severe  and  protracted  s^e^^  of  sickness. — N.  Y.  Tribune,  Oct.  19, 
1858. 

To  spell.   To  relieve  by  taking  a  iutn  at  a  piece  of  work.  —  Worcester. 

I  was  sometimes  permitted,  as  an  indulgence,  to  spell  my  father  in  the  favorite 
employment  of  shelling  corn.  —  Goodrich's  Recollections,  Vol.  I.  p.  62. 

Spelling-Bee.  An  assemblage  of  young  people  for  competition  in 
spelling.  Spelling-Bees  had  their  origin  in  the  Western  States,  and 
such  was  their  popularity  there  that  they  soon  extended  ea-stward 
to  Boston.  At  first,  the  competition  was  among  school-children 
for  prizes;  next,  among  persons  of  more  mature  years.  In  Provi- 
dence there  was  a  close  contest  between  the  girls  of  the  High  School 
and  the  Freshmen  of  Brown  University,  in  which  the  latter  came 
off  triumphant.  Spelling-Bees  are  now  common  in  England,  de- 
tailed accounts  of  which  are  often  found  in  the  daily  newspapers 
of  London.     See  Bee. 

Spending-Money.  Small  sums  of  money  given  by  parents  or  others 
to  children,  which  they  generally  invest  in  sugar-plums,  fruit,  &c. 

Sperichil.  Among  the  Negroes,  particularly  of  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia,  spiritual,  or  spiritual  shouting  when  at  prayer,  when  all 
unite. 

Shouting  may  be  to  any  tune  :  our  cook's  classification  into  "  sperichils  "  and 
"  running  ^/7enc/«7s  "  (shouts),  or  the  designation  of  certain  ones  as  sung  "just 
sittin'  "  round,  will  hardly  hold,  in  strictness.  —  Slave  Songs,  edited  by  W.  F, 
Allen. 

Spice-Bush.  (^Benzoin  odoriferum.')  A  plant,  called  also  Wild  All- 
spice and  Fever-bush,  formerly  used  as  a  substitute  for  allspice, 
and  also  valued  for  its  medicinal  properties. 

This  tangled  thicket  on  the  bank  above 
Thy  basin,  how  thy  waters  keep  it  green ! 

 there  the  spice-bush  lifts 

Her  leafy  lances.  — Bryant,  The  Fountain. 

Spider.    A  cast-iron  frying-pan  with  three  legs. 

Spike  Team.  A  wagon  drawn  by  three  horses,  or  by  two  oxen  and  a 
horse,  the  latter  leading  the  oxen  or  span  of  horses. 

To  spill  Stock  is  to  throw  great  quantities  of  a  particular  stock  upon 
the  market,  sometimes  from  necessity,  but  often  in  order  to 
*'  break  "  the  price.  —  Medhery. 


636 


SPI 


Spilt-Milk.    That  which  cannot  be  restored;  gone  beyond  recovery. 

The  Democrats  here  are  in  a  state  of  utter  collapse.  They  are  crying  and 
cursing  too,  over  spilled  milk.  Each  faction  is  calling  the  other  hard  names.  — 
Lett,  from  Washinr/ton  in  N.  Y.  Tribune,  March  10,  1877. 

Spindle  City.  Lowell,  Massachasetts ;  so  called  from  its  many  cotton 
factories. 

A  letter  from  Lowell  says  the  "  spindle  city  "  is  gradually  resuming  its  steady 
hum  of  industry  and  wonted  business-like  appearance.  —  Scientific  American, 
Jan.  23,  1858. 

To  spin  Street- Yarn.    To  go  gadding  about  the  streets. 

They  say  when  Sally  Hugle  ain't  a  spinnin'  street-yarn,  she  don't  do  nothin' 
but  write  poetry,  and  the  whole  heft  o'  the  house-keepin'  is  on  her  mother's 
shoulders.  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  149. 

Spiritist.    See  Spiritualist. 

Spirit-Land.  An  expression  which,  in  the  cant  of  the  rappers,  means 
the  abode  of  departed  spirits,  the  other  world. 

The  fragrance  we  fain  would  have  treasured  up  here, 
In  the  bright  spirit-land  will  find  its  true  sphere. 

N.  Haven  Palladium. 

Spirit-Rapper.  A  person  who,  professing  to  act  as  a  "medium" 
between  embodied  and  disembodied  spirits,  interprets  raps  pro- 
duced by  an  unseen  agency  on  tables,  floors,  &c.,  as  messages  from 
the  other  world. 

Spirit-Rappings.  Rappings  supposed  to  be  produced  by  disembodied 
spirits. 

From  what  I  learned  in  my  observation  of  mesmerism,  I  am  so  far  aware  of 
the  existence  of  rarely  used  and  undeveloped  powers  and  capacities  in  the  brain 
as  to  disapprove  very  strongly  the  gratuitous  supposition,  in  the  spirit-rapping 
case,  of  pure  imposture  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  the  presence  of  departed  spirits 
on  the  other.  —  Harriet  Martineau's  Letter,  Autobiography,  Vol.  11.  p.  331. 

Spiritual.    A  Mormon  concubine.    See  Spiritual  Wife. 

Spiritual  Funeral.  A  funeral  conducted  after  the  fashion  of  the 
believers  in  spiritualism. 

A  spiritual  funeral  was  held  at  Lowell  lately,  over  the  remains  of  J.  B.  Smith. 
Miss  Emma  Houston  prayed,  and  the  dead  Smith  spoke  through  her.  The  wife 
and  family  of  the  deceased,  instead  of  putting  on  black,  dressed  in  white,  with 
white  shawls,  and  bonnets  trimmed  with  white.  —  {Baltimore)  Sun,  3\i\y  12, 
1858. 

Spiritualism.  The  old  doctrine,  revived  of  late  years  in  this  country, 
and  which  has  gained  numerous  converts,  that  the  spirits  of  the 
departed  can  and  do  communicate  with  the  living  through  the  so 
called  "  spiritual  mediums." 

Spiritualist.    A  believer  in  the  doctrine  of  spiritualism. 


SPI— SPL 


637 


Spiritual  Medium.    See  Medium. 

Spiritual  Wife,  or  simply  Spiritual.  A  Mormon  extra  wife  or  con- 
cubine. So,  as  among  the  Millerites  in  1843,  at  Athol,  Mass., 
except  that  they  claimed  such  a  companion  as  only  a  spiritual 
partner. 

These  extra  wives  are  known  by  sundry  designations;  some  call  them  '■'■spirit- 
uals,'" others  "sealed  ones;  "  our  landlady  is  fond  of  calling  them  "fixins,"  and 
the  tone  in  which  she  brings  it  out  is  in  the  last  degree  contemptuous.  —  Life 
among  the  Mormons,  Putnam's  Mag.,  Vol.  VI.  p.  147. 

Spit-Ball.  Paper  partly  masticated  and  then  ejected  from  the  mouth. 
A  Chicago  newspaper  thus  speaks  of  the  closing  of  a  session  of  the 
Illinois  General  Assembly :  — 

A  Balaklava  of  spit-balls.  .  .  .  Members  present  indulged  in  the  wildest  tom- 
foolery, flung  paper-balls,  &c. 

Spit-Curl.  A  detached  lock  of  hair  curled  upon  the  temple ;  probably 
from  having  been  at  first  plastered  into  shape  by  the  saliva.  It  is 
now  understood  that  the  mucilage  of  quince-seed  is  used  by  the 
ladies  for  this  purpose. 

You  may  prate  of  your  lips  and  your  teeth  of  pearl, 
And  your  eyes  so  brightly  flashing; 
My  song  shall  be  of  that  saliva  curl 
Which  threatens  my  heart  to  smash  in. 

Boston  Transcript,  Oct.  30,  1858. 

Splendiferous.    Splendid;  fine.    A  factitious  word  used  only  in  jest. 

To  m}'  mind,  a  sjjlendiferous  woman  and  a  first-chop  horse  are  the  noblest 
works  of  creation.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature,  p.  280. 

There 's  something  so  fascinating  in  the  first  blush  of  evening  that  it 's  enough 
to  make  a  man  strip  off  his  jacket  of  mortality,  and  swim  the  gulf  of  death, 
for  the  sake  of  reaching  the  sjjlendiferous  splendors  that  decorate  the  opposite 
shore.  —  Bow's  Sermons,  Vol.  I.  p.  69. 

An  itinerant  gospeller  was  holding  forth  to  a  Kentuckian  audi- 
ence, on  the  kingdom  of  heaven :  — 

"  Heaven,  my  beloved  hearers,"  said  he,  "  is  a  glorious,  a  beautiful,  a  splen- 
diferous, an  angeliferous  place.  Eye  hath  not  seen,  ear  hath  not  heard,  it  has 
not  entered  into  the  imagination  of  any  Cracker  in  these  here  diggings  what 
carryings  on  the  just  made  perfect  have  up  thar." 

It  is  singular  that  Drayton,  the  poet  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  time, 
should  have  coined  a  similar  word,  splendid  to  us,  as  well  as  the  word 
splendWous :  — 

Celestial  brightness  seized  on  his  face. 
That  did  the  woiid'ring  Israelites  amaze, 
When  he  returned  from  that  sovereign  place. 
His  brows  encircled  with  splendidious  i-ays. 

MoseSf  his  Birth  and  Miracles,  B.  iii. 


638 


SPL 


Split.  1.  A  division ;  dissension.  A  word  in  current  use,  both  in 
England  and  in  this  country,  although  not  yet  in  the  dictionaries. 

The  fiery  spirit  which  has  occasioned  a  siAit  among  the  British  Archaiologists 
would  aj)i)ear  not  yet  to  have  burned  itself  out,  &c.  —  London  Athenceum,  850. 

The  split  in  the  Whig  organization,  if  it  come  to  any  thing  serious,  will  extend 
beyond  the  Presidential  election.  —  Letter  from  Boston,  New  York  Herald, 
June  21,  18-48. 

2.  A  rapid  pace  or  rate  of  going.  "  He  went  full  split "  i.  e.  as 
hard  as  he  could  drive.  "To  go  like  split  is  a  common  expres- 
sion in  New  England. 

There  was  no  ox-teams  [in  New  York]  such  as  we  have  in  Dovvningville ;  but 
there  was  no  end  to  the  one-hoss  teams,  going'  like  split  all  over  the  city.  — 
Major  Downing,  May-day  in  New  York,  p.  G4. 

To  split.    To  go  at  a  rapid  pace ;  to  drive  or  dash  along. 

The  thing  tuk  first-rate,  and  I  set  the  niggers  a-drummin'  and  fifin'  as  hard  a3 
they  could  sj)Ut  right  afore  the  cabin  door.  — Major  Jones's  Courtshi/). 

Split-Foot.    Old  S/jlit  Foot,  a  term  for  the  devil.    Mr.  Lowell,  in 

speaking  of  the  preachers  on  the  Southern  plantations,  says:  — 

They  go  it  like  an  Ericsson's  ten-hoss  power  coleric  ingine. 

An'  make  ole  SjjUt  Foot  winch  and  squirm,  for  all  he 's  used  to  singein'. 

I^oioell,  The  Biglow  Papei's. 

Split-Ticket.  When  two  or  more  important  offices  are  to  be  filled  at 
the  same  time,  the  "  wire-pullers  "  of  each  party  select  the  men  they 
wish  their  party  to  support,  and  print  their  names  on  a  ticket  to  be 
deposited  in  the  ballot-box.  It  sometimes  happens,  however,  that 
individuals  choose  to  think  for  themselves,  and  consequently  erase 
one  or  more  of  the  names  and  substitute  others  more  to  their  liking. 
This  is  called  a  split  ticket,  also  a  scratch  ticket. 

Splorum.  A  splurging;  great  noise  or  fuss  on  slight  occasion  and 
with  little  effect. 

Splosh.  The  same  as  Sposli,  &c.  New  England.  It  is  Plash,  Splash, 
Lat.  Palus  —  Posh,  which  see. 

Splurge.  Emphatic  for  large.  A  blustering  demonstration ;  a  swagger, 
dash . 

Members  of  Congress  shoiild  not  forget  when  Senator  Benton  was  shinning 
aroimd,  making  what  they  call  in  Missouri  a  great  splurge,  to  get  gold.  —  N.  Y. 
Com.  Adv.,  Dec.  13,  1845.' 

President  Polk  and  the  Loco-Foco  party  have  been  for  some  time  past  ardu- 
ously engaged  upon  a  Avork  known  as  ''Mexico  in  Slices."  The  first  slice, 
"Texas,"  caused  quite  a  sensation;  the  second,  California  and  New  Mexico,  is 
now  making  a  splurge;  and  the  third,  "The  Sierra  Madre,"  is  under  wav. — 
Philadelphia  North  American. 


SPL— SPO 


639 


Did  you  see  Major  Coon's  wife  when  siie  came  inV  Didn't  she  cut  a  splurge  ? 
I  never  did  see  sucli  an  affected  critter  as  she  in  all  my  born  days.  —  Widoio 
Bedott  Papers,  p.  67. 

To  splurge.  To  make  a  blustering  demonstration  in  order  to  pro- 
duce an  effect;  to  swagger,  cut  a  dash.  A  term  in  common  use 
in  the  South  and  West,  and  recently  in  New  England. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  S.  H.  Cox  thus  defines  the  word  as  we  use  it:  — 
"  The  word  '  splurge  '  is  indeed  an  instance  of  our  own  cis-atlantic 
coinage,  a  provincialism  probably  not  yet  in  any  dictionary;  yet 
meaning  as  if  a  great  rock  of  the  mountain,  disintegrated  from  its 
summit,  should  rush  and  bound,  portentous  and  avalanched,  into  a 
silver  lake  at  its  foot,  there  making  an  uproarious  splash,  boring 
its  momentous  way  through  the  parted  and  the  frighted  waves,  and 
after  dashing  the  spray  in  all  directions  burying  itself,  in  forgotten 
repose,  under  congenial  mud  at  the  bottom;  so  gone  for  ever  from 
sight,  from  thought,  from  upper  air,  and  all  the  ways  of  men;  thus 
meaning,  —  the  low  aim  of  making  a  considerable  sensation  at  least 
once  in  society." 

Cousin  Pete  was  thar  splurgin'  about  in  the  biggest,  with  his  dandy-cut  trow- 
sers  and  big  whiskers.  —  Major  Jones's  Courtship,  p.  101. 

Well,  them  was  great  times,  but  now  the  settlements  is  got  too  thick  for  them 
to  splurge.  — Porter'' s  Tales  of  the  South-west,  p.  54. 

Spoils,  i.  e.  the  spoils  of  office.  The  pay  and  emoluments  of  official 
station,  specifically  referred  to  as  the  leading  inducements  to  par- 
tisan activity,  and  as  distinct  fi'om  political  zeal  generally. 

It  has  been  asserted  that  to  the  victors  belong  the  spoils.  Let  us  determine 
that  we  Avill  be  the  victors,  and  that  if  we  must  have  the  spoils  they  shall  be 
appropriated  to  the  good  of  the  country.  —  Speech  of  Hon.  Mr.  Morehead, 
June,  1848. 

Men  looking  to  the  spoils  care  not  for  principles,  whether  they  be  of  the  North 
or  of  the  South.  —  Washington  Cor.  of  N.  Y.  Com.  Adv. 

It  is  estimated  that  there  are  at  least  sixty  thousnnd  office-holders  under  the 
general  administration,  and  that  the  amount  of  plunder  annually  distributed  by 
government  is  equal  to  forty  millions  of  dollars,  which  is  expended  in  a  thousand 
and  one  ways.  The  party  which  has  the  command  of  these  office-holders,  and 
the  scattering  of  this  vast  amount  of  spoils,  is  possessed  of  a  potent  weapon  — 
N.  Y.  Herald,  June,  1848. 

Politics  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  race  for  a  purse,  a  game  for  the  stakes, 
a  battle  for  the  spoils.  —  Doto's  Sermons,  Vol.  I.  p.  216. 

Spoils,  and  spoih  alone,  is  what  animates  the  Democratic  party.  A  solid  South 
is  organizing  for  a  grand  raid  on  the  national  treasury,  —  proposing  to  make  the 
government  pay  all  the  expenses  of  the  war,  .  .  .  while  the  same  party  at  the 
North  is  squabbling  over  the  spoils  of  office.  —  New  York  Times. 

Spoilsman.    One  who  has  obtained  or  is  seeking  spoils. 


640 


SPO 


Men  now  the  favorites  of  spoilsmen,  plotting  for  the  succession  [to  the  Presi- 
dency], may  sink  into  oblivion  or  obscurity,  and  men  from  the  shadows  of 
obscurity  may  rise.  —  N.  Y.  Herald. 

Spondoolics.  Money. 

The2  Spondoolics.  —  We  understand  that  the  amount  deposited  in  the  New- 
port Savings  Bank  is  rising  $800,000, — by  about  five  hundred  and  thirty 
depositors.  —  Newport  News. 

During  the  late  war,  the  pay  of  the  soldiers  was  sometimes  in 
arrears.  Great  joy  was  therefore  manifested  when  it  was  known  that 
the  money  was  coming,  as  in  the  following  stanza:  — 

But  cheer  up,  boys,  it's  coming. 

Sure  as  rats  it 's  on  the  way. 
Won't  we  have  a  time  though,  soldiers, 

When  we  get  hold  of  that  back  pay? 
The  spondulicks  must  come  down,  boys,  — 

That  is  all  I  have  to  say. 

Son(/,  Where  is  that  Back  Pay? 

A  lumber-dealer  in  Indiana,  with  a  view  of  stirring  into  financial 
activity  his  dilatory  creditors,  appended  to  his  bill-heads  a  circular 
letter  urging  payment  of  his  accounts,  closing  as  follows:  — 

Now  let 's  have  the  spondulicks,  and  see  how  sweet  and  pretty  I  can  smile  upon 
you.  — Harper^s  Mag.,  for  April,  1876,  p.  790. 

The  man  who  has  spondulacs, 

And  will  give  his  neighbor  none. 
He  shan't  have  any  of  my  spondulacs, 
When  his  spondulacs  are  gone. 

College  Songs,  Hamilton,  p.  143. 

Spook.  (Dutch.)  A  ghost;  hobgoblin.  A  term  much  used  in  New 
York.  This  word  has  been  adopted  by  the  English  at  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope. 

At  one  time,  I  met  the  spook  in  the  form  of  a  very  tall  black  man,  accompanied 
by  a  large  dog.  —  Anderssen's  South  Africa. 

Jealous  fellows  don't  believ  in  sjiooks,  and  they  are  about  the  only  folks  who 
ever  see  any.  —  Josh  Billings,  Works,  p.  357. 

Spoon.  "To  do  business  with  a  big  spoon  "  is  the  same  as  to  "  cut 
a  big  swath." 

Spoon  Victuals.  Food  eaten  with  a  spoon.  In  England,  called 
spoon-meat. 

Yet  feed  them  and  cram  them,  till  purse  do  lack  chink, 
No  spoon-meat,  no  belly-full,  laborers  think. 

Tusser,  Good  Husbandry  (1573),  ch.  xxxvii.  V.  27. 

Spoon-Wood.  (Kalmia  latifolia.)  So  called  "because  the  Indians 
used  to  make  their  spoons  and  trowels  of  this  tree."  — Kalm,  Travels 
in  N.  America^  Vol.  I.  p.  263. 


SPO 


641 


Spoops.  A  silly  fellow;  a  noodle.  "He's  a  spoops,"  i.e.  weak- 
minded.    New  England. 

Spoopsie.    A  silly  fellow;  the  same  as  "  spoops.*^ 

Sports.    A  sporting  character ;  a  gambler. 

One  of  the  fraternity  of  gamblers,  finding  it  hard  to  get  a  living, 
thus  wrote  to  the  "  New  York  Tribune,"  April,  1877,  for  advice:  — 

The  question  which  I  want  answered  is,  How  are  we  to  live?  I  know  two  to 
three  thousand  sports  floating  now  on  the  sea  of  adversity.  Having  never  been 
trained  to  hard  work,  we  can't  do  it. 

Sportsman.    A  term  often  applied  to  a  gambler. 

Sposen.    A  corrupt  pronunciation  of  supposing. 

Sposh.  A  mixture  of  snow  and  water;  also  water  partially  frozen. 
See  Slush.  The  "  New  York  Tribune,"  Nov.  25,  1845,  in  speaking 
of  the  falling  of  rain  and  snow  at  the  same  time,  adds:  — 

The  morning  was  blue  and  streaked,  and  the  streets  were  one  shining  level  of 
black  sposh. 

Spot.  1.  A  boatman  on  the  Mississippi,  being  asked  how  he  man- 
aged to  secure  sleeping  time,  answered,  "  I  sleep  in  spots  ;  "  that  is, 
at  intervals,  by  snatches. 

2.  Merchandise  and  cotton  on  the  spot,  ready  for  delivery.  Cotton 
is  often  sold,  which  the  seller  has  not  in  store,  but  which  he  agrees 
to  deliver  at  a  future  time,  as  may  be  agreed  on. 

Prices  ruled  steady  at  13  cts.  for  middlings,  upland,  and  Gulf,  but  with  a  sus- 
tained advance  on  spots  and  futures.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Prices  Current. 

The  New  York  market  opened  yesterday  with  spot  middlings  quiet  and  steady 
at  11^  cts.  —  Providence  Journal. 

To  spot.  1.  To  mark  a  tree  by  cutting  a  chip  from  its  side.  Maine. 
See  Blaze. 

2.  A  term  used  by  policemen  for  marking  or  identifying  a  thief 
or  other  suspected  person.  It  is  of  recent  origin,  and  is  also  used 
in  England.    See  Shadow. 

It  is  the  business  of  all  policemen,  but  more  especially  of  detectives,  to  "spor' 
burglars,  thieves,  gamblers,  and  all  violators  of  the  law.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

The  five  pickpockets  whose  names  are  given  were  detained  in  the  cells  all 
night,  and  were  yesterday  taken  to  the  Deputy's  office,  where  they  were  "shown 
up,"  so  that  they  might  be  again  spotted.'"  They  were  then  told  to  go,  and 
they  went  in  a  great  state  of  indignation.  —  N.  Y.  Times. 

Spotter.    A  detective. 

An  immense  amount  of  ingenuity  has  been  expended  in  hiring  potters  and 
detectives  to  watch  the  men.  —  Providence  Press. 

Spout,  to  go  up  the.    See  Go  up  the  Spout. 

41 


642 


SPO— SPR 


Spouty.  Wet  clay  land  is  called  in  the  West  "  spouty  land,"  possibly 
because,  when  trodden  upon,  the  water  spouts  up  through  any  holes 
or  depressions  in  the  surface. 

Spread.  1.  A  bed-spread;  a  sort  of  day  covering  over  the  quilt. 
New  England. 

2.  A  grand  dinner  or  other  entertainment.  In  Pennsylvania,  a 
"second  spread"  is  some  kind  of  preserved  fruit  put  on  bread 
after  the  butter. 

3.  A  spread  contract  is  a  broker's  phrase.  It  means  a  contract 
giving  the  holders  the  privilege  of  either  buying  or  selling  any  par- 
ticular stock,  at  a  stipulated  price,  within  a  definite  time.  From 
this  fact  it  is  sometimes  called  a  double  privilege.    See  Straddle. 

Spread-Eagle.  1.  The  national  emblem  of  the  United  States,  an 
eagle  with  out-spread  wings. 

2.  This  term  is  frequently  used  among  stock  speculators.  A 
broker,  satisfied  with  small  profits,  and  not  disposed  to  involve 
himself  in  large  transactions,  sells,  say  one  hundred  shares  Erie 
Railroad  stock  at  fifty-eight,  buyer  sixty  days,  and  at  the  same  time 
buys  the  same  quantity  at  fifty-seven,  seller  sixty  days.  The  differ- 
ence in  this  case  in  the  price  is  one  per  cent,  which  would  be  so 
much  profit,  without  any  outlay  of  capital,  provided  both  contracts 
run  their  full  time.  Having  sold  buyer's  option  sixty  days,  and 
bought  seller's  option  sixty  days,  the  time  is  equal;  but  it  will  be 
seen  that  he  does  not  control  the  option  in  either  case.  The  buyer 
can  call  when  he  pleases,  which  will  compel  the  '■'spread  eagle ''^ 
operator  to  deliver;  and  the  seller  may  deliver  any  time,  which 
would  compel  the  broker  to  receive.  If  he  has  capital  to  carry,  the 
result  would  not  differ  from  that  anticipated;  but,  if  not,  he  may  be 
caught  in  a  tight  place,  and  suffer  serious  losses.  It  is,  on  the 
whole,  rather  dangerous  business,  but  not  to  the  same  extent  as 
buying  or  selling  on  time  for  a  rise  or  fall  in  market  value.  —  HunVs 
Merchant's  Mag.,  Vol.  XXXVII. 

3.  Used  adjectively,  as  "  spread  eagle  rhetoric." 

In  a  notice  of  a  book  on  the  "Mission  of  the  North  American 
People,"  by  William  Gilpin,  Philadelphia,  1873,  in  the  "  Historical 
Mag.,"  for  Sept.,  1873,  we  read:  — 

This  beautiful  volume  is  certainly  a  very  singular  one,  combining  in  its  con- 
tents much  information  .  .  .  with  very  much  more  of  that  slam-bang,  sj^read- 
eogle  literature  which  has  made  George  Francis  Train  so  notorious  the  world 
over. 

Spread-Eagleism.    The  peculiarities  of  spread-eagle  persons. 

Spread-eagleism,  coupled  with  violent  abuses  of  England  and  her  institutions. 
Cor.  X.  Y.  Tribune. 


SPR 


643 


Spread-Eagle  Style.  A  compound  of  exaggeration,  effrontery,  bom- 
bast, and  extravagance,  mixed  metaphors,  platitudes,  defiant 
threats  thrown  at  the  world,  and  irreverent  appeals  flung  at  the 
Supreme  Being.  — North  American  Review^  Oct.,  1858. 

To  spread  one's  self.  To  exert  one's  self  ostentatiously;  perhaps 
from  the  peacock,  like  the  Italian  pavoneggiarsi. 

"We  despatched  Cullen  to  prepare  a  dinner.  He  had  promised,  to  use  his  own 
expression,  to  spread  himself  in  the  preparation  of  this  meal.  — Hammond,  Wild 
JSorthern  Scenes,  p.  266. 

Hoss  Allen  [the  judge]  mounted  the  balcony  of  the  hotel,  and,  rolling  up  his 
sleeves,  spread  himself  for  an  unusually  brilliant  effort.  —  Southern  Sketches. 

At  school,  on  great  occasions,  before  company,  the  Superintendent  (as  Tom 
expressed  it)  had  always  made  this  boy  come  out  and  spreac?  Amse^/". — Hark 
Twain,  Tom,  Sawyer,  p.  46. 

To  spree  it.    To  get  intoxicated. 

If  a  young  man  creates  his  own  ruination  by  going  it  loose  and  spreeing  it 
tight,  it  is  surely  a  disgrace.  —  Bow's  Sermons. 

To  spring-bag.  To  exhibit  the  udder  as  filling.  Said  of  cows,  &c., 
as  soon  to  bear  young.    New  England. 

Spring  Fever.  The  listless  feeling  caused  by  the  first  sudden  increase 
of  temperature  in  spring.  It  is  often  said  of  a  lazy  fellow,  "He 
has  got  the  spring  fever." 

Spring-Keeper.  A  salamander  or  small,  lizard-shaped  animal,  found 
in  springs  and  fresh  water  rivulets,  whence  the  name.  See  Water- 
dogs. 

Sprouts.  A  bunch  of  twigs.  Hence,  "  to  put  one  through  a  course  of 
sprouts  "  is  to  give  him  a  good  drubbing. 

Shepard,  Moirissey's  trainer,  has  taken  up  his  quarters  at  the  house  of  his 
verj'  particular  old  friend,  Australian  Kelly,  where  he  will  doubtless  be  happy 
to  see  any  gentlemen  who  want  to  be  put  through  the  necessary  course  of  prelim- 
inary sprouts  before  they  can  win  the  laurels  of  the  P.  R.  [prize  ring].  — N.  Y. 
Tribune,  Nov.  1,  1858. 

Spruce.  (Various  species  of  Abies.)  1.  yl.  n/^/m,  or  black  spruce, 
an  evergreen  tree  abounding  in  the  northern  parts  of  the  United 
States  and  in  the  Dominion  of  Canada.  2.  (Abies  Canadetisis.) 
Hemlock  spruce.  3.  (Abies  excelsa.)  Norway  spruce.  The  wood 
of  the  latter  is  known  in  commerce  under  the  name  of  white  deal  or 
Christiana  deal.  4.  (Abies  alba.)  Single  or  white  spruce,  a  slender, 
tapering  tree  growing  in  swamps  in  the  northern  parts  of  the 
United  States  and  closely  resembling  the  black  spruce,  but  having 
leaves  of  a  lighter  green,  whence  it  derives  it  name.  —  Gray. 


644  SPR— SQU 

Spruce-Beer.    A  fermented  beverage  tinctured  with  the  leaves  and 

small  branches  of  spruce,  or  with  the  essence  of  spruce. 
Spruced  up.    Made  neat  or  fine.    *'  She 's  quite  spruced  up  to-day," 

i.  e.  well-dressed. 
Sprung.    Tipsy,  intoxicated. 

He  reckoned  they  were  a  little  bit  sprung.  —  Mrs.  Stowe,  Dred,  Vol.  I.  p.  87. 
Spry.    Lively;  active;  nimble;  quick  in  action. —  Worcester. 

This  word  is  much  used  in  familiar  language  in  New  England. 
It  is  not  in  the  English  dictionaries,  but  Jennings  notices  it  among 
the  provincialisms  of  Somersetshire. 
She  is  as  spry  as  a  cricket.  —  Margaret,  p.  58. 

"How  are  you,  Jeremiah  ?"  "Why,  I 'm  kinder  sorter  middlin',  Mr.  Slick, 
what  you  call  considerable  nimble  and  spry.''"'  —  Sam  Slick. 

Know  ye  the  land  where  the  sinking  sun 
Sees  the  last  of  earth  when  the  day  is  done  ? 
Where  yellow  Asia,  withered  and  dry. 
Hears  Young  America,  sharp  and  y)ry, 
With  thumb  in  his  vest,  and  a  quizzical  leer. 
Sing  out,  "  Old  Fogie,  come  over  here!  " 

Cozzens,  Califominn  Ballad. 

Spunk.  1.  Mettle;  spirit;  vivacity. —  BrockeWs  Glossary.  A  collo- 
quial word,  considered  in  England  extremely  vulgar.    See  Punk. 

I  admire  your  independent  spirit,  Doolittle.  I  like  to  have  people  think  well 
of  themselves.  You  have  convinced  me  of  your  spunk.  I  am  your  friend.  — 
D.  Humphreys,  The  Yankee  in  England. 

2.  Anger.  Connecticut. 
To  spunk  up.    To  show  pluck;  to  manifest  a  disposition  to  fight. 
Spunky.    1.  Mettlesome;  spirited;  vivacious.    A  colloquial  word, 
which  Forby  mentions  as  provincial  in  Norfolk,  England. 
2.  Angry.  Connecticut. 
Squaddy.    Short  and  fat.     A  vulgar  word  formed  from  squat,  or 
perhaps  a  corruption  of  squabby. 

I  had  hardl}'  got  seated,  when  in  came  a  great,  stout,  fat,  squaddy  woman.  — 
Major  Downing,  May-day. 

To  squale.  To  throw  a  stick  or  other  thing  with  violence,  and  in  such 
a  manner  that  it  skims  along  near  the  ground.  New  England.  — 
Pickering^ s  Vocab.  Scaling  stones  (upon  the  water)  was  a  common 
New  England  expression  for  what  English  boys  call ' '  making  ducks 
and  drakes."    See  Skale. 

In  England,  squoiling  is  used  for  throwing  some  material  not  easily 
managed.  Jennings  properly  says,  "  to  fling  with  a  stick;  "  and  he 
might  have  added,  with  a  stick  made  unequally  heavy  by  being 


SQU 


645 


loaded  at  one  end. — Halliwell.  To  throw  a  stick,  as  at  a  cock. 
West  of  England.  —  Grose. 

Squalmish.  Used  in  the  same  sense  as  qualmish,  and  perhaps  more 
used  among  the  illiterate.  A  sickness  of  the  stomach ;  a  desire  to 
vomit.  "  Are  you  sea-sick  ?  "  "  Not  exactly;  but  I  feel  a  little 
squalmish.^' 

Squantum.  1.  Among  the  Naumkeag  Indians  of  Massachusetts,  their 
evil  spirit. 

For  their  religion,  they  do  worship  two  Gods.  The  good  God  they  call  Tantum ; 
and  their  evil  God,  whom  they  fear,  they  call  Squantum. — Annals  of  Salem,  2d  ed.. 
Vol.  I.  p.  26. 

2.  The  name  of  a  species  of  fun  known  to  the  Nantucket  folks, 
which  is  thus  described  by  the  "  New  York  Mirror:  "  A  party  of 
ladies  and  gentlemen  go  to  one  of  the  famous  watering-places  of 
resort,  where  they  fish,  dig  clams,  talk,  laugh,  sing,  dance,  play, 
bathe,  sail,  eat,  and  have  a  general  "  good  time."  The  food  gen- 
erally consists  of  chowder,  baked  clams,  and  fun.  No  one  is  ad- 
mitted to  the  sacred  circle  who  will  take  offence  at  a  joke,  and  every 
one  is  expected  to  do  his  and  her  part  towards  creating  a  general 
laugh.  Any  man  who  speaks  of  business  affairs  (excepting  matri- 
mony) is  immediately  reproved,  and  on  a  second  offence  publicly 
chastised.  Care  is  thrown  to  the  wind,  politics  discarded,  war 
ignored,  pride  humbled,  stations  levelled,  wealth  scorned,  virtue 
exalted,  and  —  this  is  '■'■squantum.''''  Probably  from  Indian  place- 
names,  as  one  in  or  near  Quincy,  Mass. 

I  wish  to  all-fired  smash  I  was  to  home,  doin'  chores  about  house,  or  hazin' 
round  with  Charity  Baker  and  the  rest  of  the  gals  at  a  squantum.  —  Wise,  Tales 
for  the  Marines. 

In  Rhode  Island  is  a  "  Squantum  Club,"  consisting  of  several 
hundred  members,  which  has  several  buildings  on  a  small  island  in 
Narragansett  Bay,  two  miles  from  Providence,  where  an  excellent 
table  is  served.  The  shell-fish  for  which  these  waters  are  justly 
celebrated  are  here  served  in  every  variety.  Large  parties  from 
New  York,  Boston,  and  other  New  England  cities,  are  frequently 
entertained  here  during  the  summer. 

Square.    1.  Unqualified. 

The  Republicans  and  a  portion  of  the  Democrats  are  in  favor  of  a  square  vote 
whether  Jefferson  Davis  shall  be  exempted  from  the  benefits  of  the  amnesty  bill. 
Providence  Journal. 

2.  In  the  city  of  New  York,  this  term  is  applied  to  the  open  spaces 
c*^used  by  the  junction  of  several  streets.    "  Chatham  Square  "  and 


646 


SQU 


"  Franklin  Square  "  are  triangles !  The  same  term  is  used  to  denote 
an  area  of  four  sides  with  houses  on  each  side. 

On  the  square.  To  be  on  the  square  is  to  tell  the  truth,  not  to 
prevaricate. 

And  I  asks,  "Is  this  Nation  a  White  Man's, 
And  is  generally  things  on  the  square  f 

Bret  Harte,  Putins^  Truthful  James,  p,  79. 

Mr.  J.  Ross  Browne,  while  riding  with  the  stage-driver  in  Califor- 
nia, who  was  relating  some  marvellous  story,  said:  — 
"  Is  that  true,  driver  ?  " 
"  True  !  "  said  the  man,  indignantly. 
"Is  it  on  the  square,  I  mean  ?" 

"  Stranger,"  said  he,  solemnly,  "I  don't  make  a  habit  o'  lyin' :  when  I  lie.  I  kin 
lie  as  good  as  anybody ;  but,  generally  speakin',  I 'm  on  the  square.''^ — Adventures 
in  the  Apache  Country,  p.  326. 

Square  Meal.  A  full  meal;  as  much  and  of  as  great  a  variety  as  one 
can  eat. 

The  transition  from  the  luxurious  tables  of  the  East  to  the  square  meals  of  the 
West  is  fortunately  gradual ;  and  by  the  time  the  traveller  reaches  Omaha  he 
is  prepared  for  hog  and  hominy,  or  whatever  else  may  be  presented.  —  McClure, 
Through  the  Rochy  Mountains,  p.  30. 

Elsewhere  Mr.  McClure  describes  the  square  meal,  of  which  he 
partook  at  Alkali  Station,  to  consist  of  the  following:  excellent 
warm  rolls,  canned  tomatoes,  peas,  blackberries,  peach  pie,  fried 
ham,  stewed  veal,  and  fried  potatoes,  with  tolerable  butter  and 
coffee  and  tea.  —  p.  58. 

My  stomach  has  had  nothing  in  it,  — 
Next  to  nothing  at  least  for  three  days; 

And  I 've  no  idea,  this  minute. 

When  next  a  square  meal  I  can  raise. 

N.  Y.  Clipjur,  Song  of  the  Tramp. 

Square  Room.  Best  apartment.  Used  formerly  in  the  interior  of 
Massachusetts. 

Squash.  1.  A  culinary  vegetable.  (Genus  Cucurlita.)  It  is  not 
necessary  to  resort  to  the  Greek  o-Ikvos  for  the  etymology  of  this 
word:  it  is  Algonkin,  and  is  often  mentioned  by  the  early  writers. 

In  summer,  when  their  [the  Indians']  com  is  spent,  sqiionter  squashes  is  their 
best  bread,  a  fruit  like  a  young  pumpion. —  Wood's  New  England  (1634),  p.  37. 

Askutasquash,  the  vine-apple  [of  the  Indians],  which  the  English  from  them 
call  squashes,  about  the  bignesse  of  apples,  of  severall  colours,  sweete,  light, 
wholesome,  and  refreshing.  —  Roger  Williams,  Key  to  the  Indian  Lang.  (1643). 

When  the  summer  of  your  lives,  my  female  friends,  is  drawing  to  a  close,  — 
when  your  rosy  charms  begin  to  fade  like  the  sprigs  upon  your  calicoes,  — and 
when,  like  vineless  squashes,  you  have  grown  withered  and  yellow,  Cupid  will 
disdain  to  frequent  your  autumnal  bowers.  —  Dow's  Sermons,  Vol.  III.  p.  127. 


SQU 


647 


2.  A  skunk;  stinkard.    Formerly  so  called. 

Skunk  .  .  .  found  in  all  the  States.  Another  stinkard  called 
the  Squash  is  said  by  Buffon  to  be  found  in  some  of  the  Southern 
States.  He  is  of  a  chestnut  color,  climbs  trees,  and  kills  poulti-y. — 
Morsels  Geography. 

Webster,  on  the  authority  of  Goldsmith,  says  it  is  an  animal  allied 
to  the  weasel. 

Squash -Bug.  (Coreus  trisHs.)  A  small  yellow  bug,  injurious  to  the 
vines  of  squashes,  melons,  and  cucumbers.  The  odor,  which  is 
peculiar,  has  been  identified  by  Dr.  Harris  with  that  of  an  over-ripe 
pear.    In  Connecticut,  called  a  stink-bug. 

To  squat.  1.  To  squeeze;  to  press.  Ex.:  "The  boy  has  squat  his 
finger."  Used  by  the  vulgar  in  New  England.  —  Pickering'' s 
Vocabulary.  Mr.  Todd  has  this  word  in  his  dictionary  from  Barret 
(1580):  "To  bruise  or  make  flat  by  letting  fall."  Provincial  in 
the  south  of  England. 

2.  In  the  United  States,  to  settle  on  another's  lands,  or  on  public 
lands,  without  having  a  title.  — Worcester. 

On  either  side  of  the  bank,  the  colonists  had  been  allowed  to  squat  on  allotted 
portions,  until  the  survey  of  the  town  should  be  completed.  — Wakefield's  Adv en  - 
tu  es  in  New  Zealand  in  1844. 

The  Yankees  of  Connecticut,  those  swapping,  bargaining,  squatting  enemies  ot 
the  Manhattoes,  made  a  daring  inroad  into  their  neighborhood,  and  founded  a 
colony  called  Westchester.  —  Irving,  Wolferfs  Roost,  p.  13. 

The  word  has  recently  been  introduced  into  the  vocabulary  of  the 
New  York  Stock  Exchange,  where  it  is  applied  to  a  broker  when 
1  e  dishonors  his  contracts. 

D  D  was  a  large  dealer  in  gold  during  the  war.  .  ,  .  On  two  separate 

occasions,  he  extricated  himself  from  serious  difficulties  by  fesorting  to  what  is 
known  in  the  street  as  squatting.  In  other  words,  he  dishonored  his  own  con- 
tracts, and  entered  upon  a  lawsuit  to  cover  his  duplicity.  — Men  and  Mysteries 
of  Wall  Street,  p.  168. 

Squatter.  In  the  United  States,  one  that  settles  on  new  land  without 
a  title.  — Webster. 

When  I  was  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  there  were  several  of  the  officers  who  had  been 
cited  to  appear  in  court  for  having,  pursuant  to  order,  removed  squatters  from  the 
Indian  lands  on  the  Mississippi.  —  Hoffman,  Winter  in  the  West,  Let.  29. 

The  Western  squatter  is  a  free  and  jovial  character,  inclined  to  mirth  rather 
than  evil;  and  when  he  encounters  his  fellow-man  at  a  barl)acue,  election,  l(»g- 
rolling,  or  frolic,  he  is  more  disposed  to  join  in  a  feeling  of  hilarity  than  to  par- 
ticipate in  wrong  or  outrage.  —  Robb,  Squatter  Life. 

The  "  London  Spectator  "  has  the  following  remarks  on  this  word, 
occasioned  by  the  removal  of  a  number  of  the  occupants  of  Glen- 


648 


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culvie,  in  Scotland,  who  had  squatted  there  as  under-tenants*. 
"  The  term  *  squatter^  is  very  ambiguous.  In  America,  it  denotes 
a  ragged  rascal  without  a  cent  in  his  pockets,  and  with  a  rifle  or 
woodman's  axe  in  his  hand.  In  Australia,  it  designates  a  young 
Oxonian  or  retired  officer  of  the  army  or  navy,  possessed  of  stock  to 
the  value  of  some  thousands.  In  Scotland,  it  seems  to  designate  a 
person  very  differently  circumstanced  from  either  of  the  preceding. 
.  .  .  The  Scotchmen  who  'squat  under  tenants,'  are  men  who 
have  followed  their  fathers  and  grandfathers  for  unknown  genera- 
tions in  the  occupancy  of  their  huts  and  kail-yards.  Their  families 
are  of  older  standing  in  the  district  than  those  of  the  tacksmen  or 
the  lairds.  The  Scotch  squatter  is  no  clandestine  intruder  upon  the 
soil:  he  stands  in  the  place  of  his  forefathers,  and  the  act  which 
ejects  him  is  a  violent  innovation  on  the  customs  of  the  country,  — 
a  forcible  change  in  a  mode  of  tenancy  sanctioned  by  the  '  use  and 
wont '  of  all  ages."  —  June  7,  1845. 

Squatter-Butter.  To  go  "  squatter-butter  "  is  to  slide  down  hill 
"sitting  on  one's  heels,"  as  more  inoffensively  the  thing  is  ex- 
pressed.   Eastern  Massachusetts. 

Squatter-Huts.    The  rude  habitations  or  huts  built  by  squatters. 

O'er  the  land  are  aquatintan 

Etchings  of  these  sketches  seen, 
Gracing  drawing-rooms  in  cities. 

Squatter-huts  in  wildwoods  green, 
Wm.  Boyd,  Oakwood  Old,  Cambridge  {Mass.)  Chronicle,  1857. 

Squatter  Sovereignty.  The  right  of  the  squatters  or  actual  residents 
in  a  Territory  of  the  United  States  to  make  their  own  laws  and 
shape  their  own  institutions. 

One  of  the  great  merits  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision  is  the  total  extinguishment  it 
gives  to  the  dogma  of  squatter  sovereignty  in  the  Territories.  It  utterly  negatives 
the  idea  that  there  is  any  original  jurisdiction  or  legislative  authority  in  the 
Territory,  and  asserts  that  all  authority  therem  is  derivative,  coming  from  with- 
out, and  not  inherent  in  its  inhabitants  or  tribunals.  —  The  (  Washinyton)  Union, 
Nov.  8,  1858. 

We  must  live  and  learn.  ...  I  refer  to  "pre-empting,"  known  in  former 
times  as  squatting,  from  which  arose  that  new  term  in  political  parlance,  squatter 
sovereignty .  —  National  Int.,  Letter  from  Nebraska,  3\x\y  1,  1857. 

Squaw.  (Algonkin  Ind.)  An  Indian  woman.  Mr.  Duponceau, 
after  giving  a  list  of  the  languages  and  forms  in  which  this  word 
occurs,  observes:  "  On  voit  que  la  famille  de  ce  mot  s'etend  depuis 
les  Knistenaux  en  Canada,  et  les  Skoffies  et  Montagnards  d'Acadie, 
jusqu'aux  Nanticokes  sur  les  confins  de  la  Virginie."  —  Mem.  sur 
les  Langues  d^Amerique  du  Nord,  p.  333. 


SQU 


649 


To  squawk.  To  squeak,  but  with  a  deeper  note.  This  word  is  collo- 
quial in  various  parts  of  England  and  in  New  England. 

"Good  gracious !  "  said  Mrs.  Bedott,  "  if  you 'd  a  heard  Miss  C  sing,  you 'd 

a  gin  up.  The  way  she  squawked  it  out  was  a  caution  to  old  gates  on  a  windy 
day !  "  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  208. 

Squaw-Root.  (Conapholis  Americana.)  Also,  Leontice  thalictroides 
(Caulophyllum,  Michaux),  by  others  called  Pappoose-root.  A  medi- 
cinal plant  put  up  by  the  Shakers,  also  called  Cancer-root.  It  is 
recommended  for  correcting  the  secretions,  and  possesses  narcotic 
properties. 

Squaw-Weed.  (^Senecio  aureus.)  A  medicinal  plant  used  for  diseases 
of  the  skin. 

To  squeal.  To  give  information  that  will  lead  to  an  exposure.  A 
term  well  known  to  the  police.    See  Peach. 

The  wife  of  a  St.  Louis  merchant,  who  had  been  reading  in  the 
morning  papers  about  the  whiskey  frauds,  turned  to  her  husband 
with  a  puzzled  expression  of  countenance,  and  inquired:  — 

"My  dear,  what  do  the  paper*  mean  by  saying  that  a  man  has  '  squealed '  ?  " 

"Why,"  replied  the  man,  loftily,  "they  mean  that  some  member  of  the  ring 
has  peached  on  the  rest." 

"Peached,  what  is  that  V  "  exclaimed  the  wife ;  "  now,  what  does  that  mean  ? " 

"  Why,  it  means  that  he 's  —  he 's  blowed  on  'em !  " 

"  Blowed  on  them  ?  " 

"Yes,  you  see,  he 's  given  them  away." 

"Given  them  away  ?  " 

"  Why,  of  course !  Can't  you  understand  any  thing  ?  Do  you  think  I 'm  an 
unabridged  dictionary  ?  "  continued  the  husband.  "  It  means  he 's  —  he 's  '  let 
out  on  'em,'  —  '  gone  back  '  on  his  pals,  —  squealed,  you  know.' ' 

"Ah,  yes,  I  see." 

Three  men  being  arrested  at  Harrisburg  on  suspicion  of  aiding 
and  abetting  in  the  abduction  of  Charlie  Ross,  a  letter  was  in- 
troduced in  evidence  addressed  to  one  of  them,  in  which  the  writer 
said :  — 

Go  home  ;  burn  the  clothes  of  the  boy ;  R  is  caught,  and  may  squeal  on  us. 

N.  Y.  Tribune,  Oct.  27,  1876. 

The  Northampton  Bank  having  been  robbed  of  a  large  sum  of 
money,  a  "lock  expert,"  who  had  used  his  skill  to  effect  the  rob- 
bery, claimed  his  share  of  the  plunder,  which  was  withheld  from 
him:  — 

Refusing  to  divide  with  the  expert  according  to  the  principles  of  equity  among 
their  class,  he  '■'■squealed,''''  and  not  only  brought  his  co-partners  into  the  meshes 
of  the  law,  but  also  deprived  himself  of  an  occupation.  —  Providence  Journal. 

Squeteague  or  Squetee.  (Labrus  squeteague.)  A  very  common  fish 
in  the  waters  of  Long  Island  Sound  and  adjacent  bays.    It  never 


650 


SQU 


visits  rivers,  and  is  similar  in  habits  to  the  Tautog.  In  New  York, 
it  is  called  Weak-fish,  owing  to  the  feeble  resistance  it  makes  when 
caught  with  a  hook,  because  it  is  weak  (Dutch).  The  name  is 
Narragansett  Indian. 

Weelivis,  en  Schol,  en  Carper,  Bot  en  Snoek. 

Steendam''s  Poems  (1650),  p.  54. 

To  squib.  To  throw  squibs ;  to  utter  sarcastic  or  severe  reflections; 
to  contend  in  petty  dispute;  as,  "  Two  members  of  a  society  squib 
a  little  in  debate."  Colloquial.  — Webster.  This  word  is  not  in  the 
English  dictionaries. 

To  squid.    To  fish  by  trolling  with  a  squid,  either  natural  or  artificial. 

The  blue-fish  is  taken  by  squidding  in  swift  tideways  from  a  boat  under  sail  in 
a  stiiiish  breeze.  —  Frank  Forester. 

To  squiggle.  To  move  about  like  an  eel.  New  England.  Often 
figuratively  used  in  speaking  of  a  man  who  evades  a  bargain  as  an 
eel  eludes  the  grasp.  —  Pickering. 

Forby's  Glossary  of  Norfolk  contains  the  word  in  the  sense  of  "to 
shake  a  fluid  about  the  mouth." 

Squinny.    To  make  a  broad  laugh.    New  England. 

Squire.  The  title  of  magistrates  and  lawyers.  In  New  England,  it 
is  given  particularly  to  justices  of  the  peace  and  judges;  in  Penn- 
sylvania, to  justices  of  the  peace  only.  — Webster. 

To  squirm.  To  wriggle  or  twist  about,  as  an  eel.  Provincial  in  Eng- 
land, and  colloquial  in  the  United  States.  —  Worcester. 

On  the  7th  January,  1859,  the  Hon.  Mr.  Pitt,  of  the  Missouri 
Legislature,  is  reported  to  have  said  in  debate:  — 

Mr.  Speaker,  this  House  passed  resolutions,  sir,  to  celebrate,  in  an  appro- 
priate manner,  the  8th  of  January.  We  have  declared  an  intention,  and  now, 
when  we  come  to  publish  it,  some  gentleman  is  suddenh'  seized  with  the  "re- 
trenchment gripes,"  and  squirms  around  like  a  long  red  worm  on  a  pin-hook. 

Squirmy.    Having  a  squirming  shape;  crooked. 

It  coils  loosely  and  waveringly  about  the  ground,  as  a  huge  snake  might  unfold 
it;  in  every  respect,  a  squirmy  piece  of  work.  — N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Squirt.  A  foppish  young  fellow;  a  "  whipper-snapper ;  "  a  contemp- 
tible puppy.    A  vulgar  word. 

If  they  won't  keep  compan}'  with  squirts  and  dandies,  who 's  going  to  make  a 
monkey  of  himself?  —  Major  Jones's  Courtship,  p.  160. 

He 's  a  galvanized  squirt,  and,  as  the  parson  said,  "the  truth  ain't  in  him."  — 
Noi-th's  Slave  of  the  Lamp,  p.  25. 


SQU— STA 


651 


Squirtiah.  Dandified. 

It 's  my  opinion  that  these  slicked-up,  squirtish  kind  a  fellars  ain't  particular 
hard  baked,  and  they  always  goes  in  for  aristocracy  notions. — Robb,  Squatter 
Life,  p.  73. 

Squitters.    The  diarrhoea.    Also  used  in  England.    See  Wright's 

Provincial  Die. 
Squush.    To  crush.    A  vulgarism. 

The  next  time  I  meet  the  critter,  I  'II  take  my  stick  and  kill  it,  —  I  'II  squush 
it  with  my  foot.  — NeaVs  Charcoal  Sketches. 

The  following  stanza  is  from  a  ' '  Tender  Lay  "  on  a  new-laid 
egg:  — 

Ay,  touch  it  with  a  tender  touch, 

For,  till  the  egg  is  biled, 
Who  knows  but  that  unwittingly 

It  may  be  smashed  and  spiled. 
The  summer  breeze  that  'ginst  it  blows 

Ought  to  be  stilled  and  hushed; 
For  eggs,  like  youthful  purity, 

Are  "  orful"  when  they  're  squushed. 

When  I  went  to  school  and  we  played  leap-frog,  if  there  was  a  frog  to  be 
squushed  down  under  all  the  rest,  I  was  that  fi'og.  —  Betsy  Bobbet,  p.  183. 

Stag.    1.  In  the  New  York  courts,  a  stag  is  the  technical  name  for  a 

man  who  is  always  ready  to  aid  in  proving  an  alibi,  of  course  "  for 

a  consideration." 

2.  In  New  England  and  elsewhere,  a  bullock.    And  so,  too,  in 

some  parts  of  England. 
Stag-Dance.    A  dance  performed  by  males  only,  in  bar-rooms,  &c. 

Also  called  a  bull-dance. 

The  prisoners  in  the  jail  at  Lafayette,  Indiana,  have  been  provided  with  a  vio- 
lin; and,  one  of  the  number  being  a  good  player,  they  have  frequent  cotillons  or 
stag-dances,  which  have  the  advantage  of  being  select,  without  the  formality 
peculiar  to  entertainments  in  higher  circles.  —  {Bait.)  Sun,  Nov.  13,  1854. 

Stage-Driver.    A  stage-coachman. 

Staging.    Scaffolding.     Used  in  New  England,  and,  I  believe,  iu 
other  parts  of  the  United  States.  —  Pickering. 

Stag-Party.    A  party  consisting  of  males  only. 

I  lose  myself  in  a  party  of  old  bricks,  who,  under  pretence  of  looking  at  the 
picture,  are  keeping  up  a  small  stay-party  at  the  end  of  the  room.  —  Mace  Sloper, 
in  Knickerbocker  Mag.,  April,  1856. 

Stake  and  Rider.    A  species  of  fence  higher  and  stronger  than  a 
"  worm -fence." 

Stake-Driver.    The  bittern,  so  called  from  its  booming.  Adiron- 
dacks.    The  same  bird  is  also  called  punk-pudding. 


652 


STA 


To  stake  out.    To  picket,  as  a  horse,  mule,  &c. 

He  got  all  his  fixins  for  camping,  —  his  little  wallet  and  tin  cup,  and  a  big  lariat 
to  stake  out  his  mule.  —  Frontier  Incident,  N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times 

Staky.  A  stahj  horse  is  one  that  jihhs,  or  stands  still  when  in  har- 
ness. 

To  stall.  To  stick  fast  in  the  mire,  as  a  horse  or  carriage.  Provin- 
cial in  England. — Halliwell.  In  New  England,  "to  set  "  is  used 
in  the  same  sense. 

Now  and  then  we  halted  to  mend  a  broken  tongue  or  axle,  or  help  a  stalled 
wagon  from  its  mirj'-  bed.  —  Captain  Eeid,  The  Scalp-Hunter,  p.  18. 

Stampede.  (Span,  estampado,  a  stamping  of  feet.)  A  general 
scamper  of  animals  on  the  Western  prairies,  usually  caused  by  a 
fright.  Mr.  Kendall  gives  the  following  interesting  account  of 
one:  — 

*'  A  stampede  !  "  shouted  some  of  the  old  campaigners,  jumping  from  the  ground 
and  running  towards  their  frightened  animals  ;  "  a  stampede!  look  out  for  your 
horses,  or  you  Ml  never  see  them  again !     was  heard  on  every  side. 

It  is  singular  the  effect  that  sudden  fright  has  not  only  upon  horses,  but  oxen, 
on  the  prairies.  The  latter  will,  perhaps,  run  longer  and  farther  than  the  former  ; 
and  although  not  as  difficult  to  "head,"  because  they  cannot  run  so  fast,  their 
onward  course  it  is  impossible  to  stay.  Oxen  have  been  known  to  run  forty 
miles  without  once  stopping  to  look  back.  Not  one  in  fifty  of  them  has  seen  the 
least  cause  of  fear,  but  each  simply  ran  because  his  neighbor  did.  Frequent 
instances  have  occurred  where  some  worthless  but  skittish  horse  has  caused  the 
loss  of  hundreds  of  valuable  animals. 

Nothing  can  exceed  the  grandeur  of  the  scene  when  a  large  cavallada,  or  drove 
of  horses,  take  a  "scare."  Old,  weather-beaten,  time-worn,  and  broken-dowa 
steeds  —  horses  that  have  nearly  given  out  from  hard  work  or  old  age  —  will  at 
once  be  transformed  into  wild  and  prancing  colts.  When  first  seized  with  that 
indescribable  terror  which  induces  them  to  fly,  they  seem  to  have  been  suddenly 
endowed  with  all  the  attributes  of  their  original  wild  nature.  With  heads  erect, 
tails  and  manes  streaming  in  the  air,  eyes  lit  up  and  darting  beams  of  fright,  old 
and  jaded  hacks  will  be  seen  prancing  and  careering  about  with  all  the  buoyancy 
of  action  which  characterizes  the  antics  of  young  colts.  The  throng  will  sweep 
along  the  plain  with  a  noise  which  may  be  likened  to  something  between  a  tor- 
nado and  an  earthquake,  and  as  well  might  feeble  man  attempt  to  arrest  either 
of  the  latter. 

Were  the  earth  rending  and  cleaving  beneath  their  feet,  horses,  when  under 
the  terrifying  influence  of  a  stampede,  could  not  bound  away  with  greater  velocity 
or  more  majestic  beauty  of  movement.  —  Santa  Fe  Expedition,  Vol.  I.  p.  96. 

About  two  hours  before  day  there  was  a  sudden  stampedo,  or  rush  of  horses, 
along  the  purlieus  of  the  camp,  with  a  snorting  and  a  neighing  and  clattering  of 
hoofs  that  started  the  rangers  from  their  sleep.  —  Irving'' s  Tour  to  the  Prairies, 
p.  141. 

Last  night  there  occurred  that  dreaded  calamity  of  the  prairies,  a  stampede 
of  the  mules.  The  herd  was  quietly  grazing,  when  suddenly  a  pony  took  fright, 
and,  creating  a  panic  among  the  animals,  all  fled.   Their  heavy  tramping  awoke 


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us ;  and,  seizing  arms,  we  rushed  out,  thinking  that  Indians  were  the  cause  of 
the  disturbance.  .  .  .  For  thirty -two  miles,  they  continued  the  pursuit,  and  then, 
overtaking  the  frightened  horses  that  led  the  herd,  turned  them  back.  —  Captain 
Whipple's  Explorations  for  a  Railroad  to  the  Facijic,  p.  77. 

From  animals,  the  term  is  transferred  to  men:  — 

The  boys  leaped  and  whooped,  flung  their  hats  in  the  air,  chased  one  another 
in  a  sort  of  stampede,  &c.  —  Judd's  Margaret,  p.  120. 

After  liim  I  went,  and  after  me  they  came,  and  perhaps  there  wasn't  the  aw- 
fullest  stampede  down  three  pair  of  stairs  that  ever  occurred  in  Michigan !  —  Field, 
Western  Tales. 

The  cause  that  led  to  the  recent  alarm  [in  Paris]  was  the  stampede  among  the 
directors  of  that  wonderful  institution,  the  Credit  Mobilier. — N.  Y.  Journal  of 
Commerce,  Oct.  12,  1857. 

From  information  which  has  reached  us,  there  would  seem  to  have  been  a  con- 
siderable stampede  of  slaves  from  the  border  valley  counties  of  Virginia  during 
the  late  Easter  holidays.  —  {Bait.)  Sun,  April  9,  1858. 

To  Stampede.    1.  To  cause  to  scamper  off  in  a  fright. 

Colonel  Snively  was  on  the  point  of  marching  in  pursuit  of  the  Mexicans,  when 
an  incident  occurred  which  frustrated  the  purposes  of  the  expedition.  This  was 
effected  by  a  war-party  of  Indians,  who  succeeded  in  stampeding  a  large  band  of 
the  army  horses.  —  Scenes  in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  p.  268. 

Orders  were  issued  by  Daniel  H.  Wells,  styling  himself  "Lieutenant-general, 
Nauvoo  Legion,"  to  stampede  the  animals  of  the  United  States  troops  on  their 
march,  to  set  fire  to  their  trains,  to  burn  the  grass,  &c.  —  Presidents  Message, 
Dec.  6,  1858. 

2.  To  scamper  off  in  a  fright. 

The  Virginia  Legislature,  becoming  frightened  at  the  approach  of  the  cholera, 
have  finally  stampeded  toward  the  White  Sulphur  Springs,  there  to  legislate  in 
the  ball-room  of  the  "principal  hotel."  — N.  Y.  Tribune,  June  12,  1849. 

3.  To  run  off"  from;  to  leave;  to  rush  from  hurriedly. 

The  wounded  are  doing  well.  The  court-house  and  prominent  stores  are 
being  used  as  hospitals,  ...  the  owners  of  the  latter  having  stampeded  the 
town.  —  Missouri  Cor.  N.  Y.  Tiihme. 

Stamping-Ground.    The  scene  of  one's  exploits,  or  favorite  place  of 
resort.    South  and  West. 

The  little  village  of  Hampton,  Virginia,  is  a  favorite  stamping-ground  for  poli- 
ticians. President  Pierce  spent  a  few  days  here  early  in  the  season.  —  Cor.  of 
the  Baltimore  Argus. 

At  the  dinner  given  to  the  Knight  Templars  of  Virginia  by  their 
brethren  in  Providence,  R.  I.,  on  tlie  occasion  of  their  visit,  June 
22,  1858,  Sir  Knight  M.  Kimball,  one  of  the  Committee  from  Bos- 
ton, in  response  to  the  toast  of  "  The  City  of  Boston,"  said:  — 

For  the  present,  we  won't  brag  much.  We  say  as  little  as  possible  until  we  get 
the  Virginia  Knight  Templars  on  our  own  stamping-ground .  We  don't  propose 
to  astonish  them  till  we  get  them  out  of  your  [the  K.  I.  Templars']  hands. 


634 


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I  went  up  to  Mobile,  and  then  to  my  old  stampm' -ground,  up  again  to  the  old 
State;  and,  arter  spending  a  week  or  so  among  my  kin,  made  a  bee-line  for 
Washington.  —  Piney  Woods  Tavern,  p.  41. 

Stamp-Mill.  A  mill  used  in  California  for  crushing  all  kinds  of  free- 
gold  quartz.  It  is  the  simplest  and  most  wasteful  machinery  used 
in  the  reduction  of  ores. 
Stamps.  Bank-notes,  greenbacks,  or  any  other  paper  money.  Per- 
haps from  postage-stamps,  which  were  used  as  money  in  1861-62. 
See  Postal  Currency. 

The  till  I  keep  here  in  my  pocket  so  safe, 

I  light  up  my  kerosene  lamps ; 
At  daylight  I  put  up  my  shutters  so  tight, 
Then  go  in  to  count  up  my  stamps. 

Somj,  E.  Harri.gan. 

The  "  Providence  Journal,"  Feb.  5,  1877,  in  speaking  of  a  certain 
lecturer  who  failed  to  obtain  a  large  audience,  says:  — 

The  patience  with  which  he  waited  in  the  box-office  to  rake  in  all  the  stamps 
led  his  audience  to  form  a  fair  estimate  of  his  appreciation  of  the  almighty 
dollar. 

Stanchel.     A  stanchion;  a  post.     "Tie  up  the  cow  to  the  stan- 

chel. ' '  Massachusetts. 
Stancheous.    Strong;  durable.  Western. 

I  tell  you  what,  it 's  a  mighty  stancheousAooking  building,  and  looks  far  off  at 

a  distance  when  you  're  going  up  to  it.  —  Major  Jones's  Courtship,  p.  33. 

Stand.    1.  The  situation  of  a  store  or  place  of  business  is  called  a 
stand;  as,  "The  Astor  House  is  a  good  stand  for  a  hotel." 
2.  A  platform;  a  pulpit  for  orators  and  preachers. 

Standee.  A  standing  bed-place  in  a  steamer.  A  place  to  stand  at  a 
theatre  or  concert,  without  the  privilege  of  a  seat. 

To  stand  to  it.  To  adhere  to  one's  engagement;  to  abide  by  a  com- 
pact; to  be  resolute. 

To  stand  Treat.  To  consent  to  treat,  or  to  be  at  the  expense  of  treat- 
ing a  party  to  liquor. 

I  was  never  sold  before,  I  vow;  I  cave  in,  and  will  stand  treat.  — Sam  Slick, 
Human  Nature. 

To  stand  up  to  the  Rack.  A  metaphorical  expression  of  the  same 
meaning  as  the  like  choice  phrases,  "  to  come  to  the  scratch,"  "  to 
toe  the  mark." 

I  begun  a  new  campaign  at  Washington.  I  had  hard  work,  but  I  stood  up  to 
the  rack,  fodder  or  no  fodder.  —  Crockett,  Tour,  p.  137. 

It  was  the  hottest  night's  work  ever  old  Wolf  undertook;  and  it  tuck  a  mighty 
chance  of  hollerin'  to  make  him  stand  up  to  his  rack  as  well  as  he  did.  —  Major 
Jones's  Courtship,  p.  64. 


STA 


To  star.  Said  of  a  popular  actor,  who  goes  about  and  acts  in  dif- 
ferent towns  in  the  theatrical  season.  Such  actor  is  also  called  "  a 
star." 

Star-Apple.  (ChrysophjUum  Cainito.)  A  round,  smooth- skinned 
fruit,  the  size  of  a  peach,  with  a  soft  pulp,  and  a  number  of  glossy, 
brown  seeds.  The  more  common  kinds  of  star-apple  are  the  green 
skinned  ones  with  white  pulps,  and  the  purple  ones.    West  Indies. 

Stare-Cat.  A  woman  or  girl  who  amuses  herself  with  gazing  at  her 
neighbors.    A  woman's  word. 

Star-Plum.  (Chrysophyllum  monopyrenum.)  A  kind  of  star-apple, 
also  called  a  Barbadoes  Damson  plum.  Barbadoes. 

Stars.  1.  The  officers  of  the  police  in  the  city  of  New  York  are  so 
called  from  their  badge,  a  brass  star,  which  is  required  by  law  to  be 
worn  on  the  breast. 

The  present  system  clothes  with  authority  not  only  vicious  men,  but  even  con- 
victs, because  they  have  been  of  service  to  their  party.  Then  it  is  that  the 
"s^fir,"  instead  of  being  a  terror  to  evil-doers,  becomes  the  fear  of  good  citizens. 
Report  of  Com.  of  Philad.  Council  on  Police,  1857. 

2.  A  Southern  pronunciation  of  the  word  stairs,  like  bar  for  bear  ; 
also  heard  in  New  England. 

Stars  and  Bars.    The  flag  of  the  late  Southern  Confederacy. 

Our  Southern  boys  are  brave  and  true,  and  are  joining  heart  and  hand. 
And  are  flocking  to  the  Stars  and  Bars,  as  they  are  floating  o'er  our  land; 
And  all  are  standing  ready,  with  their  rifles  in  their  hand, 
And  invite  the  North  to  open  graves  down  South  in  Dixie's  land. 

Confederate  Song. 

Stars  and  Stripes.    The  flag  of  the  United  States. 

This  flag  was  adopted  by  act  of  Congress  on  the  14th  June,  1777, 
in  the  following  words :  — 

"  Resolved,  That  the  flag  of  the  thirteen  United  Colonies  be  thirteen  stripes 
alternately  red  and  white ;  that  the  Union  be  thirteen  stars,  white  in  a  blue  field, 
representing  a  new  constellation." 

It  has  been  thought  that  the  arms  of  Washington  may  have  sug- 
gested the  idea  for  the  American  flag.  These  arms  contain  three 
stars  in  the  upper  portion,  and  three  bars  running  across  the  escut- 
cheon. Other  flags  were  used  at  different  times  during  the  Revolu- 
tion, which  are  described  by  Mr.  T.  Westcott,  of  Philadelphia,  in 
a  communication  with  the  London  "  Notes  and  Queries,"  for  1852, 
p.  10. 

In  March,  1775,  a  union  flag  with  a  red  field  was  hoisted  at  New 
York,  bearing  the  inscription,  "  George  Rex  and  the  -Liberties  of 


656 


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America,"  and  upon  the  reverse,  "  No  Popery."  On  the  18th  July, 
1778,  General  Putnam  raised  at  Prospect  Hill  a  flag,  bearing  on 
one  side  the  Connecticut  motto,  "  Qui  transtulit  sustinet,^^  on  the 
other,  "  An  Appeal  to  Heaven."  In  October  of  the  same  year,  the 
floating  batteries  at  Boston  had  a  flag  with  the  latter  motto, 
the  field  white  with  a  pine-tree  upon  it.  This  was  the  Massachu- 
setts emblem.  Another  flag,  used  during  1775  in  some  of  the 
Colonies,  had  upon  it  a  rattlesnake  coiled  as  if  about  to  strike, 
with  the  motto,  "Don't  tread  on  me."  The  grand  union  flag  of 
thirteen  stripes  was  raised  on  the  heights  near  Boston,  Jan.  2,  1776. 
The  "  British  Annual  Register"  of  1776  says:  "  They  burnt  the 
King's  speech,  and  changed  their  colors  from  a  red  ground,  which 
they  had  hitherto  used,  to  a  flag  with  thirteen  stripes,  as  a  symbol 
of  the  number  and  union  of  the  colonies."  The  idea  of  making  a 
stripe  for  each  State  was  adopted  from  the  first ;  and  the  fact  goes 
far  to  negative  the  supposition  that  the  private  arms  of  General 
Washington  had  any  thing  to  do  with  it.  The  pine-tree,  the  rattle- 
snake, and  the  striped  flag  were  used  indiscriminately  until  July, 
1777,  when  the  blue  union  with  the  stars  was  added  to  the  stripes, 
and  the  flag  established  by  law.  Formerly,  a  new  stripe  was  added 
for  each  new  State  admitted  to  the  union,  until  the  flag  became  too 
large,  when,  by  act  of  Congress,  the  stripes  were  reduced  to  the  old 
thirteen ;  and  now  another  star  is  added  at  the  accession  of  each 
new  State. 

Star-spangled  Banner.  The  flag  of  the  United  States.  The  term 
was  first  given  to  the  American  flag  by  Francis  S.  Key,  in  his 
beautiful  song,  now  become  a  national  one,  which  bears  that  title. 
The  circumstances  connected  with  the  composition  of  this  song  are 
given  by  Chief  Justice  Taney,  the  brother-in-law  of  Mr.  Key,  in  a 
letter  which  accompanied  a  late  edition  of  the  poems  of  that  writer. 
The  following  is  condensed  from  it :  — 

"  In  the  campaign  of  the  British,  during  the  war  of  1812,  when 
they  destroyed  the  Capitol  at  Washington  and  the  battle  of  Bladens- 
burg  took  place,  Dr.  Beanes,  a  leading  physician  of  Upper  Marl- 
boro', was  taken  from  his  bed  at  midnight,  by  a  detachment  of 
soldiers  sent  for  the  purpose,  and  without  even  allowing  him  to  put 
his  clothes  on,  was  hurried  off  to  the  British  camp. 

*'  Measures  were  immediately  taken  to  procure  the  release  of  Dr. 
Beanes,  who  had  been  sent  down  to  the  fleet  which  lay  in  the 
Chesapeake.  Mr.  Key,  who  was  an  intimate  friend  of  the  Doctor, 
volunteered  to  accompany  Mr.  Skinner,  an  agent  for  the  govern- 
ment for  flags  of  truce  and  exchange  of  prisoners. 


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657 


"  After  mucli  solicitation,  Mr.  Key  succeeded  in  getting  an  order 
to  release  the  Doctor;  but  they  were  told  that  they  must  remain 
with  the  fleet  until  after  the  attack  on  Baltimore,  then  about  to  be 
made.  They  were  then  transferred  to  their  own  vessels,  accompa- 
nied by  a  guard  of  marines  to  prevent  them  from  landing,  and  for- 
tunately anchored  in  a  position  which  enabled  them  to  see  the  flag 
of  Fort  McHenry.  The  party  remained  on  deck  during  the  whole 
night,  watching  eveiy  shell,  from  the  moment  it  was  fired  until  it 
fell,  listening  with  breathless  interest  to  hear  if  an  explosion  fol- 
lowed. 

"  While  the  bombardment  continued,  it  was  sufiicient  proof  that 
the  fort  had  not  surrendered.  But  it  suddenly  ceased,  when  they 
became  alarmed  and  paced  the  deck  the  remainder  of  the  night  in 
painful  suspense,  watching  with  intense  anxiety  for  the  return  of 
day.  At  length  the  light  came  ;  they  saw  that  '  our  flag  was  still 
there,'  and  soon  after  learned  that  the  attack  had  failed.  Mr.  Key, 
Mr.  Skinner,  and  Dr.  Beanes  were  then  permitted  to  land  where 
they  pleased. 

*'  Under  the  excitement  of  the  time,  Mr.  Key,  as  he  stated  to  Judge 
Taney,  commenced  the  song  of  '  The  Star-spangled  Banner '  on  the 
deck  of  their  vessel,  in  the  fervor  of  the  moment,  when  he  saw  the 
enemy  retreating  to  their  ships,  and  looked  at  the  flag  he  had 
watched  for  so  anxiously,  as  the  morning  opened.  A  few  lines  he 
had  scratched  on  the  back  of  a  letter  which  he  had  in  his  pocket, 
some  he  preserved  in  his  mind,  and  finished  it  in  the  boat  on  his 
way  to  the  shore.  Arriving  at  the  hotel,  he  wrote  it  out  as  it  now 
stands.  The  next  morning,  he  showed  the  lines  to  Judge  Nichol- 
son, who  was  much  pleased  with  them,  and  immediately  sent  them 
to  a  printer,  where  the  poem  was  struck  off  in  hand-bills,  and  most 
favorably  received  by  the  people  of  Baltimore :  — 

"Oh !  say,  can  you  see,  by  the  dawn's  early  light, 

What  so  proudly  we  hail'd  at  the  twilight's  last  gleaming ; 
Whose  broad  stripes  and  bright  stars,  through  the  perilous  fight. 

O'er  the  ramparts  we  watch'd  were  so  gallantly  streaming? 
And  the  rocket's  red  glare,  the  bombs  bursting  in  air, 
Gave  proof  through  the  night  that  our  flag  was  still  there; 
Oh  !  say,  does  that  star-spanghd  banner  yet  wave 
O'er  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave?" 

Starvation.    The  act  of  starving,  or  the  state  of  being  starved.  — 
Webster  and  Worcester. 

The  word  starvation  was  first  introduced  into  the  English  lan- 
guage by  Mr.  Dundas  [the  first  Lord  Melville],  in  a  speech  in  1775, 

42 


658 


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on  an  American  debate,  and  hence  applied  to  him,  as  a  nickname,  — 
Starvation  Dundas.  —  Horace  Walpole. 

I  shall  not  wait  for  the  advent  of  starvation  from  Edinburgh  to  settle  my  judg- 
ment.—  Henry  Dundas,  1775. 

After  months  of  starvation  and  despair.  —  Macaulay. 
The  word  has  erroneously  been  called  an  Americanism  by  Dr. 
French  and  others.    "  Strange  as  it  may  appear,  it  is  nevertheless 
quite  true  that  this  word  [starvation],  now  unhappily  so  common  in 
every  tongue,  is  not  to  be  found  in  our  own  English  Dictionaries; 
neither  in  Todd's  Johnson,  nor  in  Richardson's,  nor  in  Smart's 
Walker  remodelled  1836. "  —  Notei^  and  Queries.    In  the  new  edition 
of  Todd's  Johnson  by  Dr.  Latham,  the  word  appears,  with  a  simple 
definition,  without  comment. 
State.    A  large  district  of  country  having  a  separate  government,  but 
confederated  with  other  States,  as  one  of  the  members  or  States  of 
the  American  Union.  —  Worcester. 
Stated  Supply.    A  minister  who,  not  as  an  occasional  but  constant 
preacher  to  a  congregation,  officiates  apart  from  any  formal  induc- 
tion :  one  actually,  though  not  in  technical  form,  a  Christian  pastor. 
Chiefly  used  by  Presbyterians,  occasionally  by  Congregationalists, 
though  now  almost  supplanted  by  the  term  Acting  Pastor;  viz.,  a 
pastor  who  officiates  without  a  formal  installation. 
State-House.  (Dutch,  Stadhuys.)  The  building  in  which  the  legisla- 
ture of  a  State  holds  its  sessions ;  a  State  capitol.  —  Wehster. 
The  States.    The  United  States.    "The  States  "  is  universally  em- 
ployed in  the  British  Provinces  of  North  America.  In  England,  they 
are  always  spoken  of  as  "  America. ' ' 
States'  Rights.     The  rights  of  the  several  independent  States,  as 
opposed  to  the  authority  of  the  Federal  government. 

Having  been  all  my  life,  and  being  still,  an  ardent  '■^  States-rights''''  man, — 
believing  States''  rights  to  be  an  essential,  nay,  the  essential,  element  of  the  Con- 
stitution, and  that  no  one  who  thinks  otherwise  can  stand  on  the  same  constitu- 
tional platform  that  I  do,  —  it  seems  to  me  that  I  am,  and  all  those  with  whom  I 
act  habitually  are,  if  Democrats  at  all,  true  States-rights  Democrats."  —  Speech 
of  Hon.  J.  H.  Hammond,  Oct.  27,  1858. 

Then  rise  in  your  might,  and  repel  each  invader, 

Nor  let  our  loved  land  be  disgraced  b}*  their  tread ; 
Let  the  watchword  be,  "Freedom  and  States'  Rights  for  ever!  " 
Nor  cease  till  each  foe  shall  lie  low  with  the  dead. 

Rebellion  Record,  Confederate  Song,  Vol.  III.  p.  7. 
My  Southern  boys  for  years  have  held 

The  Presidential  reins,  sir,  — 
Until  to-day  the}-  've  held  a  sway 
They  never  can  regain,  sir. 


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659 


And  when  they  cannot  rule,  they  kick 

And  hate  with  all  their  might,  sir ; 
For  love  of  Union's  second  to 

Their  fondness  for  States'  rights,  sir. 

Ibid.,  W.  E.  S.,  Yol.  in.  p.  28. 

Station-House.  A  temporary  jail;  also  a  place  to  keep  petty  crimi- 
nals before  trial. 

To  stave.  1.  To  break  a  hole  in;  to  break;  to  burst;  as,  "to  stave 
a  cask." — Webster.  This  is  the  legitimate  use  of  the  verb;  but 
sometimes  we  make  it  govern  the  instrument  directly,  as  in  the 
following  example :  — 

I  '11  stave  my  fist  right  through  you,  and  carry  you  on  my  elbow  as  easily  as 
if  you  were  an  empt}"-  market-basket.  —  NeaVs  Charcoal  Sketches. 

2.  To  hurry;  to  press  forward. 

A  president  of  one  of  our  colleges  once  said  to  a  graduate  at  parting,  "  My  son, 
I  want  to  advise  you.  Never  oppose  public  opinion.  The  great  world  will  stave 
right  on !  "  —  Am.  Review,  June,  1848. 

Hilloa,  Steve!  where  are  you  staving  to  ?  If  you  're  for  Wellington,  scale  up 
here,  and  I  '11  give  you  a  ride.  —  Mrs.  Clavers's  Forest  Life. 

And  so  the  Yankee  staves  along 
Full-chisel,  hitting  right  or  wrong. 
And  makes  the  burden  of  his  song 

"  By  golly  !  "  —  Rome  Journal. 

Staver.    A  dashing,  active  person  or  thing ;  a  rouser. 

Miss  Asphyxia's  reputation  in  the  region  was  perfectly  established.  She  was 
spoken  of  with  applause,  under  such  titles  as  a  staver,  a  pealer,  a  roarer  at  work. 
Mrs.  Stowe,  Oldtown  Folks,  p.  117. 

Staving.    Great;  strong. 

A  staving  dram  put  him  in  better  humor.  Strange  what  arguments  some  people 
require.  —  Cor.  Cincinnati  Times. 

Stay-at-home.  Domestic ;  not  habituated  to  travel.  "  She 's  a  s^a^- 
a^-Aome  woman ;  "  "  A  s/a?/-a^^ome  body. " 

The  great  mass  of  the  Southern  people  are  stationary  and  stay-at-home  in  their 
habits.  —  Cor.  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Stayed  with.    To  be  stayed  with  is  to  be  courted  by  a  man. 

Stay  put.    To  let  a  thing  remain  as  it  is. 

On  a  projection  we  piled  our  bags  and  baskets,  and  ranged  a  few  essentials  in 
some  order. 

"  If  they  will  only  stay  put,"  said  Emery  Ann.  "But  I  suppose  they  will  all  be 
upside  down."  —  Mrs.  Whitney,  Sights  and  Insights,  p.  37. 

Steal.  (Pronounced  stall.)  The  handle  of  various  implements,  as  a 
rake-steal,  a  fork-steal.  Used  by  the  farmers  in  some  parts  of  New 
England.  Provincial  in  various  parts  of  England.  —  Pickering. 
Cf.  Ger.  Stiel,  handle. 


660 


STE 


To  steam,  To  steam  it.    To  indulge  in  spirituous  liquors  to  excess. 

Steamboat.  A  term  used  at  the  West  to  denote  a  dashing,  "  go- 
a-head  "  character. 

Mrs.  Stowe,  while  in  England,  met  Archbishop  Whately,  of 
whom  she  thus  speaks :  — 

There  is  a  kind  of  brusque  humor  in  his  address,  a  downright  heartiness,  which 
reminds  one  of  Western  character.  If  he  had  been  born  in  our  latitude,  in  Ken- 
tucky or  Wisconsin,  the  natives  would  have  called  him  Whateh',  and  said  he 
was  a  real  steamboat  on  an  argument.  —  Sunny  M emories. 

The  renowned  Colonel  Crockett,  while  asleep  on  a  stump,  got 
caught  in  the  crotch  of  a  tree  and  held  fast,  where  he  was  attacked 
by  eagles,  which  attempted  to  pull  out  his  long  hair  to  build  their 
nests  with:  — 

"In  a  few  minutes  I  heered  a  voice,"  says  the  Colonel,  "  and  then  a  gal  come 
running  up,  and  axed  what  was  the  matter.  ...  I  telled  her  that,  if  she  would 
drive  off  the  eagles,  I  would  make  her  a  present  of  an  iron  comb." 

"That  I  will,"  says  she,  "for  I  am  a  she  steamboat,  and  have  doubled  up  a 
crocodile  in  my  day." 

Steamboating.  The  business  of  wwking  on  board  a  steamboat ;  a  term 
generally  confined  to  the  hands  employed  on  board  river-boats. 

Steamboating  looks  like  something  big  to  Fred,  you  know:  it  shows  oif  better 
than  country  stores  and  saw-mills.  —  Habberton,  The  Barton  Experiment^  p.  29. 

Steam  Doctor.    See  Thompsonian  Doctor. 

Steam  Paddy.  A  steam  earth-excavator,  much  used  in  making  exca- 
vations in  sand  or  loose  soil  for  railways.  So  called  from  its  taking 
the  place  of  a  number  of  Irish  laborers. 

The  soil  was  so  sandy  that  the  hills  were  easily  cut  down,  and  for  this  purpose 
a  contrivance  Avas  used  called  a  steam  Paddy,  which  did  immense  execution.  — 
Borthivick's  California,  p.  80. 

Steboy,  Seboy.    A  word  used  to  set  dogs  upon  pigs  or  other  animals. 

"  There  it  is  —  that  black  and  white  thing  —  on  that  log,"  says  Tom.  "  Steboy, 
catch  him  !  "  says  he  [to  the  dog].  Ben  run  up  with  his  light,  and  the  first  thing 
I  heard  him  say  was,  "  Peugh !  oh,  my  Lord!  look  out,  fellers,  it's  a  pole-cat." 
Major  Jones's  Courtship,  p.  55. 

Steep.  Great,  magnificent,  extravagant.  A  newly  coined  slang 
term,  equivalent  to  tall. 

At  the  election  in  Minnesota,  one  hundred  and  ten  Winnebago  Indians,  wear- 
ing their  blankets,  voted  the  Democratic  ticket;  but  the  agent  thought  this  was 
rather  steep,  so  he  afterwards  crossed  that  number  from  the  list.  —  Chicago 
Tnbune,  Oct.  17,  1857. 

The  verdict  by  twelve  of  seventeen  of  a  jury  giving  $150,000  as  damages  to  a 
Land  and  Water-Power  Company,  at  the  Great  Falls  of  the  Potomac,  through 
the  diversion  to  the  Washington  Aqueduct  of  one  eighteenth  of  the  water  at  lowest 
stage,  is  regarded  as  decidedly  steep.  —  {Bait.)  Sun,  Aug.  23,  1858. 


STE—STI 


661 


Steeple-Bush.  One  of  the  popular  names  of  the  Spiroea  tomentosa 
(hardhack) . 

Steers.  In  Texas,  the  universal  name  for  cattle.  Ox  and  oxen  are 
almost  unknown  terms  there.  There  are  "  wheel-steers,"  "  swing- 
steers,"  and  -'lead-steers." 

Stemraery.  A  large  building  in  which  tobacco  is  stemmed;  that  is, 
in  which  the  thin  part  of  the  leaf  is  stripped  from  the  fibrous  veins 
that  run  through  it.    Kentucky  and  Missouri. 

Stem-Winder.    A  watch  wound  by  a  key  affixed  to  the  stem. 

Stent.    (Old  Eng.)    An  allotted  task.    New  England. 

Step-Ladder.  A  portable  frame- work  of  stairs,  much  used  in-doors 
in  reaching  to  a  high  position ;  also  called  steps.  —  Webster. 

Stepped  out.    "  He  stepped  out,"  i.  e.  he  died. 

Stepper.  "She's  a  regular  stepper,"  —  said  of  an  active,  high- 
spirited  woman. 

Stern- Wheel.  The  shallow  rivers  of  the  West  are  navigated  by  small 
steamboats  with  a  wheel  at  the  stern  instead  of  side-wheels,  which 
are  used  only  in  the  larger  steamers.  Hence  the  term  is  applied  to 
any  thing  small,  petty;  as,  a  ^'■stern-wheel  church."  Comp.  One- 
Horse. 

So,  when  ended,  the  girls  were  kindly  and  tenderly  put  on  the  "  St.  Mary," — a 
funny,  little,  stem-wheel  boat,  which  was  to  go  up  the  Red  River.  —  E.  E.  Hale, 
Adventures  of  a  Pullman,  p.  125. 

Stern- Wheeler.   A  steamboat  fitted  up  with  a  stern-wheel.  Western. 

Squire  Blaze  served  for  a  long  time  as  first  mate  on  a  raft,  but  grew  ambitious 
for  higher  distinction.  Next,  he  got  possession  of  a  sta7'n-tvheeler,  and  entered  the 
pine-knot  business,  the  pursuit  of  which  took  him  so  high  up  Red  River  that  he 
got  clean  out  of  the  way  of  taxes.  —  Remembrances  of  the  Mississippi,  Harper'' s 
Mag. 

A  Southern  editor  wishes  to  say  that  the  Mississippi  is  very  low.  How  does 
he  say  it  V  "  The  cat-fish  are  rigging  up  stern-wheelers.^''  —  Speech  of  the  Hon, 
S.  H  Cox,  Sept.,  1857. 

Stew.    "  Give  us  a  stew,^^  i.  e.  stewed  oysters. 

To  stick.  To  take  in;  to  impose  upon;  to  cheat  in  trade.  "I'm 
stuck  with  a  counterfeit  note;  "  "  He  went  to  a  horse  sale,  and  got 
stuck  with  a  spavined  jade." 

As  soon  as  the  whole  class  of  small  speculators  perceived  they  had  been  stuck, 
they  all  shut  their  mouths;  no  one  confessing  the  ownership  of  a  share. — 
A  Week  in  Wall  Street,  p.  47. 

Very  often  is  a  client  stuck  for  a  heavy  bill  of  costs,  which  he  would  have 
saved  but  for  the  ignorance  of  his  attorney. — Newspaper. 


662 


STI 


Stick-Chimney.  In  newly  settled  parts  of  the  country,  where  log- 
houses  foriii  the  first  habitations  of  the  settlers,  the  chimneys  are 
made  with  sticks  from  one  to  two  inches  square,  and  about  two  feet 
in  length,  which  are  laid  crosswise  and  cemented  with  clay  or  mud. 
The  fire-places  are  built  of  rough  stone,  and  the  slick-chimneys  are 
merely  the  conductors  of  the  smoke.  Formerly  called  "  catted  chim- 
ney," in  Massachusetts. 

The  stick-chimney  was,  like  its  owner's  hat,  open  at  the  top,  and  jammed  in  at 
the  sides.  —  Mrs.  Clavers's  Western  Cleurin(/s,  p.  7. 

We  came  to  a  queer  little  cabin  built  of  round  logs.  .  .  .  The  stick-chimney 
daubed  with  clay,  and  topped  with  a  barrel  open  at  both  ends,  made  this  a  typi- 
cal cabin.  — Eyyleston,  The  Iloosier  Schoolmaster,  p.  94. 

Sticker.    1.  An  article  of  merchandise  which  sticks  by  the  dealer, 
and  does  not  meet  with  a  ready  sale,  is  technically  called  a  sticker. 
2.  A  puzzler.    See  Stumper. 

Stick-in-the-Mud.  (Pron.  stickneymud.')  Very  common  for  a  slow, 
inert  man ;  also  used  for  "  Thingumbob,  "  "what  d'  ye  call  'em,"  or 
a  name  you  can't  remember.  "  Come,  old  Stick-in-the-mud,  and  give 
us  a  lift." 

"Well,  arter  all  this  palaver,"  said  old  Stick-in-the-mud,  "what  are  you 
arter  ?  " 

"  I 'm  arter  another  coal  of  fire,"  said  I,  "  to  light  a  cigar  with."  —  Sam  Slick, 
Wise  Saws,  p.  132. 

Stick  it  out.  Endure  to  the  end.  To  "hold  on."  "  He  does  not 
succeed  in  Florida,  nevertheless  he  says  that  he  means  to  stick  it  out 
till  spring. ' ' 

Stiff.    Strong.    Said  of  a  drink.    "  Give  it  to  me  5^/^. " 
Stiffy.    A  well-dressed,  conceited  boy.    Used  among  boys. 

Still-Baiting.    Fishing  with  a  deep  line  in  one  spot,  as  distinguished 

from  trolling. 
Still-Hunter.    A  stalker  of  game.  Western. 

The  still-hunter  must  needs  be  upon  his  guard ;  for  the  wounded  buffalo  is 
prone  to  make  battle  upon  the  too  near  approach  of  his  enemy.  —  Gregg,  Com.  of 
Prairies,  Vol.  II.  p.  219. 

Still-Hunting.  Walking  noiselessly  through  the  woods,  keeping  a 
bright  look-out,  and  searching  for  game  in  the  haunts  where  they 
are  wont  to  browse  in  the  day-time. 

Still-hunting  buffalo  is  approaching  or  stalking,  by  taking  advantage  of  the 
wind  and  any  cover  the  ground  affords,  and  crawling  within  shooting  distance 
of  the  feeding  herd.  — Buxton,  Adventures  in  New  Mexico,  p.  285. 

What  is  called  still-hunting  among  our  frontiersmen  is  not  practised  among  the 
Indians.  —  Sibley's  Western  PraiHes. 


STI— STO 


663 


Stingaree.  A  corruption  of  sting-ray^  the  name  of  a  fish.  (Cephalop- 
tera  vampyrus.)  On  the  Southern  coast,  where  chiefly  found,  it  is 
also  known  as  the  Devil-Fish. 

This  fish  is  thus  described  by  Captain  John  Smith:  — 

Our  Captaine  taking  a  fish  from  his  sword,  being  much  the  fashion  of  a  Thorn- 
back,  but  a  long  tayle  like  a  riding-roddle,  whereon  in  the  middest  is  apoysoned 
sting  of  two  or  three  inches  long,  bearded  like  a  saw  on  each  side,  which  she 
struck  into  the  wrist  neare  an  inch  and  a  halfe.  .  .  .  The  torment  was  instantly 
so  extreame  that  in  four  houres  we  all  with  much  sorrow  concluded  his  funerall, 
and  prepared  his  grave  in  an  island  by.  The  man  recovered,  and  the  place 
where  the  event  occurred  was  called  Stingrai  Isle,  after  the  name  of  the  fish.  — 
Historie  of  Virginia  (1632). 

Stinkard.  A  skunk,  formerly  so  called  in  New  England.  See  Squash. 
Stinkstone.    Swine-stone,  a  variety  of  carbonate  of  lime,  which  emits 

a  fetid  odor  on  being  struck.  —  Dana. 
Stinkweed.    See  Jamestown  Weed. 
Stinted.    Often  substituted  for  stunted. 

To  stitch.    To  form  land  into  ridges.    New  England. — Webster. 
To  stive  up.    To  make  hot,  sultry,  close.    An  English  expression, 
but  now  more  used,  it  is  believed,  in  this  than  in  the  old  country. 

"Oh,  marcy  on  us,"  said  a  fat  lady,  who  was  looking  for  a  house,  "this  '11 
never  do  for  my  family  at  all.  There 's  no  convenience  about  it,  only  one  little 
stived-up  closet.  .  .  .  And  the  bed-rooms,  —  she  would  as  soon  sleep  in  a  pig- 
pen, and  done  with  it,  as  to  get  into  such  little,  mean,  stived-up  places  as  them." 
Downing,  May-day  in  New  York. 

To  stiver.  To  run ;  to  move  off.  A  low  word  used  in  the  Northern 
States. 

To  stock.  To  stock  land  means,  with  us,  to  supply  land,  not  only 
with  animals,  but  also  with  seed;  as,  "My  farm  is  stocked  Y^ith. 
clover. ' ' 

Stock  and  Fluke.  Probably  of  nautical  origin,  to  denote  a  whole 
anchor;  thence,  the  whole  of  any  thing.  It  is  employed  for  wholly, 
completely. 

In  other  words,  Tammany  Hall  is  sold  out  stock  and  Jluke  to  Fernando  Wood. 
N.  Y.  Tribune,  Oct.,  1861. 

Stock-Dealer.    A  trader  in  farm  stock ;  a  cattle-dealer. 
To  take  Stock  in  any  Thing  is  to  have  full  faith  in  it. 
Stocking  Feet.    To  be  in  one's  stocking  feet  is  to  have  only  one's 
stockings  on,  to  have  one's  shoes  off. 

The  mistress  and  chambermaid  visited  the  house  once  a  week  for  the  purpose  of 
putting  things  to  rights,  — leaving  their  shoes  at  the  door,  and  entering  devotedly 
in  their  stocking  feet:  —  Irving,  Knickerbocker,  p.  168. 


664 


STO 


Stock-Minder.  One  who  takes  care  of  cattle  on  the  great  prairies; 
a  herder;  a  vaquero,  which  see. 

Stock-Range.    The  prairie  or  plain  where  cattle  range  or  graze. 

When  any  person  or  persons  may  hunt  estrays  in  another  stock-ranye,  he  or 
they  shall  notify  the  owner  or  stock-minder  of  said  stock  his  or  their  intention 
or  object. 

Stocks.  Buying  and  selling  stocks.  The  machinery  connected  with 
the  purchase  and  sale  of  stocks  is  thus  described  by  Mr.  Medbery:  — 

The  first  point  necessary  to  know  is  when  the  customer  wishes  to  receive  or 
deliver  the  stock.  He  may  prefer  to-day,  to-morrow,  or  a  more  distant  date. 
Each  of  these  methods  of  settlement  has  a  special  name:  — 

Cash,  in  broker's  language,  means  that  the  contract  entered  upon  shall  be  ful- 
filled by  payment  and  delivery  of  stock,  at  or  before  2.15  p.m.  of  the  day  of  sale. 

Regular  or  Regular  Way  is  the  term  for  sale  when  the  delivery  is  to  be  made 
at  or  before  2.15  p.  m.  of  the  day  succeeding  that  of  contract. 

Buyer's  Option  is  where  the  purchaser  has  the  right  to  require  the  deliver}'  of 
the  stock  upon  any  day  within  the  time  covered  by  the  option. 

Seller'' s  Option  is  where  the  day  of  delivery  is  at  the  convenience  or  pleasure  of 
the  person  making  the  sale,  within  the  time  stipulated  at  the  moment  of  sale. 

In  all  cases,  notice  must  be  given  by  the  holder  of  the  option  to  the  other  party 
in  the  contract,  on  or  before  two  o'clock  of  the  day  previous  to  that  when  delivery 
of  stock  is  called  for;  but  the  stock  is  deliverable  at  the  termination  of  the  con- 
tract without  notice.  —  Men  and  Mysteries  of  Wall  Street,  p.  49. 

For  other  terms  appertaining  to  stocks,  see  Buy  or  sell  Flat ;  Bulls 
and  Bears ;  Carrying  Stocks ;  Corner ;  Call  Contract ;  Delivery ; 
Flyer;  Force  Quotations;  Josh;  Margin;  Pool;  Puts;  Long  and 
Short;  Spread;  Straddle;  Swimming  Market ;  Ten  up ;  Twist;  Un- 
load Stock;  Washing ;  and  Watering. 

We  pay  particular  attention  to  purchasing  Stock  Privileges,  and  can  always 
secure  Puts,  Calls,  Spreads,  or  Straddles,  on  all  active  stocks  at  the  best  market 
rates.  —  Circular  of  a  Wall  Street  Broker. 

Stock-Train.  A  train  of  railroad  cars  loaded  with  cattle;  a  cattle 
train . 

Stock-Watering.  A  system  recently  adopted  of  increasing  the  capi- 
tal stock  of  a  railroad  company  by  issuing  new  stock,  on  the  pre- 
tence that  accumulated  profits  warrant  such  increase.  The  late 
Cornelius  Vanderbilt  was  famous  for  the  extent  to  which  he  carried 
out  this  system  in  the  railway  companies,  the  stock  of  which  he 
controlled.  This  increase  of  stock  has  also  been  adopted  for  the 
purpose  of  raising  money.    See  Watering  Stock. 

The  "  N.  Y.  Times,"  in  speaking  of  a  new  railroad,  says:  — 

The  road  should  be  constructed  under  the  authority  of  a  commission,  to  be 
composed  of  Presidents  of  our  principal  commercial  organizations  and  leading 


STO 


665 


representath'es  of  our  real  estate  interests,  to  the  end  that  the  work  should  be 
honestly  and  economically  done,  without  the  stealing  and  stock-watering  which 
often  accompany  such  undertakings. 

Such  occasional  diversions  as  corners,  money  lock-ups,  wholesale  stock-water- 
ings, and  kindred  devices,  are  the  indications  of  forces  with  large  reserves  of 
strength.  —  Medbery,  Men  and  Mysteries  of  Wall  Street,  p.  158. 

Stocky.  Short  and  thick.  A  west  of  England  expression,  used  in 
New  England. 

He's  rather  a  stocky  man;  and  I'm  nothing  but  a  shadow,  as  it  were. — 
Brooke^s  Eastford. 

To  Stomp.  To  stamp  with  the  feet.  The  pronunciation  stomp  is 
almost  universal  in  the  United  States. 

Stone-Bee.  An  assemblage  of  farmers  or  villagers  for  the  purpose  of 
clearing  stones  from  a  neighbor's  piece  of  land.    See  Bee. 

At  Ridgefield,  we  used  to  have  stone-bees,  when  all  the  men  of  a  village  or  ham- 
let came  together  with  their  draft  cattle,  and  united  to  clear  some  patch  of  earth 
which  was  covered  with  an  undue  quantity  of  stones  and  rocks.  —  Goodrich, 
Reminiscences,  Vol.  I.  p.  75. 

Stone-Bruise.  A  hurt  or  sore  on  the  sole  of  the  foot  among  those 
who  go  without  shoes,  such  as  children  and  Negroes.  The  same 
term  is  used  in  Ireland. 

Stone-Root.  (Collinsonia  Canadensis.)  A  plant  used  in  medicine. 
Its  properties  are  diuretic  and  stomachic.  It  is  also  called  Rich- 
weed. 

Stone-Toter.  A  name  often  given  to  the  Mullet  (Catostomiis  nigricans) 
of  the  Middle  States,  and  to  other  species  of  Cyprinidoe. 

The  most  singular  fish  in  this  part  of  the  world  is  called  the  Stone-toter,  whose 
brow  is  surmounted  with  several  little  sharp  horns,  by  the  aid  of  which  he  totes 
small  flat  stones  from  one  part  of  the  brook  to  another  more  quiet,  in  order  to 
make  a  snug  little  enclosure  for  his  lady  to  lie  in  in  safety.  — Paulding,  Letters 
from  the  South. 

Stool.  An  artificial  duck  or  other  water-fowl  used  as  a  decoy.  They 
are  much  used  on  Long  Island  and  elsewhere  in  duck-shooting. 

Stooling.    Decoying  ducks  or  other  fowl  by  the  means  of  "  stools." 

Stool-Pigeon.  A  decoy  robber,  in  the  pay  of  the  police,  who  brings 
his  associates  into  a  trap  laid  for  them. 

Stool-Pigeoning.    The  practice  of  employing  decoys  to  catch  robbers. 

Stoop.  (Dutch,  stoep.)  The  steps  at  the  entrance  of  a  house;  door- 
steps. It  is  also  applied  to  a  porch  with  seats,  a  piazza,  or  balus- 
trade. This,  unlike  most  of  the  words  received  from  the  Dutch, 
has  extended,  in  consequence  of  the  uniform  style  of  building  that 
prevails  throughout  the  country,  beyond  the  bounds  of  New  York 
State,  as  far  as  the  backwoods  of  Canada. 


666 


STO 


Stoulpe  before  a  doore,  souche.  —  Palsrprive.  "  The  same  as  Stoop^ 
which  is  still  used  in  the  north  of  England."  "  A  short,  stout  jwst, 
put  down  to  mark  a  boundary,"  &c.  — Halliwell. 

Carts  or  waines  are  debarred  and  letted  [by  coaches]  :  the  milk-maid's  ware 
is  often  spilt  in  the  dirt,  and  people's  guts  like  to  be  crushed  out,  being  crowded 
and  shrowded  up  against  stalls  and  stoopes. —  Taylor,  the  Water  Pott" 8  Worhs^ 
Pt.  2,  p.  242. 

In  portly  gabardine  and  bulbous  multiplicity  of  breeches,  the  Dutch  burgher 
sat  on  his  stoep,  and  smoked  his  pipe  in  lordly  silence. — Knickerbocker's  New 
York,  p.  385. 

About  nine  o'clock,  all  three  of  us  passed  up  Wall  Street,  on  the  stoops  of 
which  no  small  portion  of  its  tenants  were  already  seated,  —  Cooper,  Satanstoe, 
Vol.  I.  p.  69. 

Nearly  all  the  houses  [in  Albany]  were  built  with  their  gables  to  the  street 
and  each  had  heavy  wooden  Dutch  stoops,  with  seats  at  the  door.  —  Ibid.,  p.  161. 

There  was  a  large  two  story-house,  having  a  long  stoop  in  front.  —  Margaret, 
p.  63. 

The  roses  fall,  the  daisies  droop, 
And  all  about  the  ancient  stoop 
The  eager  sparrows  soar  and  swoop. 

Nora  Perry,  The  Legend  of  Moorland  Hall. 

I  shall  step  back  to  my  party  within  the  stoup.  —  Backwoods  of  Canada. 
The  stoup  is  up,  and  I  have  just  planted  hops  at  the  base  of  the  pillars.  —  Ibid.^ 
p.  309. 

To  stop.  To  stay;  to  abide  temporarily;  as,  "  When  you  come  to 
New  York,  stop  with  me  instead  of  going  to  a  hotel." 

Those  who  remain  at  home  know  little  of  the  newer  portions  of  our  country, 
and  of  the  primeval  style  of  living.  I  recently  stopped  with  a  friend  on  court- 
day.  The  court-house  was  of  logs,  without  a  floor,  &c.  —  Corresp.  of  Newark 
Daily  Adv.  p  \    r»s    'C  t  lOf^o-^lh     f^cc  j^ 

Store.  In  the  United  States  and  Canada,  shops  of  every  kind  for  the 
sale  of  goods,  whether  at  wholesale  or  retail,  are  commonly  called 
stores.  Thus,  we  have  dry-goods  stores,  shoe  .stores,  book  stores, 
hardware  stores,  &c.  This  use  of  the  word,  whose  proper  meaning 
is  a  magazine  or  storehouse  where  merchandise  or  movable  property 
is  kept,  seems  to  arise  from  that  tendency  to  the  magniloquent  with 
which  Americans  have  been  charged.  The  word  shop  is  thus  almost 
wholly  discarded,  except  in  the  sense  of  workshop. 

Store  Clothes,  Store  Goods.  Clothing  or  other  articles  purchased 
at  a  store,  as  opposed  to  those  which  are  home-made.  These  phrases 
are  used  only  in  out  of  the  way  parts  of  the  country.  Comp. 
Boughten. 

Storekeeper.  In  America,  a  man  who  has  the  care  of  a  store  or 
warehouse ;  a  shopkeeper.  The  officer  who  has  charge  of  the  govern- 


STO— STR 


667 


ment  warehouse,  where  property  to  the  value  of  millions  is  deposited 
for  inspection  or  for  safe-keeping,  is  a  storekeeper  ;  so,  too,  is  the  man 
who  stands  behind  the  counter  of  a  paltry  shop,  and  deals  out  yards 
of  tape  and  papers  of  pins. 

Store  Pay.  .  Payment  made  for  produce  or  other  articles  purchased 
by  goods  from  a  store,  instead  of  cash.  This  is  a  common  way  of 
buying  produce  in  the  country.  Sometimes,  a  dealer  agrees  to  pay 
half  in  cash  and  half  out  of  his  store,  i.  e  ,  in  stoi^e  pay. 

See,  a  girl  has  just  arrived  with  a  pot  of  butter  to  trade  off  for  store  2)ay.  She 
wants  in  exchange  a  yard  of  calico,  a  quarter  of  tea,  a  quart  of  molasses,  some 
radish  seed,  a  plug  of  tobacco,  two  pipes,  a  fine-tooth  comb,  a  salt  mackerel,  a 
dose  of  rhubarb,  two  sticks  of  candy,  and  a  bottle  of  rum.  —  Captain  Priest's 
Adventures,  p.  54. 

Store  Tea.  A  term  applied  to  the  tea  of  China  bought  at  the  stores, 
to  distinguish  it  from  herb  tea.    See  Bougliten. 

To  storm.  To  blow  with  violence ;  impersonally,  as  it  storms.  —  Weh- 
'     ster.    We  use  it  improperly  in  the  sense  of  to  rain  or  to  snow. 

Story.  A  floor;  a  flight  of  rooms.  — Johnsoyi.  In  the  United  States, 
the  floor  next  the  ground  is  the  first  story.  In  England,  what  we 
call  the  "  second  story  "  is  called  the  "  first  floor." 

Stove-Pipe.    1.  A  funnel.    2.  A  tall  hat. 

Stove-Pipe  Hat.  A  tall  hat,  from  its  resemblance  to  a  joint  of  a 
stove-pipe. 

Stoga  boots  an'  stove-pipe  hat, 
Standin'  collar,  an'  plenty  o'  dat ; 
Sweet  potatoes  an'  possum  fat, 
Oh,  fight  for  the  Union ! 

Songs  of  the  Centennial. 

Pickpockets  rejoice  in  neatly  fitting  suits,  spotless  linen,  sparkling  pins  and 
ornaments,  and  stove-pipe  hats,  tall  and  glossy,  .  .  .  worn  jauntily  on  one  side. 
The  Galaxy  for  1867,  p.  632. 

Stowaway.  One  who  secretes  himself  on  board  a  ship  or  other 
public  conveyance,  in  order  to  get  a  free  passage. 

Straddle.  A  stock-broker's  term,  and  means  a  contract  which  gives 
the  holder  the  privilege  of  calling  for  the  stock  at  a  fixed  price,  or 
of  delivering  it  at  the  same  price  to  the  party  who  signs  the  con- 
tract. A  straddle  is  desirable  when  a  party  wishes  to  buy  and  sell 
stocks,  without  being  obliged  to  deposit  a  cash  margin. 

Straddle-Bug.  The  popular  name  for  a  "  dung-beetle  "  or  "  tumble- 
bug."  In  the  Isle  of  Wight,  the  cockroach  is  called  a  straddle-bob. 
Sometimes  applied  to  other  species  of  beetles.    A  specimen  of  the 


668 


STR 


dialect  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  in  "  Halliwell's  Introduction,"  gives 
"  straddle-bob  "  as  another  name  of  the  "  dumbledore." 

Shew  me  the  man  who  does  not  delight  in  the  departure  of  winter,  and  I  will 
exhibit  to  you  one  who,  as  Sheepspear  says,  is  "fit  for  treacle,  straddle-buys, 
and  spooks."  —  Dow^s  Sermons,  Vol.  I.  p.  194. 

Straight.    1.  Even  or  uniform  in  quality.   A  term  used  in  commerce,  * 
and  particularly  among  flour-dealers;  as,  ''A  thousand  barrels  of 
Rochester  flour,  straight,  brought  -15,"  meaning  that  the  thousand 
barrels  were  all  alike,  or  that  the  same  brand  ran  straight  through. 

2.  Pure,  genuine,  uncontaminated. 

In  the  Presidential  contest  of  1844,  no  man  was  more  fierce  in  his  hostility  to 
Henry  Clay  than  the  present  candidate  of  the  straight  Whigs  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency.  —  N.  Y.  Courier  and  Enquirer,  Sept.,  1856. 

The  straight  Republican  Convention  is  to  meet  to-morrow.  Mr.  Sumner's 
anti-slavery  opinions  are  very  strong,  and  this  would  seem  to  lead  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  he  is  with  the  straights.  —  N.  Y.  Times,  Oct.  14,  1857. 

3.  Pure,  undiluted,  applied  to  liquors. 

My  glass  of  brandy,  which  should  have  been  straight,  was  surreptitiously 
diluted  with  Croton  water.  —  Doesticks  (1854). 

But  I  takes  mine  straight  without  sugar,  and  that's  what's  the  matter  with 
me.  —  Bret  Harte,  Cicely. 

For  additional  illustrations,  see  Whiskey  Straight. 
Straight,  in  the  game  of  poker,  is  five  cards  in  sequence;  as,  6,  7, 
8,  9,  10. 

Straight  as  a  Loon's  Leg  is  a  common  simile  in  New  England. 

They  were  puzzled  with  the  accounts ;  but  I  saw  through  it  in  a  minit,  and 
made  it  all  as  straight  as  a  loon's  leg.  — Major  Downing'' s  Letters,  p.  42. 

Straight-out.    Pure;  genuine;  unsophisticated. 

Anne  was  indignant  with  that  straight-out  and  generous  indignation  which 
belongs  to  women,  who  are  ready  to  follow  their  principles  to  anv  result  with 
more  inconsiderate  fearlessness  than  men.  —  Mrs.  Stowe,  Dred,  Vol.  II.  p.  319. 

We  feel  what  a  blessed  thing  it  is  just  now  to  be  a  straight-out  Whig,  sitting 
calm  on  tumult's  wheel.  —  N.  Y.  Commercial  Adv.,  May,  1856. 

Straight-spoken.    Plain-spoken;  downright;  candid. 

I 'm  not  a-going  to  spoil  the  appearance  of  heaven  by  foolishly  attempting  to 
garnish  it  with  artificial  flowers ,  nor  to  blacken  hell  till  it  shines  like  a  new 
polished  boot.    Not  I.    I 'm  a  straiyht-spoken  preacher.  — Dow^s  Sermons. 
I 'm  a  straight-spoken  kind  o'  creetur. 

That  blurts  right  out  what 's  in  his  head ; 
And,  if  I  've  one  peculiar  feature, 

It  is  a  nose  that  won't  be  led.  — Biglow  Papers,  p.  88. 

Straight  up  and  down.    Plain ;  candid ;  honest. 

If  there  was  any  thing  wanting  to  prove  that  lawyers  were  not  straight  up  and 
down  in  their  dealings,  that  would  do  it.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature. 


STR 


669 


Strain,  instead  of  sprain^  is  frequently  heard.  "  I  have  strained  my 
ankle." 

Strain.    To  stride.    New  England. 

Strand.  1.  The  Dutch  on  the  Hudson  River  apply  the  term  to  a 
landing-place;  as,  the  strand  at  Kingston.  —  Webster. 

2.  In  the  South,  the  word  strand  denotes  a  j&bre,  as  a  hair  of  the 
head,  beard,  &c. 

Stranger.  It  is  the  common  practice  in  the  Western  States  to  accost 
a  person  whose  name  is  not  known  by  this  title.  In  England,  for 
example,  a  person  would  say,  "  Can  you  tell  me,  sir,  if  this  is  the 
road  to  B  ?"  At  the  West,  he  would  say,  "  Stranger,  is  this  the 
road?"&c. 

Under  the  benign  influence  of  the  Christian  religion,  a  civilization  was  gi'ow- 
ing  up  in  the  world  which  had  carried  modern  nations  far  beyond  the  boasted 
refinement  of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome.  With  them,  the  word  strange?' was 
synonymous  with  "  enemy ;  "  but,  among  us,  '■'■stranger  "  was  but  another  name 
for  "friend."  —  Speech  of  B.  H.  Coxe,  Washington, 

Strapped.    Tight;  hard  up  for  money. 

John  Scroggins,  at  2  p.  m.,  is  on  the  hunt  for  the  wherewithal  to  pay  a  note  in 
bank.  He  meets  Jere.  Lowndes,  who  looks  cheerful,  as  though  he  may  have  a 
few  hundred.  Scroggins  tries  him.  No  go.  Lowndes  is  strapped ;  had  to  pay 
his  wife's  cousin's  last  quarter's  rent,  which  consumed  what  he  had  reserved  for 
current  expenses,  when  he  made  his  last  purchase  of  stocks.  —  Nat.  Intelligencer, 
Oct.,  1857. 

Straw.    Foliage  of  the  pine-tree. 

Straw  as  its  [pine-tree's]  foliage  is  called  here  in  [North  Carolina.]  —  Olmsted, 
Seaboard  States. 

Straw  BaiL  Worthless  bail;  bail  given  by  "men  of  straw,"  i.  e. 
persons  who  pretend  to  the  possession  of  property,  but  have  none. 

There  is  a  class  of  pettifoggers  about  the  N.  Y.  Tombs  who  are  in  league  with 
the  police  justices  to  get  all  the  money  they  can  out  of  their  victims;  and, 
having  divided  the  spoils,  the  culprits  are  sent  forth  unwhipped  of  justice.  Tak- 
ing straw  bail  is  the  favorite  dodge.  The  "shyster  "  is  permitted  to  visit  him  or 
her;  and,  with  a  tongue  practised  in  the  art,  he  dAvells  upon  the  chances  the  pris- 
oner runs  of  Sing  Sing  prison,  adding  that  for  a  consideration  he  (the  shyster) 
might  effect  a  liberation.  If  the  prisoner  has  money,  it  is  paid  at  once.  The 
magistrate  having  received  his  share,  a  "man  of  straw  "  is  taken  as  bail,  and 
the  prisoner  is  discharged.  —  Washington  Evening  Star. 

Straw  Bid.  A  bid  for  a  contract  which  the  bidder  is  unable  or 
unwilling  to  fulfil. 

The  House  post-office  committee  has  agreed  to  report  Luttrell's  bill  to  prevent 
straw-bidding  for  mail  contracts,  and  to  punish  straw-bidders  when  caught.  - 
Telegram  f  rom  Washington,  March  13,  1876. 


670 


STR 


Streak.    1.  A  vein ;  a  turn.    Applied  to  mental  peculiarities. 

Just  act,  now,  as  if  you  had  got  a  streak  of  something  in  you,  such  as  a  man 
ought  for  to  have  who  is  married  to  one  of  the  very  first  families  in  old  Virginia. 
Mrs.  Stowe,  Dred,  Vol.  I.  p.  120. 

"  I  hope  you  don't  mean  to  insiniwate  that  I  'ni  queer,  do  you,  Melissy?  " 

"Oh,  no,  Priscille,  I  dident  mean  to  insiniwate  that,  but  then  you  know  almost 
ever^'body  has  their  queer  streaks.''^  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  121. 

2.  A  layer;  as,  in  meat,  fat  and  lean. 

Bill.    Well,  landlord,  what  have  you  got  for  dinner? 

Landlord.    Pork  and  beans,  and  chicken  fixins. 

Bill.  Then  give  us  some  pork,  and  let  it  be  a  streak  of  fat  and  a  streak  of 
lean.  —  Squatter  Life. 

The  "  Philadelphia  Times,"  of  Oct.  20,  1877.  in  speaking  of  the 
appointment  of  a  suitable  person  as  minister  at  the  Court  of  St. 
James,  says:  — 

If  President  Hayes  is  disposed  to  take  things  in  streaks.,  he  might  tender  it 
[the  office]  to  Governor  Curtin;  or,  if  thai  streak  \fi  a  little  too  fat,  there 'sex- 
Speaker  Grow,  who  is  a  Hayes  man  with  Liberal  variations,  and  would  readily 
adapt  himself  to  English  'alf-and-"alf. 

To  streak  or  To  streak  it  is  to  run  as  fast  as  possible. 

O'er  hill  and  dale  with  furj'  she  did  dreel, 
A'  roads  to  her  were  good  and  bad  alike ; 
Nane  o't  she  wyl'd,  but  forward  on  did  streak. 

Ross''s  Helenore. 

I  was  certain  it  wasn't  no  fox  or  wolf,  but  a  dog;  and  if  I  didn't  streak  off 
like  greased  lightnin'.  —  Carlton,  The  New  Purchase,  Vol.  I.  p.  78. 

I  streaked  it  for  Washington,  and  it  was  well-nigh  upon  midnight  when  I 
reached  the  White  House.  —  Major  Downing'' s  Letters,  p.  91. 

When  I  did  get  near,  he 'd  stop  and  look,  cock  his  ears,  and  give  a  snuff,  as  if 
he  'd  never  seen  a  man  afore,  and  then  streak  it  off  as  if  I  had  been  an  Indian. 
Porter's  Tales  of  the  South-west,  p.  165. 

As  soon  as  I  touched  land,  I  streaked  it  for  home,  as  hard  as  I  could  lay  legs  to 
the  ground.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature,  p.  59. 

'Twas  a  satisfaction  to  have  such  a  horse,  and  'twas  a  pleasure  to  crop  him, 
and  streak  it  away,  at  a  brushing  canter,  for  a  good  five  miles  at  a  stretch. — 
Simms,  Wigwam  and  Cabin,  p.  85. 

What  brings  a  duck  a  streaking  it  down  stream,  if  humans  ain't  behind  her? 
and  who 's  in  these  diggins  but  Indians?  —  Ruxton,  Far  West,  p.  79. 

How  many  do  I  see  around  me  that  willingly  permit  the  worm  of  corruption 
to  gnaw  at  their  already  moth-eaten  morals!  Ah!  their  name  is  Legion;  and 
the  way  they  are  streaking  it  down  the  dark  mad  to  ruin  is  sorrowful  to  steam 
locomotives.  — Dow's  Sermons,  Vol.  III.  p.  108. 

Streaked  or  Streaky.     "To  feel  streaked     is  to  feel  confused, 
alarmed. 

I  begun  to  feel  streaked  enough  for  our  folks,  when  I  see  what  was  done  on 
Boston  Common.  —  Major  Downing'' s  Letters,  p.  18. 


STR 


671 


Oh.  what  a  beautiful  sight  the  ocean  is  when  there  ain't  no  land  insight! 
There  we  was  in  a  little  shell  at  the  merc}'  of  them  big  waves,  higher  than 
father's  barn.  I  never  did  feel  so  streaky  and  mean  afore ;  talk  of  a  grain  of 
sand,  why  I  felt  like  a  starved  speck  of  dust  cut  up  into  homoeopathic  doses  for  a 
child  two  minits  old.  —  Hiram  Biyelow^  Letter  in  Family  Companion. 

Gen.    Tell  the  truth;  keep  back  nothing  ;  I  promised  no  harm  shall  happen  you. 

Doolittle.  Oh,  I  '11  tell  all  now;  I  won't  stay  to  be  hanged  first!  Oh,  the  good 
gracious  suzz!  how  streaked  I  feel  all  over!  —  D.  Humphreys,  The  Yankee  in 
England. 

But  when  it  comes  to  bein'  killed,  I  tell  ye  I  felt  streaked, 
The  fust  time  'tever  I  found  out  why  ba3^onets  wuz  peaked, 

Lowell,  Biylow  Papers. 
Daniel  Webster  was  a  great  man,  I  tell  you ;  he 'd  talk  King  William  out  of 
sight  in  half  an  hour.    If  he  was  in  your  house  of  Commons,  he 'd  make  some 
of  your  great  folks  look  pretty  streaked.  —  Sam  Slick,  1st  Series. 

Streaked  Bass.    Striped  bass.    New  England. 

Stretch.    On  a  stretch  is  continuously,  without  cessation. 

Chunky  used  to  whistle  three  days  and  nights  on  a  stretch. —  Ti'aits  of  Ameri- 
can Humor. 

Stretcher.    1.  A  well-burnt  and  smooth  brick  used  in  walls  of  build- 
ings.   Under-burnt  bricks  are  called  salmon  bricks  from  their  light 
color;  and  over-burnt  and  partially  vitrified  bricks  are  called  arch 
and  pillar  bricks,  from  their  position  in  the  kiln. 
2.  A  falsehood.    Colloquial  in  England  and  with  us. 

Whenever  Mrs.  Oscar  Dust  told  a  stretcher,  old  Waters  was  expected  to 
swear  to  it.  —  Field,  Drama  at  Pokerville. 

Stricken.  "  This  ancient  participle,"  says  Mr.  Pickering,  "  is  much 
used  in  Congress  and  our  other  legislative  assemblies.  A  member 
moves  that  certain  parts  of  a  bill  should  be  stricken  out,"  &c. — 
Vocabulary. 

The  use  of  the  word  referred  to  by  Mr.  Pickering  is  peculiar 
to  us,  though  there  are  examples  of  its  occasional  use  in  England 
applied  in  other  ways. 

Many  of  the  foreigners  were  much  stricken  with  the  splendor  of  the  scene.  — 
London  Statesman,  June  10,  1814. 

Strike.  An  instrument  with  a  straight  edge  for  levelling  a  measure ; 
a  strickle.  —  Worcester.  To  sell  by  the  strike  is  not  to  heap  up  the 
article,  as  is  usually  done  with  potatoes,  apples,  &c.,  but  to  scrape 
off  what  is  above  the  level  of  the  top,  as  in  selling  grain,  salt,  or  the 
like.    In  Massachusetts,  it  is  provided  that  — 

Cranberries  and  all  other  berries  shall  be  sold  by  the  strike  or  level  measure, 
the  same  as  flax-seed  and  other  similar  articles  are  measured.  — Laws  of  Masaa- 
chusetts. 


672 


STR 


1.  From  the  game  of  ninepins.  "  To  make  a  strike  "  is  to  knock 
down  all  the  pins  with  one  ball;  hence,  it  has  come  to  mean  fortu- 
nate, successful.  —  Lowell. 

2.  A  discovery;  achievement;  success.  "  That  speculation  in 
cotton  was  a  great  strike.'^ 

To  strike  Oil.  (Usually  pron.  He.)  To  meet  with  success:  a  fortunate 
adventure,  as,  when  boring  for  petroleum,  oil  is  met  with,  or  struck. 
Striker.    1.  A  bruiser;  a  ruffian. 

2.  An  apprentice  engineer  on  a  Mississippi  steamboat. 
String.    1.  A  row;  number;  lot. 

Here 's  a  whole  string  of  Whig  Congressmen  elected  by  the  State  of  New  York. 
N.  Y.  Tribune. 

2.  A  common  name  among  teamsters  for  a  whip. 
With  some  judicious  touches  of  the  string,  the  horses  are  induced  to  struggle  as 
for  their  lives.  — Mrs.  Clavers,  A  New  Home,  p.  9. 

String-Beans.  The  common  name  for  French  beans;  so  called  from 
the  string-like  fibre  stripped  from  the  side  of  the  pod  in  preparing 
it  for  the  table.    See  Bush- Bean. 

String  of  Apples.  Apples  cut  in  pieces,  strung  upon  a  string  and 
dried,  a  common  custom  where  the  fruit  is  raised.  In  this  form, 
they  are  festooned  from  ceilings  and  walls.  Where  there  are  large 
orchards,  the  apples  are  dried  in  the  sun  upon  boards,  and  packed 
in  barrels,  in  which  form  they  are  sent  to  the  large  markets  under 
the  name  of  dried  apples. 

In  an  old  New  England  kitchen,  where  a  warm  wood-fire  burned  bright, 
Sat  good  old  Farmer  Ketchura  and  his  wife,  one  winter  night. 

Over  the  old-time  fireplace,  a  rusty  musket  hung. 

And  a  score  of  strings  of  apples  from  the  smoky  ceiling  swung. 

Eugene  A.  Hall,  Poems  on  ike  Farm  and  Fireside. 

Stripe.    Pattern,  kind,  sort. 

Den,  if  he  was  of  de  right  stripe,  he  went  straight  to  glory,  and  is  now  a 
shoutin'  halleluyah  wid  de  great  congregation  in  de  New  Jerusalem. — Emma 
Bartlett. 

The  call  of  the  Soft-shell  Convention  was  signed  by  twelve  men  of  the  Free- 
Soil  Buffalo  stripe.— N.  Y.  Herald,  July  7,  1856. 

The  Yankee,  though  cosmopolite  in  general  and  personally  polite  in  particular, 
cherishes  at  heart  a  great  sympathy  for  his  own  stripe,  even  when  he  hides  it, 
like  the  groundwork  of  a  ri>?ing  speculation,  from  the  world.  — MaCe  Sloper,  in 
Knickerbocker  Mag.,  March,  1856. 

Striped  Bass.  (Labrax  lineatus.)  One  of  the  most  highly  esteemed 
fishes  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  called  also  Streaked  Bass  and  Rock-fish. 
Striped  Ground  Squirrel.    See  Chipmunk. 


STR— STU 


673 


Strong.  To  go  it  strong  means  to  do  a  thing  with  energy  or  persever- 
ance.   See  Go  it  Strong. 

The  pilot  on  duty  above;  another  was  calling  out  the  Captain,  who  went  it 
strong  at  cards.  —  Porter's  Tales  of  the  South-west^  p.  107. 

You  should  go  it,  remarked  Spifflekins,  go  it  strong,  — that 's  the  way  to  scatter 
the  blue  devils,  — go  it  strong.  — NeaVs  Peter  Ploddy,  p.  46. 

Strong-minded.  A  term  applied  to  women  clamorous  for  the  modern 
form  of  "  woman's  rights;  "  those  who  make  themselves  repulsively 
conspicuous. 

/    Strowd.    A  breech-cloth.    The  Pennsylvania  commissioners  sent  to 
the  Miami  Indians  in  1752,  in  addressing  the  tribe,  said:  — 

Brethren,  —  We  desire  you  will  send  these  two  stroiods  to  the  young  king  as  an 
acknowledgment  of  an  affectionate  remembrance  of  his  father's  love  to  us.  .  .  . 
Be  pleased  to  give  to  the  son  of  the  Piankasha  king  these  two  strowds  to  clothe 
him.  — Journal  of  Captain  Trent  (1752),  p.  52. 

Struck  under  Conviction.  Impressed  with  a  sense  of  personal  sin- 
fulness. 

Struck  up.  Disagreeably  astonished ;  disconcerted  by  an  unexpected 
occurrence. 

To  stub  or  stump.  "  To  stub  one's  toe"  is  to  strike  it  against  any 
thing  in  walking  or  running.  Germ,  stiihen  (stiehen)  ;  comp.  Nasen- 
stiiber,  "  a  fillip  or  rap  on  the  nose ;"  nasenstiibern,  "  to  fillip  or  rap 
the  nose."  An  expression  often  used  by  boys  and  others  who  go 
barefoot. 

Lives  there  a  Yankee 
Who,  if  he  stubs  his  toe  and  fall. 
Don't  want  to  swear,  but,  great  or  small, 
Will  vent  his  ire  with,  "  Darn  it  all ! 

By  golly !  "  —  Yankee  Philosophy. 
Stuck.    1.    To  be  stuck  is  to  be  stuck  fast,  unable  to  proceed. 

My  dear  hearers,  I 'm  stuck,  to  begin  with.  When  I  want  ideas,  they  never 
come,  they  are  off  playing  truant.  —  Doio's  Sermons,  Vol.  III. 

2.  To  be  taken  in ;  to  be  taken  advantage  of  in  a  trade.  To  be 
stuck  with  a  thing  is  to  have  an  unsalable  article  foisted  upon  one. 

We're  the  only  Eastern  folks  in  the  Yonkville  Stock,  unless  Mr.  Sloper  will 
take  a  few  shares,  and  of  course  anybody  else  may  be  stuck  and  be  darned.  — 
Mace  Sloper,  in  Knickerbocker  May.,  March,  185G. 

We  got  stuck  with  a  bad  lot  of  paper,  and  were  obliged  to  stick  it  on  to  our 
readers.  —  Providence  Journal. 

Stuck-up.  "Stuck-up  people"  is  a  term  applied  to  the  proud  and 
haughty. 

She  was  dressed  up  like  a  doll,  but  she  didn't  act  stuck-up  a  mite;  my  opinion 
is,  she  knew  what  belonged  to  good  manners,  and  I  offered  her  some  caraway. 
Betsy  Bobbet,  p.  272. 

43 


674 


STU 


Good-by!  It's  the  first  house  from  the  comer;  and  I'd  dress  up,  if  I  were 
you,  in  my  best,  because  they  're  awful  stuck-up  at  Sary's.  —  Grinder  Papers^ 
p.  30. 

To  stuff.    To  quiz. 

Stuffening.    Stuffing;  seasoning  for  meat  or  poultry,  usually  made  of 
bread  and  herbs  to  give  it  a  higher  relish.  Western. 

By  way  of  amends  [for  the  dried-up  turkey],  quarts  of  grav}'  were  judiciously 
emptied  on  our  plates  from  the  wash-basin  bowls.  That  also  moistened  the 
stvffenin\  composed  of  Indian  meal  and  sausages.  —  Carlton,  The  New  Purchase, 
Vol.  I.  p.  182. 

Stuffy.    Angry  or  sulky;  obstinate.    Colloquial  in  the  United  States. 
Worcester. 

Stump.    1.  The  part  of  a  tree  remaining  in  the  earth  after  the  tree 
is  cut  down.    This,  in  the  Western  countries,  was  made  use  of 
as  the  most  convenient  stand  from  which  to  address  the  people. 
Hence,  to  take  the  stump  is  to  go  on  an  electioneering  campaign. 
2.  Something  difficult  to  do.    Boys  give  each  other  stumps. 

To  stump.    1.  To  challenge.    Also  to  puzzle,  confound. 

Dabbs  turns  up  his  nose  at  betting.  Instead  of  stumphuj  his  antagonist  by 
launching  out  his  cash,  he  shakes  a  portentous  fist  under  his  nose,  and  the  affair 
is  settled.  —  NeaVs  Charcoal  Sketches. 

When  you  see  Lord  Sydenham,  stump  him ;  and  ask  him,  Avhen  a  log  is  hewed 
and  squared,  if  he  can  tell  the  tenth  side  of  it.  —  Sam  Slick. 

Heavens  and  earth !  thinks  I,  what  does  all  this  mean  ?  I  knowed  I  hadn't 
done  any  thing  to  be  put  in  prison  for,  and  I  never  -was  so  stumped.  —  Major 
Jones's  Courtship,  p.  135. 

I  put  a  conundrum  to  them.  They  were  all  stumpt,  and  gave  it  up.  —  Crockett's 
Tour. 

2.  To  Stump  it  is  a  cant  phrase  signifying  to  make  electioneering 
speeches  in  favor  of  one's  self.  —  Wo7xester.  This  is  a  term  borrowed 
from  the  backwoods,  where  the  stump  of  a  tree  often  supplies  the 
place  of  the  English  hustings. 

While  I  was  at  Peoria,  Illinois,  I  heard  a  political  speech  from  General  Shields, 
who  was  at  that  time  stumping  it  through  the  State,  as  a  candidate  for  the  Senate 
in  place  of  Mr.  Breese.  — Lett,  from  Illinois,  N.  Y.  Com.  Adv. 

It  is  understood  that  Colonel  Benton  intends  to  stump  the  State  [of  Missouri]  as 
a  candidate  for  the  gubernatorial  chair.  —  N.  Y.  Courier. 

Sometimes  we  hear  the  expression  "  to  take  the  stump. ''^ 

Though  not  clear  which  stump  I'll  take. 

That  stump  shall  be  colossal ; 
Whether  I 'm  Slavery's  advocate, 

Or  Liberty's  apostle.  —  London  Punch,  April  5,  1862. 

Stumpage.    The  sum  paid  to  owners  of  land  for  the  privilege  of 
cutting  the  timber  growing  thereon.    State  of  IVIaine. 


STU 


675 


The  locality  being  determined  upon,  the  timber  tract  is  either  purchased  at  a 
rate  of  stumpage  agreed  upon,  which  is  generally  three  dollars  per  thousand  feet 
for  all  timber  cut.  — Harper'''^  Mag.^  March  1860. 

Stumper.    1.  A  puzzler. 

My  note  was  a  stumper  to  Sally;  so  she  got  Jess  to  explain  it,  and  the  way  he 
did  it  was  enormous.  —  Rohb^  Squatter  Life. 

2.  A  stump  orator. 

An  Ohio  stumper^  while  making  a  speech,  paused  in  the  middle  of  it,  and 
exclaimed:  Now  .  .  .  —  The  Constitution,  Middletown. 

Stump  Orator.  A  man  who  harangues  the  people  from  the  stump  of 
a  tree  or  other  elevation. 

Stump  Oratory.    The  sort  of  popular  speaking  used  by  stump  orators. 

Stump  Prayer.    An  extemporaneous  prayer. 

At  a  Millerite  Jubilee,  when  the  elect  were  to  start  for  Para- 
dise :  — 

A  Methodist  man  took  off  his  coat,  and  made  a  stump-prayer,  while  all  his 
congregation  yelled  Glory.  —  Doesticlcs,  p.  143. 

Stump  Speaker.    A  popular  political  speaker. 

The  Hon.  W.  R.  Thompson  of  Indiana,  one  of  the  most  popular  stump  q)enkers 
of  the  day,  addressed  a  large  meeting  of  Whigs  from  the  stoop  of  Barnum's 
Hotel,  Baltimore,  in  support  of  the  nominations  of  the  late  Whig  Convention.  — 
Letter  from  Washington,  N.  Y.  Herald,  June  21,  1848. 

Stump  Speech.  A  speech  made  from  a  stump  or  other  elevation ; 
i.  e.,  an  electioneering  speech  in  favor  of  one's  self  or  some  other 
political  candidate. 

We  had  of  course  a  passion  for  stump  speaking.  But,  recollect,  we  often  mount 
the  stump  only  figurativ'ely ;  and  very  good  stump  speeches  are  delivered  from  a 
table,  a  chair,  a  whiskey-barrel,  and  the  like.  Sometimes  we  make  the  best 
stump  speeches  on  horseback.  —  Carlton,  The  New  Purchase,  Vol.  I.  p.  211. 

When  you  see  a  politician  extra  full  of  patriotism,  and  stutfed  with  stump 
speeches,  you  may  take  it  for  granted  he  wants  office  either  for  himself  or  for 
some  particular  friend.  —  Dow's  Sermons,  Vol.  I.  p.  132. 

Stump-Tail  Currency.    A  term  applied  at  the  West,  previous  to  the 
late  war,  to  the  currency  issued  by  certain  banks  of  doubtful  credit. 
Stun,  for  stone.    So  pronounced  in  the  back  parts  of  New  England. 

Captain  Stone,  I 've  been  clean  awa}'  amongst  the  Yankees,  where  they  call 
your  name  Stunn.  —  Crockett,  Tour,  p.  145. 

Stunner.  1.  Anything  grand  or  astounding;  any  thing  got  up  in 
great  style.  I  have  heard  a  gentleman,  when  speaking  of  an  ele- 
gant and  well-dressed  woman,  say,  "  She 's  a  stunner.'^ 

The  "Boston  Journal,"  in  speaking  of  the  new  financial  and 
business  policy  set  forth  by  President  Hayes  and  his  cabinet, 
says : — 


676 


STU— sue 


This  is  a  stunner^  —  a  sockdolager,  so  to  speak.  If  we  get  at  it,  it  means  that 
the  President  must  ignore  the  existence  of  a  body  called  Congress,  and  proceed 
to  govern  the  country  b}'  issuing  decrees  relative  to  the  finances  and  business.  — 
May  19,  1877. 

2.  A  tough  story. 

Stunning.  Astounding. 

Sturtion.    A  common  pronunciation  for  nasturtium. 

To  stutter.  To  saunter  lazily,  with  a  slip-shod  movement.  This  is 
not  a  common  word.  I  have  never  met  with  it  except  in  the  exam- 
ple quoted :  — 

I  stuttered  up  to  No.  4  yesterday  arter  the  funeral ;  but  they  are  so  grown  over 
with  rum  there,  yo\x  can  hardly  tell  what  is  nater  and  what  is  not.  —  Judd,  Mar- 
garet^ p.  327. 

Suant  or  Suent.  Even ;  uniform ;  spread  equally  over  the  surface. 
Provincial  in  England.  —  Holloway.  Used  by  farmers  in  some  parts 
of  New  England,  and  applied  thus  :  "The  grain  is  sowed  swcmf," 
i.  e.  evenly,  regularly.  —  Pickering. 

Sometimes  used  by  house-painters  in  New  England:  "Lay  the 
paint  suant, or  evenly. 

The  Middlesex  Cattle-Show  goes  off  here  with  eclat,  annually,  as  if  all  the 
joints  of  the  agricultural  machine  were  suent.  —  Thoreau,  quoted  in  Atlantic  Mag., 
3u\y,  18G4,  p.  22,  3. 

Sub-Base.    A  mop  or  wash-board.  Philadelphia. 

Sub -Treasurer.    Keeper  of  a  Sub-Treasury;  an  officer  of  the  United 

States  government. 
The  Sub-Treasurer  Cisco  continues  to  receive  a  large  number  of  applications 

for  the  new  Treasury  notes.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Sub-Treasury.  One  of  the  several  places  of  deposit  and  issue  of  the 
United  States  coin,  bullion,  notes,  or  other  securities. 

Succession  Sale.  A  sale  of  property  to  enable  the  heirs  to  divide 
the  same. 

At  the  succession  sale  of  the  slaves  belonging  to  the  minor  heirs  of  S.  A.  and 
A.  X.  Baillie,  at  the  court-house  [of  Rapides],  on  Saturday,  17th  inst,  long  sums 
were  bid.  — Louisiana  Democrat,  July  20,  1858. 

Suckatash  or  Succotash.  (Narragansett  Ind.,  m^sickquatash,  corn 
boiled  whole.)  Green  Indian  corn  and  beans  boiled  together.  It 
is  a  favorite  dish  wherever  these  plants  are  cultivated. 

Joel  Barlow,  in  his  poem  on  Hasty  Pudding,  thus  compares  succo- 
tash with  it :  — 

Let  the  green  succotash  with  thee  contend. 

Let  beans  and  corn  their  sweetest  juices  lend ; 

Not  all  the  plate,  how  fam'd  soe'er  it  be, 

Can  please  my  palate  like  a  bowl  of  thee.  —  Canto  1.  p.  6. 


sue 


677 


At  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  settlement  of  Rhode 
Island,  held  in  Providence,  1836,  an  Indian  banquet  in  the  style  of 
those  of  the  olden  time  was  given. 

An  Indian  mat  being  spread  out,  a  large  wooden  platter  well-filled  with  boiled 
bass  graced  the  centre,  supported,  on  one  side  by  a  wooden  dish  of  parched  corn, 
and  on  the  other  by  a  similar  one  of  succotash.  —  Stone's  Life  of  ffowland,  p.  262. 

The  wise  Huron  is  welcome  ;  he  is  come  to  eat  his  succotash  with  his  brothers 
of  the  lakes  !  —  Cooper,  The  Last  of  the  Mohicans,  p.  426. 

Sucker.    1.  A  tube  used  for  sucking  sherry  cobblers.    They  are  made 
of  silver,  glass,  straw,  or  sticks  of  macaroni. 

2.  A  very  common  fish  of  the  genus  Labeo,  and  of  which  there 
are  many  varieties,  including  the  Chub,  Mullet,  Barbel,  Horned 
Dace,  &c.  They  are  found  in  most  of  the  lakes  and  rivers  of  North 
America. 

3.  A  greenhorn;  an  ignorant  clown;  a  dupe;  an  easy  victim. 
Western. 

I  hadn't  time  to  load  my  gun  before  the  bear  gathered  upon  him  like  a  Vir- 
ginny  blood-mare,  and  the  nigger  give  himself  up  for  a  gone  suckei;  and  fainted 
away.  —  Crockett's  Bear  Adventure. 

4.  A  hard  drinker;  a  drunkard. 

5.  A  mean,  low  fellow ;  a  sponger. 

Of  the  scaly  tribe,  I  may  mention  those  suckers  belonging  to  the  bod}' loaferish, 
that  never  rise  to  the  surface  of  respectability,  whose  sole  study  a])pears  to  be  to 
see  how  much  they  can  get  without  the  least  physical  exertion. — Bow's  Sermons, 
Vol.  III. 

6.  A  nickname  applied  throughout  the  West  to  a  native  of  Illi- 
nois.   The  origin  of  this  term  is  as  follows:  — 

The  Western  prairies  are,  in  many  places,  full  of  the  holes  made 
by  the  crawfish,  which  descends  to  the  water  beneath.  In  early 
times,  when  travellers  wended  their  way  over  these  immense  plains, 
they  very  prudently  provided  themselves  with  a  long  hollow  weed, 
and,  when  thirsty,  thrust  it  into  these  natural  artesians,  and  thus 
easily  supplied  their  longings.  The  crawfish-well  generally  contains 
pure  water,  and  the  manner  in  which  the  traveller  drew  forth  the 
refreshing  element  gave  him  the  name  of  '■^  Sucker.''^  —  Letter  from 
Illinois,  in  Providence  Journal. 

A  band  of  music  was  sent  thirty  miles  to  wake  up  the  sleepy  suckers,  and  draw 
them,  by  the  magic  of  their  inusic,  to  the  Douglas  gathering  at  Quincy,  Illinois. 
iV^.  r.  Tribune,  Oct.  19,  1854. 

Suckerdom.    Suckers,  hard  drinkers,  collectively  regarded. 

In  resisting  the  tax  on  whiskey,  it  has  been  shown  that  one  distiller  in  Ohio, 
who  makes  8,000  gallons  a  day,  would  pay  into  the  treasury  $375,600  a  year,  if 
Sucktrduiu  continued  thirsty.  — N.  F.  Tribune,  1802. 


678 


sue— SUG 


Suck  in  or  Suck.    A  cheat,  deception. 

HeaA'en  forbid  that  I  should  utter  a  syllal)Ie  of  complaint;  bull  can't  heifl 
saying  it  conlidentially,  and  before  man  alone,  that  life  is  all  moonshine,  —  a 
monstrous  humbug,  — a  grand  suck  in.  —  Bow's  Sermons,  Vol.  II.  p.  31G. 

To  suck  in.  To  take  in;  to  cheat;  to  deceive.  A  figurative  expres- 
sion, probably  drawn  from  a  sponge,  which  sucks  up  water.  To  be 
sucked  in  is  to  be  sponged  "  out  of  one's  money,  or  to  be  cheated 
in  a  bargain.  It  is  a  low  expression,  though  often  heard,  and  is 
understood  by  all. 

"I  ain't  bound  to  drive  nobody  in  the  middle  of  the  night,"  said  the  driver  ; 
"so  you  don't  try  to  suck  me  in  there."  —  Mrs.  Clavers's  Forest  Lift,  Vol.  I. 
p.  109. 

Who  was  the  first  unfortunate  speculator  ?   Jonah.    Ah!  why?   Because  he 

got  sucked  in!  —  Newspaper. 

Sugar- Apple.  See  Sweet  Sop. 
Sugar-Berry.    See  Hackherry. 

Sugar-Bush.  A  collection  of  trees  of  the  sugar-maple,  generally  in 
the  midst  of  a  primitive  forest,  where  maple-sugar  is  made  by  boil- 
ing the  sap  of  the  tree.  These  are  sometimes  called  sugar-orchards  ; 
and,  in  the  West,  sugar-camps. 

Going  into  the  sugar-bush  has  something  of  the  excitement  which  the  forester 
loves  so  well  to  mingle  with  all  his  work.  —  The  Americans  at  Home,  Vol.  I. 

Sugar-Camp.  The  place  where  the  sap  is  collected  from  a  sugar-bush 
and  boiled. 

After  Ralph  got  over  the  fence  to  go  through  the  sugar-camp  (or  sugar-orchard, 
as  they  say  at  the  East),  he  stopped  and  turned  back.  — Eggleston,  The  Hoosier 
Schoolmaster,  p.  32. 

Sugaring-Time.  The  season  of  the  year  (March  or  April)  when  maple- 
sugar  is  made.    See  Maple-Sugar. 

Mr.  Gansey,  the  editor  [of  "The  Gimlet"],  seein'  he  was  obleeged  to  stop 
readin',  told  me  he  would  come  down  to  our  house  a-visitin'  in  sugarin'  time,  and 
finish  readin'  the  poetry  to  me.  — Marietta  Holley,  Betsy  Bobbet,  p.  45. 

Sugar-Maple.  (^Acer  saccharinum.)  A  handsome  forest  tree,  from 
fifty  to  eighty  feet  high,  from  the  sap  of  which  is  made  the  well- 
known  maple-sugar.  The  wood  is  valuable  for  fuel ;  and  accidental 
varieties  of  it  are  the  bird^s-eye  maple  and  curled  maple  of  cabinet- 
makers. 

Some  verses  on  the  Corn-plant  and  Sugar-Maple,  in  "  Putnam's 
Magazine,"  end  thus:  — 

But  if  our  brothers  break  the  chain, 

We  '11  hang  by  our  own  staples ; 
Three  cheers  we  '11  raise  for  Indian  Com, 

And  nine  for  Sugar-Maples. 


SUG— SUM 


679 


To  sugar  off.  "  Sugaring  off  "  is  the  latter  stage  of  the;  process  of 
making  maple-sugar;  to  approach  granulation. 

Sugar-Orchard.  A  collection  of  maple-trees  selected  and  preserved  in 
the  forest  for  the  purpose  of  making  sugar  therefrom.  Comp.  Sugar- 
Bush. 

Sugar-Tree.  The  name  much  used  in  the  West  for  the  sugar-maple, 
in  which  connection  the  word  maple  is  never  used.  Thus,  in  pur- 
chasing firewood,  it  is  usual  to  bargain  for  hickory,  sugar,  ash,  &c. 

To  suicide.  To  commit  suicide.  The  "  Boston  Herald,"  Feb.  8, 
1876,  in  speaking  of  a  man  who  had  taken  his  own  life,  says,  "  He 
suicided. ' ' 

"  What 's  the  matter,  Betsy  ?  "  For  she  looked  as  if  she  had  been  cryin'  her 
eyes  out.  "  Is  your  cousin  no  more  V  Has  Ebenezer  suicided  himself  ?  "  —  Bttsy 
Bobbet,  p.  304. 

Suit.  In  the  Middle  and  Southern  States  especially,  a  head  of  hair  is 
called,  queerly  enough,  a  "  suit  of  hair,"  as  in  the  following  descrip- 
tion by  Dr.  J.  S.  Cartwright,  of  New  Orleans,  of  a  "  strong-minded 
woman:  "  — 

Her  head  was  large,  and  features  prominent  and  rather  masculine.  But,  in 
every  other  respect,  her  appearance  was  highly  feminine  :  her  form  symmetrical; 
her  skin  fair,  smooth,  and  soft;  and  her  well-developed  limbs  tapering  into  un- 
usually small  hands  and  feet.  She  had  a  thick  suit  of  black  hair;  and,  although 
she  had  reached  her  fortieth  year,  it  had  not  begun  to  turn  gray,  so  active  was 
her  capillary  circulation.  — Boston  Med.  and  Swg.  Journal,  Oct.  18,  1854. 

The  face  of  this  gentleman  was  strikingly  marked  by  a  suit  of  enormous  black 
whiskers  that  flowed  together  and  united  under  his  chin.  — Maryaret,  p.  289. 

Sulky.  A  two- wheeled  carriage  for  a  single  person.  So  called  from 
the  owner's  desire  of  riding  alone.  — Webster.    A  trotting  wagon. 

Sulphur.  Bitumen.  In  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  the  bituminous 
rocks  abound  in  sulphur  springs;  and  by  a  singular  confusion  the 
odor  of  bitumen,  where  no  sulphur  is  present,  is  yet  called  sulphur. 

To  summarize.    To  make  a  summary  of. 

The  "  National  Intelligencer,"  Aug.  31,  1857,  in  speaking  of  the 
publications  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  says:  — 

Additional  papers  are  summarized  in  the  Report,  all  of  them  making  consider- 
able advances  upon  the  heretofore  unappropriated  domains  of  science. 

To  summons.  To  serve  with  a  summons.  Applied  to  the  courts  and 
colleges.    "  He  was  summonsed  to  appear  before  the  Faculty." 


680 


SUM— SU^ 


So  the  noun  is  "  a  summons"  in  common  law.  In  old  prac- 
tice, it  was  a  writ  directed  to  a  sheriff,  requiring  him  to  summon  a 
defendant  to  appear  in  court. 

Mary  looked  at  me  and  winked,  and  says  she,  "  You  're  one  of  the  court,  you 
know,  major;  but  jest  go  out  until  the  court  is  summonsed  before  the  throne."  — 
Major'  Jones''s  Courtship. 

To  sum- totalize.    To  give  the  total  amount,  the  sum-total. 

You  hear  a  fellow  sayin',  I 'm  only  a  passenger.  How  little  the  critter  knows 
of  Avhat  he  is  talking  when  he  uses  that  cant  phrase !  Why,  every  thing  is  sum- 
totalized  in  that  word  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature,  p.  44. 

Sun-Bonnet.  A  home-made  bonnet,  with  a  large  "cape,"  so  as  to 
shield  both  the  face  and  neck,  much  worn  by  women  and  girls  in 
the  country. 

Sundown.    Sunset.   Peculiar  to  the  United  States. 

Although  this  word  is  said  to  be  peculiar  to  the  United  States, 
Jamieson  assigns  it  to  the  south  of  Scotland,  whence  we  probably 
derived  it.  —  Scottish  Dictionary.    See  Moondown, 

Solid  men  of  Boston  go  to  bed  at  sundown. 

Song,  Solid  Men  of  Boston. 

And  sitting  there  birling,  wi'  a'  the  schaff  and  raff  o'  the  waterside,  till  sun- 
down, and  then  coming  hame  and  crying  for  ale,  as  if  ye  were  maister  and  mair. 
Scott,  Tales  of  my  Landlord,  Vol.  II.  p.  114. 

Daylight !  do  but  hear  the  silly  child !  'Tis  but  just  sundown.  —  Cooper,  Lionel 
Lincoln,  Vol.  I.  p.  41. 

At  sundown,  the  bats,  vampires,  and  goat-suckers  dart  from  their  lonely  retreat, 
and  skim  along  the  trees  on  the  river's  bank. —  Waterton,  Wanderings  in  South 
America. 

Sun-Fish.  (Pomotis  vulgaris.)  A  beautiful  little  fresh- water  fish,  so 
called  from  its  glittering  colors.  From  its  shape,  it  is  often  called 
Pumpkin-Seed;  and  in  some  localities  it  is -called  Bream. 

Sun-Shade.    Parasol  in  England.    Not  in  Webster  or  in  Worcester. 

Sun-Shower.  A  shower  occurring  while  the  sun's  rays  are  not  inter- 
cepted by  the  cloud  whence  the  rain  descends. 

Sun-Squall.  A  term  applied,  on  the  coast  of  New  England,  to  the 
Medusae,  or  Sea-Nettles.  It  appears  to  be  a  corruption  of  the 
Germ.  Schinnqualle  (lit.  umbrella  jelly-fish).    See  Gall. 

About  Boston  harbor,  they  are  called  Sun-Jish,  a  still  further  cor- 
ruption. 

Sun-up.  Sunrise.  More  common  at  the  South.  "When  the  Southern 
traveller  starts  on  his  journey  before  the  appearance  of  the  sun  in 
the  morning,  he  says  he  "put  out  bright  and  yarly,  an  horn*  (or 
half  an  hour,  as  the  case  may  be)  before  sun-up.'^ 


SUP 


681 


One  would  think  that  such  a  horse  as  that  might  get  over  a  good  deal  of 
ground  atwixt  sun-up  and  sundown.  —  Cooper,  Last  of  the  Mohicans,  p.  50. 
And  this  was  the  way  it  was.    It  was  night  when  I  kein  up  here 
To  say  to  'em  all  "  good-bye,"  for  I  reckoned  to  go  for  deer 
At  sun-up  the  day  they  left.    So  I  shook  'em  all  round  by  the  hand, 
'Cept  Mabel,  and  she  was  sick,  ez  they  give  me  to  understand. 

Bret  Harte,  Luke. 

Supawn.  (Saupd-un,  made  soft  by  water.)  An  Indian  name  in 
common  use  in  New  England,  New  York,  and  other  Northern  States, 
for  boiled  Indian  meal.    It  is  also  called  hasty  pudding,  which  see. 

The  common  food  of  the  Indians  is  pap,  or  mush,  which  in  the  New  Nether- 
lands is  named  supaen.  This  is  so  common  among  them,  that  they  seldom  pass 
a  day  without  it.  unless  they  are  on  a  journe}'  or  hunting.  We  seldom  visit  an 
Indian  lodge  at  any  time  of  day,  without  seeing  their  supaen  preparing,  or  seeing 
them  eating  the  same.  It  is  the  common  food  of  all ;  and  so  fond  of  it  are  they 
that,  when  they  visit  our  people  or  each  other,  they  consider  themselves  neglected 
unless  the}'  are  treated  with  supaen.  — Van  der  Donck's  New  Netherlands  (1656), 
N.  Y.  Hist.  Soc.  Collections. 

The  flour  [>>i  maize]  makes  a  substantial  sort  of  porridge,  called  by  the  Amer- 
icans supporne  :  this  is  made  with  water,  and  eaten  with  milk. — Backwoods  of 
Canada,  p.  189. 

E'en  in  my  native  regions,  how  I  blush 
To  hear  the  Pennsylvanians  call  thee  mush ! 
On  Hudson's  banks  while  men  of  Belgic  spawn 
Insult  and  eat  thee  by  the  name  suppawn. 

Barlow,  Hasty  Pudding. 
For  many  heroes  bold  and  brave, 
From  Newbridge  and  Tappan, 
And  those  that  drink  Passaic's  wave, 
And  those  who  e:it  suppawn. 

Major  Andre,  The  Cow  Chase,  1780. 

Super.    Abbreviation  of  superintendent  of  factories,  theatres,  &c. 

At  the  Philadelphia  Academy  of  Music,  ...  at  the  close  of  the  performance, 
the  supers  and  ballet  girls  demanded  their  wages,  but  they  were  not  forthcoming. 
Cor.  Boston  Journal. 

Supple- Jack.  1.  (^Berchemia  volubilis.)  A  creeper  growing  in  damp 
soils  in  Virginia  and  further  south.  "  The  vine,"  says  Flint,  "  re- 
sembles that  of  the  muscadine  grape;  but  the  olive  color  is  deeper. 
It  is  well  known  to  attach  itself  so  strongly  to  the  shrub  it  entwines 
as  to  cause  those  curious  spiral  curves  and  inner  flattenings  that 
gives  its  singularity  and  value  to  the  supple-jack  cane."  —  Geogr.  of 
Miss.  Valley. 

2.  A  child's  toy,  a  jointed  manikin  worked  by  a  string.  Called 
also  a  Jumping  Jack. 
Supply.    A  preacher  who  ministers  to  a  congregation,  especially  one 
who  does  thus  without  a  formal  induction.    See  Stat'id  Supply. 


682 


SUR 


Rev.  W.  P.  Cochran  has  become  supply  for  a  church  at  Millerstown,  Penn.  — 

The  Independent. 

Sure.  Surely;  certainly.  "  Are  you  going  V  "  "  I 'm  going  sure,^' 
or  "  sure  and  certain.^'  South-western. 

"There,  do  you  see  that  horse  V  "  said  Jack.    "He's  ad  d  good  horse. 

He's  not  much  to  look  at;  but,  once  get  him  a-going,  and  he  Ml  go  through  h— 11 
itself,  if  you  put  him  at  it.  Get  on,  Kendall,  and  I  '11  mount  behind,  and  show 
you  sights,  — I  will  sure.'"  — N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

Sure-Enough.  Real;  genuine.  Used  in  the  South  and  West  in  the 
flame  manner  as  fair  is  in  New  York;  as,  "This  is  a  sure-enough 
egg,"  meaning  that  it  is  a  real  and  not  an  imitation  one.  In  a 
description  of  the  absurd  ceremonies  observed  on  shipboard  in 
"  crossing  the  line,"  a  writer  says:  — 

The  subject  was  seated  in  the  chair,  some  six  feet  from  the  deck,  where  the 
barber,  standing  on  a  platform  before  him,  thrust  a  whitewash-brush  into  a 
bucket  of  soap-suds,  and  lathered  his  face  with  great  liberality ;  then,  drawing 
from  a  canvas-bag  his  case  of  extensive  razors  (rusty  iron  hoops),  went  through 
all  the  movements  of  a  sure-enough  barber.  — U.  S.  Nautical  May.,  Dec,  1855. 

Surface-Boat.    See  Battery. 

Surprise-Candidate.  A  fresh  candidate  suddenly  put  up  and  sup- 
ported by  the  wire- workers  of  an  election,  to  subserve  pm-poses  of 
their  own. 

In  a  judicial  district,  a  '''■surprise  candidate,'''  scarce  known  as  a  lawyer  or  to 
the  people  beyond  the  local  court  in  which  he  practised,  was  run,  as  since  under- 
stood, to  aid  in  breaking  down  one  of  two  able  and  unobjectionable  candidates  for 
the  Supreme  Bench  of  the  State,  who  had  been  nominated  in  the  convention  of 
the  two  opposing  political  parties.  — National  Intelligencer,  Sept.  20,  1858. 

Surprise-Party.  A  party  of  persons  who  assemble  by  agreement,  and 
without  invitation,  at  the  house  of  a  mutual  friend,  each  bringing 
some  article  of  food  as  a  contribution  towards  a  supper,  of  which 
all  partake. 

A  surprise-party  had  been  appointed.  They  had  been  bavin'  them  all  winter, 
and  the  children  had  been  crazy  to  have  me  go  to  'em  :  everybody  went,  but  I 
held  back. 

Says  I,  Josiah,  the  place  for  old  folks  is  to  home ;  and  I  don't  believe  in 
surprise-parties  any  way.  I  think  they  are  perfect  nuisances.  If  you  want  to 
see  your  friends,  you  can  invite  them.  ...  It  would  make  me  feel  perfectly 
wild  to  think  there  was  a  whole  drove  of  people  liable  to  rush  in  here  at  an}'- 
minute,  and  I  won't  rush  into  other  people's  housen.  — Betsy  Bobbet,  p.  46. 

Surrogate.  In  American  law,  a  county  officer  who  has  jurisdiction  in 
granting  letters  testamentary  and  letters  of  administration,  and  of 
other  matters  relating  to  the  settlement  of  the  estates  of  testators 
and  intestates.  — KenVs  Commentaries,  Vol.  II.  p.  409. 

Surround.  A  frequent  mode  of  hunting  the  buffalo  by  the  Indians 
consists  in  making  a     surround.''^    This  is  done  by  enclosing  a 


SUR— SWA 


683 


large  herd,  and  driving  them  over  a  precipice  upon  the  rocks,  or 
into  one  of  the  profound  ravines  which  intersect  the  prairies  in  vari- 
ous directions.  In  this  way,  thousands  are  sometimes  killed  in  a 
single  day.  —  S.  F.  Baird. 

Surveyor.  One  of  the  chief  officers  of  the  large  U.  S.  custom-houses. 
It  is  the  duty  of  the  surveyor  to  superintend  and  direct  the  inspec- 
tors, weighers,  gangers,  and  measurers  at  his  port;  but  he  is,  in  all 
cases,  to  be  subject  to  the  collector.  —  Act  of  March  2,  1799. 

Susceptible.  The  quality  of  easily  falling  in  love;  having  nice  sen- 
sibility. 

Suspenders.  Straps  for  holding  up  pantaloons;  vulgarly  called  gal- 
lowses ;  in  England,  called  braces. 

To  suspicion,  for  to  suspect.  Common  among  the  uneducated  at  the 
South.  "I  suspicioned  he  was  tricksy."  The  New  Englander 
would  say,  "  I  suspected  he  was  tricky."  Yet  the  verb  to  suspicion 
is  sometimes  heard  in  New  York  as  well  as  in  New  England. 

If  he  had  a  suspicioned  I  was  thar,  he  'd  no  more  swore  than  he  'd  dared  to  kiss 
my  Sal  on  a  washing  day;  for  you  see  both  on  us  belonged  to  the  same  church. 
Mike  Hooter,  by  a  Missourian. 

Sutor.    A  syrup  made  from  the  juice  of  the  fruit  of  the  "  pitahaya  '* 

(Cereus  giganteus)  by  the  Indians  near  the  river  Gila. 
Suzz  !    A  corrupt  pronunciation  of  sirs  I    An  exclamation  much  used 

in  New  England,  as  sirs  is  in  Scotland.    It  is  sometimes  lengthened 

into  Law^  suzz!  i.  e.  Lord,  sirs! 
Swad  or  Swod.    In  New  England,  a  lump,  mass,  or  bunch;  also,  a 

crowd.  —  Webster.    It  is  an  old  English  colloquialism. 

There  was  a  swad  of  fine  folks,  and  the  house  was  well-nigh  upon  chuck  full. 
Major  Dotvninff's  Letters,  p.  35. 

How  is  a  colonist  able  to  pay  for  this  almighty  swad  of  everlasting  plunder, 
seein'  he  has  no  gold  or  silver  V  —  Sam  Slick,  3d  Ser.,  ch.  6. 

Swaged.    Shrunk  in  seasoning.  Southern. 

When  timber  in  drying  decreases  in  size,  it  is  said,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  "  poor  white  trash  "  of  a  certain  district  in  Dixie,  to 
have  swaged,  a  corruption  probably  of  assuaged.  —  Harper^s  Maga- 
zine, March,  1864,  p.  569. 

According  to  Halliwell  and  Wright,  swage  is  an  old  English  form 
of  assuage. 

Swale.  A  local  word  in  New  England,  signifying  an  interval  or  vale; 
a  tract  of  low  land.  —  Webster.  This  word  is  provincial  in  Norfolk, 
England,  and  means  a  low  place;  and  shade,  in  opposition  to  sun- 
shine.—  Forby^s  Vocabulary. 


684 


SWA 


To  swamp.  To  plunge  into  inextricable  difficulties.  — Webster.  This 
use  of  the  word  is  not  in  the  English  dictionaries.  It  is  common  in 
the  United  States,  though  not  elegant.  Ex. :  "  He  invested  a  large 
sum  of  money  in  land  speculations,  which  swamped  him,"  i.  e. 
ruined  him. 

Swamp- Apple.  An  excrescence  found  on  the  swamp-honeysuckle. 
In  its  early  state,  its  taste  resembles  that  of  an  apple.  New 
England. 

Sw  ampers.  Men  who  break  out  roads  for  hauling  timber  out  of  the 
woods.  Maine. 

Swamp-Honeysuckle.  (Azalea  nudijlora.)  A  plant  flowering  in 
April  and  May,  which  grows  in  the  swamps  from  Massachusetts  to 
Virginia.    It  is  also  called  May- Apple  and  Pinxter  Blumachy. 

Swamp-Huckleberry.  (Vaccinium  religinosmn.)  A  variety  of  the 
blueberry  growing  on  a  small  bush  in  wet  land.  The  term  is  also 
applied  to  the  hlue-huckleherry^  which  I  have  seen  growing  to  the 
height  of  five  feet  or  more.    See  Huckleberry. 

Swamping.  Very  large;  huge.  The  word  swapping  is  used  in  the 
same  sense  in  the  west  of  England. 

And  there  we  saw  a  sioampiny  gun, 

Large  as  a  log  of  maple, 
Upon  a  deuced  little  cart, 

A  load  for  father's  cattle.  — Sony,  Yankee  Doodle. 

I  swamp  it !    A  euphemistic  form  of  oath. 

Had  that  darn'd  old  vessel,  that  frigate  there,  bin  a  stone's  throw  farder  off 
from  land,  I  should  never  have  swimnied  to  shore,  dead  or  alive,  to  all  eternity,  I 
swamp  it  !  —  D,  Humphreys,  The  Yankee  in  Enyland. 

Swamp-Muck.  A  black  vegetable  mould  found  near  marshes  and 
along  loamy  bottoms. 

In  the  rich,  black  deposit  commonly  called  swamp-much,  the  snipe  delights, 
above  all. — Boyardus,  Field  and  Trap  Shootiny,  p.  148. 

Swamp-Pink.  (Azalea  viscosa.)  A  popular  name  for  the  Swamp- 
Honeysuckle. 

I  swan  or  swon!  A  New  England  euphemism  for  "  I  swear!  "  / 
swan  to  man!  is  a  heightened  form  of  the  same. 

"  Well,  I  swan exclaimed  the  mamma,  giving  a  round  box  on  the  ear  to  a 
dirty  little  urchin,  "  what  made  you  let  the  little  hussy  have  your  specs  V  "  — 
Mrs.  Clavers's  Forest  Life,  Vol.  I.  p.  29. 

I  took  a  turn  round  Halifax,  and  1  swan  if  it  ain't  the  thunderinest,  drearA'est 
place  I  ever  seen,  and  the  people  they  call  Blue-noses.  —  Hiram  Biyelow's  Lett, 
in  Family  Compaaiun. 


SWA— SWE 


685 


I  was  dressed  tarnation  slick.  I  guess  I  rubbed  two  tallow  candles  or  there- 
abouts into  my  hair,  trying  to  make  it  curl;  but  I  swan  to  man  there  warn't  no 
curl  to  it,  for  it  stuck  out  for  all  sense  like  porcupine  quills.  —  HiWs  Yankee 
Stories. 

"Well,  I  've  jest  come  to  New  York,  and  it 's  the  darndest  place,  I  swan  to  man, 
that  you 'd  wish  to  see.  —  Story  of  Uncle  Ben.  recited  by  HacTcett. 

It  wasn't  his  fault,  but  the  driv^er's.  Drivers  are  the  most  aggravatin'  class  in 
New  York,  /  swan  to  man.  —  Grinder  Papers,  p.  43. 

Swanga.  An  African  word  used  among  the  Negroes  in  some  parts  of 
the  South  in  connection  with  buckra,  white  man;  as  swanga  huckra, 
meaning  a  dandy  white  man,  or,  literally,  a  dandy  devil.  A  friend 
in  South  Carolina  informs  me  that  the  Negroes  there  apply  the 
term  to  persons  who  carry  themselves  conceitedly.  Thus,  of  one 
who  is  strutting  about  in  a  new  suit  of  clothes,  they  will  say,  "  He 
kin'  o'  swanga  now." 

To  swap  or  swop.    To  exchange;  to  barter. — Johnson. 

This  word  has  often  been  noticed  by  English  travellers  in  this 
country,  and  may  perhaps  be  more  common  here  than  in  England; 
but  it  is  also  used  by  the  vulgar  in  that  country.  —  Pickering. 

Clocks,  nutmegs,  and  whatever  else. 

You  call  a  Yankee  crop, 
If  you  have  cash,  he 's  glad  to  sell ; 

If  not,  he  '11  always  swap  ! 
For  he  was  born  a  merchant,  sir, 

A  Yankee  trader  bold, 
Who  swapped  his  whistle  for  a  knife 

When  only  four  years  old.  — AlUn,  Yankee  Ballad. 

Swash  or  Swosh.  In  the  Southern  States  of  America,  a  name 
given  to  a  narrow  sound  or  channel  of  water  lying  within  a  sand- 
bank, or  between  that  and  the  shore.  Many  such  are  found  on  the 
shores  of  the  Carolinas.  —  Webster.  In  New  York  harbor  is  a  so- 
called  Swash. 

After  noon,  I  crossed  the  swash  at  the  east  end  of  the  bay,  and  in  the  evening 
got  into  good  quarters.  — Bartram's  Florida,  p.  472. 

To  swat  or  swot.    To  strike,  smite.    A  low  word. 

Tell  me  that  again,  and  I  '11  swot  you  over  the  mug.  —  Report  of  the  Hunker 
Meeting  in  Albany,  June,  1848. 

Swathe.    See  Cut  a  Swage. 

To  swear  in.  To  induct,  to  be  inducted,  after  the  administration 
and  making  an  oath  required  by  law. 

Swearing  in  the  new  iVIayor.  —  The  Hon.  George  Opdike,  Mayor  elect  of  New 
York  City,  took  the  oath  of  office  yesterday.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 


686 


SWE— SWI 


To  swear  off.    To  resolve  to  give  up  a  habit,  particularly  drinking 
Sweet.    To  he  sweet  on  any  one.    To  have  a  liking  or  alfection  for 
one.    Mr.  M.  was  very  siceet  o?i  Miss  B.  at  the  ball  last  evening; 
{.  e.,  he  showed  her  marked  attention. 
Yet  she  was  sweet  on  the  Judg^e,  and  stuck  by  him  day  and  night, 
Alone  in  the  cabin  up  yer,  —  till  she  grew  like  a  ghost,  all  white. 
She  was  only  a  slip  of  a  thing,  ez  light  and  ez  up  and  away 
Ez  rifle-smoke  blown  through  the  woods,  but  she  wasn't  my  kind  — no  wa.y. 

Bret  Harte. 

Sweet  Hepper-Bush.    See  Alder. 

Sweet  Potato  Pone.   Sweet  potatoes  grated,  flavored  with  spices,  and 

baked  in  a  tin  pan.    See  Pone. 
Sweet-scented  Shrub.    See  Allspice. 

Sweet  Sop.  {Annona  squamosa.)  An  evergreen  shrub,  which  bears 
a  greenish-colored  fruit.  It  is  also  called  Custard  Apple  and  Sugar 
Apple.    West  Indies. 

Sweet-Tooth.  "  He  has  a  sweet-tooth;  "  i.  e.,  he  is  fond  of  cakes, 
sweetmeats,  and  candy. 

Swell  Head.    See  Big  Head,  No.  2. 

Swill-Milk.    The  milk  of  cows  fed  on  the  refuse  of  distilleries. 
Swimming  Market,  in  Wall  Street  parlance,  is  that  condition  when 

stocks  are  in  demand,  when  money  is  plenty,  and  when  every  thing 

buoyant. 

Swim  out.    Have  done  with  it;  retrace  your  steps. 

Swim  out,  ere  you're  over  your  head.  —  Comic  Song. 
Swing-Clear.    A  woman's  gow^n,  tight  at  the  neck,  and  falling  to 

the  ankles,  not  fitted  to  the  figure,  and  swinging  clear  of  the 

ground. 

To  swinge.  To  singe.  Provincial  in  various  parts  of  England.  — 
Halliwell. 

The  weather  has  been  monstrous  hot  here,  and  I  don't  think  I  ever  did  see 
things  jest  sprawled  out  and  swinged  up  so  with  the  sun  before.  —  Major  Jones's 
Courtship,  p.  185. 

Swingle-Tail.  (Alopius  vulpes.)  The  popular  name  for  the  Thresher 
Shark,  from  the  use  it  makes  of  its  long,  flexible  tail,  "  with 
which,"  says  Dr.  De  Kay,  "it  literally  threshes  its  enemies."  — 
Nat.  Hist,  of  Neio  York. 

Swingle  Tree.    Vulgar  for  single  tree. 

Swing-Station.  In  the  Far  West,  the  station  w^here  teams  are 
changed.  In  speaking  of  the  coachman  or  driver,  Mr.  McClure 
says : — 


SWI— TAB 


687 


When  he  arrives  at  a  swing-station,  where  the  teams  are  changed,  he  drops  the 
lines  and  chats  with  the  landlord  or  the  passengers  while  his  team  is  unhitched 
and  another  is  attached.  — Rocky  Mountains,  p.  103. 

Not  one  half  of  the  swing-stntions  had  so  much  as  a  single  gun  of  any  kind  to 
defend  their  stock.  —  Ibid.,  p.  178. 

Switch.  The  movable  rails  and  appendages  for  turning  the  cars  on  a 
railroad  from  one  track  to  another.  The  term  is  now  getting  into 
use  in  England. 

Now,  Tom,  you  skunk,  this  is  the  third  time  you  forgot  to  set  on  that  switch, 
and  the  last  time  there  was  twenty  people  went  under,  and  the  balance  was 
bruised;  so  mind  what  you  're  about,  and  don't  forget  the  switch  again,  or  I 'm 
darned  if  I  don't  tell  the  boss  (station-master).  — Notes  on  Canada  and  the  U.  S., 
Blackwood,  Sept.,  1855. 

Switchel.  Molasses  and  water,  to  which  sometimes  a  little  vinegar 
is  added.    A  common  beverage  in  New  England. 

Switched  if  I  do.    Used  to  intensify  an  affirmation.  Tennessee. 

To  swot.    See  To  swat. 

I  swow !    A  New  England  euphemism  for  /  swear  ! 
Sycamore.    Sqq,  Button- Wood. 

Sympathizers.  A  large  body  of  persons,  so  called,  in  the  United 
States,  on  the  Canadian  frontier,  who  sympathized  with  and  aided 
the  rebels  in  Canada  in  1837-39. 

Syren.  A  fog-horn.  Signals  for  opening  and  closing  the  Centennial 
Exhibition  at  Philadelphia  were  given  by  the  "American  Steam 
Syren." 

To  systemize.  To  systematize.  A  word  rarely  used  by  good  writers. 
Worcester.  Dr.  Webster,  however,  gives  it  the  preference  over 
systematize,  wfhich.  he  denounces  as  "  ill-formed."  What  would  he 
have  thought  of  dogmize  and  stigmize,  by  way  of  "  improving  "  the 
language  ? 

T. 

T.  T.  Too  thin.  "  The  fraud  is  T.  T.,"  i.  e.  too  thin,  too  trans- 
parent. 

Tabernacle.  A  place  of  religious  worship  with  the  seats  arranged 
like  those  in  an  amphitheatre,  in  order  to  accommodate  a  large  num- 
ber of  persons.  Some  of  these  places  are  able  to  seat  from  5,000  to 
7,000.  New  York,  Brooklyn,  Boston,  Chicago,  and  other  large 
cities,  have  these  edifices. 


688 


TAB— TAI 


The  tabernacle  prepared  for  Moody  and  Sankey  at  Boston  was  dedicated  last 
night  (Jan.  25,  1877)  with  impressive  effect  and  in  the  presence  of  5,000  people. 
.  .  .  These  tabernacles  of  the  people  meet  a  great  popular  demand,  and  there 
ought  to  be  one  in  every  community.  —  Providence  Press,  Jan.  26,  1877. 

I  asked  at  one  of  the  theatres  what  effect  the  Tabernacle  had  on  theatrical 
audiences.  "Oh,"  said  the  ticket-seller,  '*  it  helps  us." — Boston  Letter  to 
Springfield  Eepub.,  March,  1877. 

The  Tabernacle  movement  already  has  reformed  more  ungodly  men  and  in- 
ebriates since  its  dedication  than  has  New  England  radicalism,  dating  from  the 
time  when  its  first  notes  were  sounded  by  Theodore  Parker.  —  Townsend  on 
Religious  Revivals,  p.  243. 

To  table.  1.  To  lay  on  the  table.  "The  bill  for  distributing  the 
public  lands  among  the  States  was  tabled  by  a  large  majority." 

2.  To  offer;  to  present.  Used  by  Presbyterians,  met  in  delibera- 
tive synods,  &c. 

Tacamahac.    Another  name  for  the  Balsam  Poplar,  which  see. 

To  tackle.  1.  To  harness;  as,  to  taclcle  a  horse  into  a  gig,  sleigh, 
coach,  or  wagon.  —  Webster.    Local  in  England. 

2.  To  seize,  to  lay  hold  of;  as,  a  wrestler  tackles  his  antagonist, 
a  dog  tackles  the  game.  —  Webster. 

Well,  I  tell  you  what,  it  tuck  a  feller  mighty  wide  between  the  ej'es  to  tackle 
that  tree,  for  it  was  a  whopper.  — Major  Jones'' s  Courtship,  p.  53. 

I  shook  the  two  fellows  off  my  trunks  monstrous  quick,  and  was  going  to  tackle 
the  chaps  what  had  m  v  carpet-bag.  —  Major  Jones's  Travels. 

The  people  are  no  ways  backward  about  discussing  the  subject  of  Mormonism, 
over-confident  in  their  ability  to  demolish  every  Gentile  against  polygamy.  One 
of  the  gentry  tackled  Governor  Powell  the  other  da}',  determined  to  make  a  con- 
vert—iV^.  Y.  Times,  Aug.  9,  1858. 

Tads.    Little  tads,  small  boys.    Old  tads,  graybeards,  old  men. 

Tag.  1.  A  slight  touch.  A  boy,  touched  by  one  who  is  in  the  first 
instance  fixed  upon  to  commence  the  game,  is  in  his  turn  obliged  to 
overtake  and  touch  another  of  the  party,  when  he  cries.  Tag  !  and 
so  the  game  proceeds.  According  to  Mr.  Hal] i well,  the  same  game 
is  played  in  Warwickshire,  where  it  is  called  tick. 
2.  The  leaves  of  a  pine-tree,  &c. 

Pitching  my  tent  on  the  soft,  dry  pine-ia^,  I  enjoyed  the  most  refreshing  sleep. 
N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Tailings.  A  term  applied  by  miners  to  the  refuse  from  stamping  and 
crushing  mills  after  the  gold  has  been  taken  out.  These  tailings, 
under  a  second  process,  sometimes  pay  as  well  as  by  the  first  one. 

Experience  has  shown  that  most  of  the  earth  will  pay  for  a  second  process ; 
and  numberless  are  the  tailing  companies,  whose  labors  are  confined  to  washing 
by  a  more  careful  method  the  tailings  or  refuse  from  the  end  of  the  sluices.  — 
Harper's  Mag.,  for  April,  1860,  p.  sio. 


TAI— TAK 


689 


Tailor,  Tailor  Shad.  (JPomoolhus  jnediocris.)  A  fish  resembling  the 
shad,  but  inferior  to  it  in  size  and  flavor.  It  is  peculiar  to  the 
waters  of  the  Mississippi.  In  the  towns  on  the  Potomac,  the  Blue- 
fish  is  called  a  Salt-water  Tailor. 

Tail  up  or  down.  "  He 's  got  his  tail  up,"  said  of  one  who  is  making 
a  run  at  billiards,  or  playing  well. 

Take.  1.  When  the  river  St.  Lawrence  freezes  so  as  to  be  firm  and 
fixed  for  the  winter,  it  is  said  to  he  taken.  "  The  ice  took  last 
night;  "  i.  e.,  the  river  was  firmly  closed.  The  expression,  "  The 
river  froze,"  is  never  heard  in  Canada.  Among  the  one  hundred 
and  thirty  different  senses  given  in  Latham's  edition  of  Johnson's 
Dictionary,  we  do  not  find  one  in  the  sense  given. 

2.  To  take.  To  understand.  "  Do  you  take  "  i.  e.  do  you  com- 
prehend. "I  don't  take,''^  i.  e.  I  don't  understand.  Shakespeare 
used  the  word  in  this  sense,  as:  — 

This,  I  tahe  it, 
Is  the  main  motive  of  our  preparations. 

Hamlet,  Act  i.  Sc.  1. 

To  take  a  Shute,  In  the  West,  a  person  running  away,  or  leaving  in 
a  hurry,  is  said  to  have  "  taken  a  shute.'''' 

To  take  down.  To  humiliate;  as,  "  It  takes  him  down  terribly;" 
i.  e.  it  affects  him  much. 

Carlton,  in  speaking  of  several  young  men  who  had  been  jilted 
by  a  lady,  says :  — 

And  all  of  them  was  flustered,  and  fairly  taken  down, 
And  I  for  a  time  was  counted  the  luckiest  man  in  town. 

Farm  Ballads,  p.  19. 

To  take  on.  To  grieve;  to  mourn,  lament.  Colloquial  in  England 
and  the  United  States. 

"  Why,  Polly,  what 's  the  matter,  gal  ?  "  inquired  he ;  *'  what  in  thunder  makes 
you  tahe  on  so  ?  Come,  out  with  the  cause,  or  I  shall  get  a  blubberin'  too."  — 
Robb,  Squatter  Life. 

To  take  the  Back  Track.    To  recede  from  one's  position. 

The  first  law  of  self-preservatioti  has  admonished  Mr.  Douglas  that  he  has 
gone  as  far  in  his  slavery  concessions  to  the  South  as  he  can  possibly  go,  and 
that,  if  he  would  save  himself  at  home,  he  must  take  the  back  track.  —N.  Y. 
Herald,  Dec.  26,  1857. 

To  take  the  Rag  off.    To  surpass. 

How  often  I  have  laughed  over  the  fun  of  the  forecastle !  I  would  back  it  for 
wit  against  any  bar-room  in  New  York  or  New  Orleans,  and  I  believe  they  take 
the  rag  off  all  creation.  —  Sam  Slick,  Nature  and  Human  Nature,  p.  28. 

44 


690 


TAK— TAL 


To  take  the  Shine  off.    See  Sliine^  No.  1. 

To  take  the  Stump.  To  start  upon;  to  be  engaged  in  making  a 
series  of  electioneering  speeches.    "To  stump  it.^^ 

To  take  to  do.  To  take  to  task ;  to  reprove.  Colloquial  in  England 
and  in  New  England. 

The  "Life  Boat,"  a  weekly  sheet  in  this  city,  takes  the  "Bee"  <o  c?o  for  its 
course  in  relation  to  the  Liquor  Law.  —  Boston  Bee,  July  29,  1852. 

To  take  up.  1.  To  take  up  animals  is  a  common  phrase  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  prairies,  and  means  to  bring  them  in  and  prepare 
them  for  a  journey  or  the  day's  march,  either  by  saddling  them  or 
harnessing  them  to  a  wagon. 

2.  To  put  up,  as  a  traveller  at  an  inn.  Southern.  In  Pennsyl- 
vania, the  expression  refers  to  the  opening  of  school;  as,  "What 
time  does  your  school  take  upl 

3.  To  arrest,  prosecute  at  law,  &c.    New  England. 

To  take  Water.  To  run  away,  make  off.  A  Western  expression, 
doubtless  borrowed  from  sportsmen. 

He  quitted  the  wheel  [of  the  steamboat]  and  made  for  his  state-room,  Avhere 
he  stayed  till  the  boat  reached  Natchez,  when  he  took  water,  and  they  do  say 
moved  to  the  North.  —  Major  Bunkum,  N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

Talented.     Furnished  with  talents;  possessing  skill  or  talents. — 

Webster.  This,  says  Todd,  is  "an  old  word,  long  disused,  but 
lately  revived."  It  is  as  correctly  formed  as  moneyed  or  landed^ 
which  are  regarded  as  unexceptionable ;  yet  it  is  pretty  generally 
condemned,  and  on  each  side  of  the  water  the  responsibility  of  coin- 
ing it  is  cast  upon  the  other,  as  Avill  be  seen  from  what  follows:  — 

The  "London  Monthly  Magazine"  (Sept.,  18:31)  blames  Mr. 
Stanley  for  using  this  word.  "  Sir  Robert  Peel  referred  it  to  his 
American  associations,  and  prayed  him  never  to  employ  it  again, 
with  all  the  strenuousness  of  Oxonian  adjuration."  The  "  Phila- 
delphia National  Gazette,"  in  speaking  of  the  above,  adds:  "  Sir 
Robert  was  right  in  protesting  against  the  word,  but  wrong  in  his 
reference.  It  is  of  London  cockney  derivation,  and  still  more 
employed  in  Great  Britain  than  in  America." 

Coleridge  says,  "  I  regret  to  see  that  vile  and  barbarous  vocable, 
talented,  stealing  out  of  the  newspapers  into  the  leading  reviews  and 
most  respectable  publications  of  the  day.  Why  not  shillinged,  far- 
thinged,  tenpenced,  &c.?  The  formation  of  a  participle  passive  from 
a  noun  is  a  license  that  nothing  but  a  very  peculiar  facility  can  excuse. 
Most  of  these  pieces  of  slang  come  from  America." —  Tahle  Talk, 
July  8,  1832. 


TAL 


691 


Mr.  Bulwer  is  not  yet  ''talented,'^  a  pseudo-particle,  which  no  one  will  use 
who  is  not  ripe  for  any  atrocity;  but  he  "  progresses  "  at  a  fearful  rate.  -  Edin- 
■huryh  Rev.,  Vol.  LXV.  p. 

The  editor  of  the  "  Edinburgh  Review,"  having  criticised  certain 
expressions  used  by  Lord  Macaulay,  the  latter,  in  reply,  said:  — 

Such  a  word,  as  talented  it  is  proper  to  avoid:  first,  because  it  is  not  wanted; 
secondly,  because  you  never  hear  it  from  those  who  speak  very  good  English.  — 
Macaulay's  Life  and  Letters,  Vol.  II.  p.  100. 

Talk.  Among  the  Indians  of  North  America,  a  i3ublic  conference,  as 
respecting  peace  or  war,  negotiation,  and  the  like;  or  an  official 
verbal  communication  made  from  them  to  another  nation  or  its 
agents,  or  made  to  them  by  the  same.  —  Webster. 

.   But  snakes  are  in  the  bosoms  of  their  race  ; 
And  though  they  held  with  us  a  friendly  t(dk, 
The  hollow  peace-tree  fell  beneath  their  tomahawk. 

Campbell,  Gei-trude  of  Wyoming. 

Talking-Iron.  A  comical  name  for  a  gun  or  rifle;  called  also  a  shoot- 
ing-iron., on  the  same  principle  that  in  flash  language  a  pistol  is 
"  a  barker,"  and  a  watch  "  a  ticker,"  and  sometimes  "  a  tattler." 

I  hops  out  of  bed,  feels  for  my  trunk,  and  outs  with  my  talkin'-iron,  that  was 
all  ready  loaded.  —  Sam  Slich  in  England,  ch.  2. 

To  talk  Turkey.  To  say  pleasant  things ;  to  talk  so  as  to  please  the 
hearer. 

The  stor}'^  is  an  old  one,  — that  an  Indian  and  a  white  man,  after  a  day's  hunting, 
had  only  a  turkey  and  a  partridge  to  show  for  game.  The  white  man  proposed 
to  divide  them,  and  said  to  the  Indian,  "  Take  your  choice.  You  can  have  the 
partridge,  and  I'll  take  the  turkey;  or  Fll  take  the  turkey,  and  you  may  have 
the  partridge."  "Ugh!"  said  the  Indian,  "you  donH  talk  turkey  to  me 
any." 

The  "New  Haven  Register,"  May,  1864,  speaking  of  some  fel- 
lows out  AVest,  who,  under  pretence  of  buying  turkeys  for  the 
soldiers,  got  them  cheap,  and  sold  them  in  Eastern  markets  at  a 
high  figure,  says :  — 

They  are  not  the  only  ones  who  talk  turkey,  and  rob  the  soldiers  of  what  is 
contributed  for  their  benefit. 

Polly  Bean  was  not  the  first  girl  I  run  against,  by  a  long  shot;  and  I  was 
plaguy  apt  to  talk  turkey  always  when  I  got  sociable,  if  it  was  only  out  of  polite- 
ness. —  McClintock,  BeedWs  Marriage. 

Tall.    1.  Great;  fine;  splendid;  extravagant.    A  flash  word. 

Stump  straightened  up,  and  started  at  a  pace  that  would  have  staggered 
Captain  Barclay,  Ellsworth,  or  the  greatest  pedestrian  mentioned  ia  the  annals 
of  "  tall  walking."  —  Kendall's  Santa  Fe  Expedition,  Vol.  I  p.  398. 

If  we  don't  come  out  in  force,  and  do  things  open  and  above  board,  we  '11  have 
a  tall  fight  with  the  gang.  — A  Stray  Yankee  in  Texas,  p.  129. 


692 


TAL— TAN 


The  gineral  found  the  next  day  a  sight  o'  gold  pieces  and  a  whole  pot  full  o' 
the  tallest  kind  o'  jewels  —  The  Yankee  among  the  Mermaids. 

Ohio  warn't  any  great  shakes  twent}'  years  ago;  but  let  me  tell  you,  stranger, 
it  had  a  mighty  big  pile  of  the  tallest  kind  of  land  layin'  around  waitin'  to  be 
opened  up  to  the  sunlight.  — Hammond,  Wild  Northern  Scenes,  p.  211. 

The  live  sucker  from  Illinois  had  the  daring  to  say  that  our  Arkansaw  friend's 
stories  smelt  rather  tall  —  Thorpe,  Big  Bear  of  Ai-hansas. 

2.  Finely;  exceedingly;  highly;  very  much.  Western. 

I  will  walk  tall  into  varmint  and  Indian  :  it's  a  way  I 've  got,  and  it  comes  as 
natural  as  grinning  to  a  hyena.  I 'm  a  regular  tornado,  tough  as  hickory,  and 
long-winded  as  a  nor'-wester.  —  Thorjye's  Backwoods,  p.  131. 

I  seed  Jess  warn't  pleased;  but  I  didn't  estimate  him  very  tall,  so  I  kept  on 
dancin'  with  Sally,  and  ended  by  kissin'  her  good-by,  and  making  him  jealous 
as  a  pet  pinter.  —  Robb,  Squatter  Life. 

Tallow-Dip.  A  tallow  candle,  made  by  dipping,  in  distinction  from 
one  made  in  a  mould. 

Tamal  or  Tamauli.  A  peculiar  Spanish- American  dish,  made  up  of 
a  paste  of  crushed  or  ground  maize,  sometimes  with  minced  meat 
added,  when  it  is  wrapped  in  the  husks  of  maize  and  baked  on 
the  coals. 

The  mountebanks  draw  a  crowd,  and  this  attracts  a  few  sellers  of  whiskey, 
tortillas,  and  tamaules,  making  a  ruddy  picturesque  group.  —  Olmsted's  Texas. 

Tamarack.       See  Hackmatack. 

Tammany.  A  term  assumed  by  a  branch  of  the  Democratic  party  m 
the  State  of  New  York,  sometimes  called  St.  Tammany.  It  comes 
from  an  Indian  chief  of  the  Delaware  tribe  named  Tamendy,  or 
Tammenund.  He  was  distinguished  among  his  people.  Early  in 
life,  he  lived  near  the  Delaware,  whence  he  moved  beyond  the 
Alleghanies  and  settled  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio.  When  he  be- 
came old,  he  called  a  council  to  have  a  successor  appointed,  after 
which  the  residue  of  his  life  was  passed  in  retirement.  Why  his 
name  was  chosen  by  the  Democracy  is  not  known.  —  Wheeler'' s 
Noted  Names  of  Fiction.  Tammany  Hall  was  a  well-known  place 
where  the  party  bearing  the  name  met  for  many  years. 

The  Americans  sometimes  call  their  tutelar  saint  "  Tamendy,''''  a  corruption  of 
the  name  of  the  renowned  chief  here  introduced.  There  are  many  traditions 
which  speak  of  the  character  and  power  of  Tamenund.  —  Cooper. 

Tangent.  To  fly  off  on  a  tangent.  To  make  a  sudden  or  unexpected 
movement;  to  act  erratically.    Xew  England. 

Tangenty.  Inclined  or  liable  to  move  off  erratically.  "  Tangenty 
ministers,"  said  of  ministers  leaving  their  congregation.  —  The 
Congregationalist. 


TAN— TAP 


693 


Tangle-Foot.    One  of  the  Western  figurative  terms  for  whiskey. 

A  thirsty  Vermonter  hitched  his  horse  to  a  freight-car  standing  on  a  side  track, 
while  he  proceeded  leisurely  toward  a  neighboring  saloon  in  quest  of  tan yle-foot. 
Hartford  Courant,  March  17,  1871. 

Tangle-Leg.    1.  Whiskey. 

Gum-tickler  and  chain-lightning, 
Eye-brightener  and  leg-tangler, 
And  scores  of  other  compounds  known 
To  each  'cute  bar-room  dangler. 

[London]  Punch,  July  26,  1862. 
2.  A  straggling  shrub,  also  called  a  hobble-hush,  which  see. 

Tan-Toaster.    A  great  gale  or  tempest  is  so  called  at  the  Isles  of 
Shoals,  Maine.  —  Thaxter,  Isles  of  Shoals. 

Tapioca.  A  substance  much  used  in  the  United  States  for  puddings 
and  other  culinary  purposes.  It  is  extracted  from  the  manioc  (Ja- 
tropha  manihot),  a  shrub  indigenous  to  tropical  America,  and, now 
cultivated  from  Florida  to  Magellan.  It  is  said  that  an  acre  of 
manioc  will  nourish  more  persons  than  six  acres  of  wheat.  Its 
roots  attain  the  size  of  the  thigh.  Every  part  of  the  plant  is  filled 
with  a  milky  juice,  which  is  a  very  violent  and  dangerous  poison, 
producing  death  in  a  few  minutes,  when  swallowed;  yet  human 
ingenuity  has  converted  its  roots  into  an  article  of  food.  This  is 
done  by  grinding  them  in  wooden  mills,  after  which  the  paste  is 
put  into  sacks,  and  exposed  to  the  action  of  a  powerful  press.  The 
poisonous  juice  is  thereby  extracted,  and  the  residue  is  the  sub- 
stance known  as  cassava  or  mandioca,  a  nutritious  flour,  preferred 
by  the  natives  to  that  from  wheat.  W^hen  kept  from  moisture, 
this  flour  will  keep  good  for  fifteen  or  twenty  years.  The  tapioca  is 
made  by  separating  from  the  fibrous  part  of  the  roots  a  small  quan- 
tity of  the  pulp,  after  the  juice  is  extracted,  and  working  it  by 
hand  till  a  thick  white  cream  appears  on  the  surface.  This,  being 
scraped  off  and  washed  in  water,  gradually  subsides  to  the  bottom. 
After  the  water  is  poured  off,  the  remaining  moisture  is  dissipated 
by  a  slow  fire,  and  the  substance  being  constantly  stirred  gradually 
forms  into  grains  about  as  large  as  those  of  sago.  This  is  the  purest 
and  most  wholesome  part  of  the  manioc.  — Encyc.  Americana. 

To  be  on  one's  Taps  is  to  be  on  one's  feet,  literally  on  one's  soles;  on 
the  move,  or  ready  to  move.  A  metaphor  borrowed  from  the  shoe- 
maker. 

Your  editor,  when  times  are  dull,  must  be  "o«  his  taps,'"  as  the  saying  is. 
When  the  mail  comes  through  and  brings  news  enough  to  make  things  look 
lively,  why  then  he  must  work  and  cut  and  paste  as  though  the  world  depended 
on  him.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune, 


694 


TAR— TAV 


Tar-Kiln.  A  conical  heap  of  wood  made  and  burned  for  obtaining 
tar.    North  Carolina.    See  Box. 

Tarnal.    A  New  England  corruption  of  eternal. 

Whate'er  he  tries,  it  is  his  rule, 

If  once  he  fail  to  reach  the  "gool," 

To  rate  himself  a  "  tarnal  fool. 

By  golly !  "  —  Yankee  Philosophy. 

Tarve.  (Old  English,  torce,  twisted;  Lat.  torvus.)  A  turn,  bend, 
curve. 

I  can't  say  much  for  your  axe,  stranger,  for  this  helve  has  no  tarve  to  it ;  but, 
such  as  it  is,  down  must  come  this  elm. —  Cooper,  Oak  Oj)emn(/8. 

Tattler.  The  popular  name  of  several  species  of  Totanus.  The  species 
most  common  in  New  England  are  the  "  Yellowshanks  "  or  "  Yellow 
Legs,"  and  the  "  Redshanks,"  both  of  which  are  called  by  sports- 
men sometimes  "plover,"  sometimes  "snipe."  The  bird  best 
known  as  "  Tattler  "  is  the  "Greater  Yellowshanks  "  or  "  Telltale," 
Totanus  melanoleucus  (Gemelin  and  Vaillant).  The  "  Lesser  Yellow- 
shanks "  (more  common)  is  T.  Jiavipes ;  the  "Wood  Tattler"  or 
"  Solitary  Tattler"  is  T.  soUtarius  (Wilson  and  Audubon). 

Sand-snipe  and  grass-snipe  (so  called  in  the  West)  are  not  snipe,  but  some  sort 
of  tattlers  or  sand-pipers.  They  resemble  the  plover,  but  are  smaller,  or  only  the 
size  of  a  true  snipe.  —  Bogarclus,  FieU,  Cover,  and  Trap  Shootiny,  p  166. 

Taunton  Turkeys.  The  common  herring,  of  which  large  quantities 
are  taken  near  Taunton,  Massachusetts.  Comp.  Albany  Beef  and 
Marhlehead  Turkeys. 

Our  fisheries  o'er  the  world  are  famed, 

The  mackerel,  shad,  and  cod ! 
And  Taunton  turkeys  are  so  thick, 

We  sell  them  by  the  rod !  —  Allin,  Yankee  Ballad. 

Tautaug  or  Tautog.  (Tautoga  Americana.)  The  name  of  the  Black- 
fish  caught  in  the  waters  of  Rhode  Island.  It  is  an  Algonkin 
Indian  word,  and  may  be  found  in  Roger  Williams's  Key  to  the 
Indian  Language,  where,  however,  he  calls  it  the  Sheepshead,  which 
is  an  entirely  different  fish.  In  New  York,  it  is  called  Black-fish, 
from  the  color  of  its  back  and  sides. 

For  blue-fish  merely,  nothing  can  be  as  good  as  Edgartown.  For  blue-fish, 
bass,  and  tautog  altogether,  Seconnet  is  better.  —  Daniel  Webster,  PHvate  Cor., 
Vol.  I.  p.  339. 

Tavern.  A  house  licensed  to  sell  liquors  in  small  quantities,  to  be 
drank  on  the  spot.  In  some  of  the  United  States,  tavern  is  synony- 
mous with  "  inn  "  or  "hotel,"  and  denotes  a  house  for  the  enter- 
tainment of  travellers,  as  well  as  for  the  sale  of  liquors,  licensed  for 
that  purpose.  —  Webster.  ^ 


TAV— TEE 


695 


Tavern-Keeper.    One  who  is  licensed  to  sell  liquors  to  be  drank  in 

his  own  house,  and  to  entertain  travellers  and  lodgers,  together  with 
the  horses  and  oxen  composing  their  teams.  —  Webster. 

Tawkee.  The  Orontium  aquaticum  (Golden  Club) :  so  called  by  tlie 
Indians  of  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  who  used  its  root  for  food. 
The  name  was  adopted  by  the  Swedes.  Otherwise  written  Taivkim 
and  Tackuim. — Kalm^s  Travels,  Yo\.  I.  p.  389.    See  Tuckahoe. 

To  tax.  To  charge;  as,  "What  will  you  tax  me  a  yard  for  this 
cloth?  "  i.  e.,  what  will  you  charge  for  it,  or  what  is  the  price  of  it? 
New  England. 

Job  Clark  was  a  wonderful  pious  pedlar,  and  wouldn't  take  advantage  of  a 
minister  of  the  gospel.  He,  therefore,  in  tradin'  with  the  clergy,  only  taxed  his 
goods  at  half  price.  —  Widow  Bedott  Pajjers,  p.  218. 

Team.  He 's  a  ichole  team,  or  a  full  team,  are  slang  expressions  of 
admiration,  meaning  he  is  a  person  of  great  abilities  and  energy. 
See  Whole  Team. 

Tea-Fight.    A  tea-party. 

To  tear.    To  drag;  to  pull  along. 

He  tenrs  along  behind  him  a  sleigh,  .  .  .  furnished  with  an  ancient  and  frag- 
mentary buffalo,  which  serves  for  robe  and  cushion  both.  — Bnsted,  The  Upper 
Ten  Thousand,  p.  17. 

Tear-Coat  or  Tear-Blanket.  (Often  pron.  Tar-coaf  in  the  West.)  The 
Arabia  spinosa,  or  Angelia  tree,  so  called  because  its  prickles  tear 
the  coats  of  hunters,  or  the  blankets  of  the  Indians,  in  passing. 
To  tear  round.    To  make  a  fuss;  to  create  a  disturbance. 

The  swell  with  a  spring  style  hat  on 
Is  the  bloody  chief  Powhatan, 
And  John  Smith  is  the  gent  whose  head  he 's  going  to  cave. 
But  the  lofty  chief's  fair  daughter 
Told  her  Pa  he  hadn't  oughter; 
And  the  way  she  tore  around  induced  him  to  behave. 

W.  F.  Brown,  Capt.  Smith  and  Pocahontas,  1867. 

Tea-Squall.    A  not  over-respectful  name  for  a  tea-party. 
Teeter.    See  Peet-  Weet. 

To  teeter.  1.  To  see-saw  on  a  balanced  plank,  as  children  for  amuse- 
ment. —  Worcester.    The  English  write  and  pronounce  titter. 

2.  To  bob  the  body  up  and  down,  as  in  saluting  a  person  or  taking 
a  seat. 

With  a  few  fashionable  phrases  in  your  noddles,  a  face  barbarously  brutalized, 
a  ridiculously  genteel  apparel,  and  a  most  audacious  assurance, — you  tip  and 
teeter  about,  thinking  that  you  excite  the  aduiiratiou  of  all,  but  of  the  ladies  iu 
particular.  —  Bow's  Sermons,  Vol.  I.  p.  184. 


696 


TEE— TEL 


Teeth.  "  He  ought  to  have  his  teeth  drawn;  "  i.  e.,  he  should  be  de- 
prived of  the  power  of  doing  mischief. 

Teeth- Ache.  An  attempted  improvement  in  the  way  of  accuracy  on 
the  word  tooth-ache.    So  "  teeth-brush." 

Teetotaciously.  A  strange  Western  term,  meaning  a  little  more  than 
teefotalhj,  if  such  a  thing  be  possible. 

He  was,  by  !    I  won't  swear,  'cause  it's  wicked;  but,  if  he  wasn't,  I  hope 

to  be  teetotaciously  chawed  up !  —  Western  Adventures,  N.  Y.  Spiiit  of  the 
Times. 

Teetotaller.  One  who  entirely  abstains  from  the  use  of  spirituous 
and  fermented  liquors.  The  term  w^as  first  used  in  England  in 
1832. 

I 'm  a  man  that  will  never  refuse  to  take  a  glass  of  grog  with  a  fellow-citizen 
because  he  wears  a  ragged  coat.  Liberty  and  Equality,  I  say.  Three  cheers 
for  liberty  and  equality,  and  down  with  the  teetotallers! — Clavers,  Forest  Life, 
Vol.  II.  p.  39. 

Teetotally.    Entirely;  totally. 

The  meetin'  houses  on  one  side  of  the  water,  how  teetotally  different  they  be! 
Sam  Slick  in  England,  ch.  12. 

Stranger,  I 'rn  powerful  sorry,  but  we're  teetotally  out:  he  took  every  bit  of 
food  with  him.  —  Carlton's  Neio  Purchase,  Vol.  II.  p.  245. 

Things  weren't  going  on  right ;  so  I  pretty  nearly  gave  myself  up  teetotally  to 
the  good  of  the  republic.  —  J.  C.  Neal,  Peter  Brush. 

I  wouldn't  have  you  think  that  I  am  teetotally  opposed  to  dancing  in  every 
shape,  for  the  reason  that  I  used  to  heel  and  toe  it  a  trifle  myself,  when  young. 
Bow's  Sermons,  Vol.  I. 

Telegram.    A  despatch  by  the  electro-telegraph. 

We  claim  this  as  an  American  M'ord,  it  having  been  first  sug- 
gested and  its  adoption  urged  as  early  as  the  year  1852.  To  the 
"  Albany  Evening  Journal  "  belongs  the  credit  of  the  first  sugges- 
tion of  the  term,  that  paper  having,  on  the  6th  April,  1852,  pub- 
lished the  following,  which  emanated  from  Mr.  E.  Peshine  Smith, 
of  Rochester :  — 

A  New  Word.  —  A  friend  desires  us  to  give  notice  that  he  will  ask  leave,  at 
some  convenient  time,  to  introduce  a  new  word  into  the  vocabulary.  The  object 
of  this  proposed  innovation  is  to  avoid  the  necessity,  now  existing,  of  using  two 
words,  for  which  there  is  very  frequent  occasion,  when  one  will  answer.  It  is 
Telegbam,  instead  of  Telegraphic  Despatch  or  Telegraphic  Communication. 
The  word  is  formed  according  to  the  strictest  laws  of  the  language  from  which 
its  root  comes.  Telegraph  means  to  write  from  a  distance ;  Telegram,  the  Avriting 
itself,  executed  from  a  distance.  Monogram,  Logogram,  &c.,  are  words  formed 
upon  the  same  analog}^  and  in  good  acce})tation.  Our  friend,  moreover,  says 
that  the  House  Line,  if  disposed  to  be  precise,  should  call  their  communications 
Teletypes,  as  they  are  printed,  not  written.  In  a  generous  spirit  of  toleration, 
he  proposes  no  action  upon  the  last  suggestion ;  but  as  to  everybody  else,  except 


TEL 


697 


the  employers  and  customers  of  the  House  Line,  he  would  have  them  "held  and 
firmly  bound"  to  speak,  write,  print,  and  telegraph  Telegram,  instead  of  any 
two  words  signifying  the  same  thing,  under  penalty  of  being  considered  verbose 
and  tedious. 

Immediately  after  this,  probably  from  the  suggestion  in  the 
"  Albany  Journal,"  there  appeared  in  the  "  Daily  American  Tele- 
graph," published  in  Washington,  on  the  27th  of  April,  1852  (a 
copy  of  which  we  have  seen),  the  following  from  the  editor,  Mr. 
Thomas  Connolly :  — 

Telegram.  —  Telegraph  means  to  write  from  a  distance ;  Telegram,  the  writing 
itself  executed  from  a  distance.  Monogram,  Logogram,  &c.,  are  words  formed 
upon  the  same  analogy,  and  in  good  acceptation.  Hence,  Telegram  is  the 
appropriate  heading  of  a  telegraphic  despatch.  Well,  we  '11  go  it.  Look  to  our 
heading. 

The  telegraph  despatches  in  the  same  paper  were  accordingly 
given  under  the  heading  of  Telegrams,  and  the  heading  continued 
for  some  time ;  but,  the  suggestion  not  being  followed  by  the  press, 
it  was  dropped. 

In  discussing  the  origin  of  the  term  in  England,  the  London 
"Notes  and  Queries,"  of  Nov.  21,  1857,  asserts  that  it  was  used 
both  in  Liverpool  and  London  four  years  before.  But,  even  admit- 
ting the  correctness  of  this  assertion,  — for  it  is  only  an  assertion,  — 
the  date,  it  will  be  perceived,  falls  a  year  and  a  half  short  of  the 
earlier  American  use  of  it. 

Telegramic.  Appertaining  to  telegrams.  An  effort  was  made  to 
introduce  this  word,  but  it  is  now  seldom  heard. 

It  is  just  in  this  connection  that  we  should  mention  the  service  rendered  to  us 
and  our  readers  by  our  telegramic  and  general  correspondents  at  Washington.  — 
New  Orleans  Delta. 

Telephone.  A  speaking  telegi'aph  or  instrument  by  which  vocal 
and  musical  sounds  are  transmitted,  the  invention  of  Professor  A. 
Graham  Bell,  of  Boston. 

The  two  following  verses  are  from  "  An  old  Man's  Ballad"  by 
John  H.  Yates,  entitled  "Blue  Glass  and  Telephones,"  which 
appeared  in  the  "  Rochester  Chronicle,"  March,  1877:  — 

I  '11  tell  them  [our  children],  —  I  '11  not  write  it,  my  old  hands  tremble  so,  — 
Nor  will  I  telegraph  it,  that's  old  style  now,  you  know; 
I  '11  telephone  it  all  the  way,  then  they  can  sit  and  hear 
The*poor  old  voice  they  haven't  heard  in  many  a  weary  year. 

Well,  what  about  the  Telephones^   That 's  harder  to  explain  : 

You  sit  within  a  little  room,  and  talk,  or  sing  a  strain, 

And  men  a  thousand  miles  away  can  hear  the  word  and  tune, 

And  tell  you  what  you  're  singing,  good  old  "  Mear  "  or  "  Bonny  DooJi.'* 


698 


TEL— TEN 


The  term  has  ab-eady  become  a  noun,  a  verb,  an  adjective,  and 
adverb. 

It  will  be  something  to  say  that  one  saw  the  first  public  telephonic  exhibition 
in  Boston,  when  telephony  was  merely  a  scientific  curiosity.  —  Boston  Transcript. 

In  addition  to  the  singers  announced  for  the  telephone  entertainment,  .  .  .  Mr. 
E.  will  sing  sev^eral  favorite  pieces  telephonically  from  the  intermediate  station. 
P rovidence  Jouimal. 

To  telescope.  A  term  applied  to  railway  cars  in  case  of  a  collision, 
when  one  car  enters  another  and  passes  through  it,  as  a  telescope 
closes.  Dr.  O.  W.  Holmes,  in  a  poem  entitled  "  How  not  to  settle 
it,"  read  to  the  Harvard  Class  of  '29,  on  the  4th  Jan.,  1877,  thus 
alludes  to  the  Presidential  contest  and  the  mode  of  settling  it  by 
Congress :  — 

"  They  fought  so  well,  not  one  was  left  to  tell 

Which  got  the  largest  share  of  cuts  and  slashes ; 
When  heroes  meet,  both  sides  are  bound  to  beat; 
They  telescojjed  like  cars  in  railroad  smashes. 

Tell.  1.  A  saying;  generally,  however,  a  good  one,  or  a  complimentary 
one.  A  young  lady  will  say  to  another,  "  I 've  a  tell  for  you,"  i.  e. 
I 've  a  compliment  for  you,  or  I  have  heard  some  one  speak  highly 
of  you.    Not  elegant. 

2.  According  to  their  tell ;  i.  e.,  "As  they  say." 

When  the  news  got  out  that  I  was  sick,  lots  of  folks  came  to  see  me,  .  .  and 
every  one  would  name  my  disease  by  some  new  name.  I  told  Josiah  that, 
accordin'  to  their  tell,  I  had  got  every  disease  under  the  sun,  unless  it  was  the 
horse-distemper.  —  Betsy  Bobbet,  p.  101. 

In  his  dealings  with  the  other  sex,  he  is  a  little  twistical,  according  to  their  tell. 
Humphreys,  The  Yankee  in  England. 

To  tell.  To  tell  one  good-by  is  the  Southern  phrase  for  to  bid  one 
good-by.    "  Before  I  leave  town,  I  will  come  and  tell  you  good-by." 

To  tell  on.    To  tell  of;  to  tell  about.  Vulgar. 

"Well,"  says  the  Gineral,  "I  am  glad  I  didn't  understand  him,  for  now  it 
stumps  me  considerable.  Major,  who  was  that?  "  "Why,"  says  I.  "  Gineralj 
he  is  the  son  of  a  man  I 've  heard  you  tell  on  a  thousand  times."  —  Major  Down- 
iny's  Letters,  p.  29. 

To  tend,  for  to  attend. 

Most  of  the  passengers  in  the  cars  were  preachers  what  had  been  up  to  Augusta 
to  tend  the  convention.  —  Major  .Tones' s  Travels. 

To  tend  out.  To  attend ;  to  be  attending  in  a  place  distant  from  that 
where  the  person  usually  is. 

An  auction  sale  is  advertised  in  our  columns  to-day,  to  take  place  in  Hartford. 
.  .  .  Country  merchants  should  tend  out.  —  The  Winsted  Herald. 


TEN— TER 


699 


Tendsome.  Requiring  much  attendance;  as,  "  A  tendsome  child."  — 
Webster.    This  word  is  used  in  Connecticut. 

Tenement  House.  In  the  city  of  N'ew  York,  a  house  let  to,  or  occu- 
pied by,  a  number  of  tenants. 

Ten-Pins.  Laws  having  been  passed  against  the  establishment  of 
"  nine-pin  alleys,"  the  name  and  the  number  of  pins  were  at  once 
changed. 

Ten-Strike.  A  knocking  down  of  the  ten-pins  at  one  throw  <)f  a  ball; 
a  thorough  work. 

You  can  rely  upon  ih^  fact  that,  whenever  he  [General  Sigel]  sets  the  ball  in 
motion,  he  will  make  a  ten-strike.  —  Baltimore  Cor.  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Ten  up.  The  phrase  used  at  the  Stock  Exchange  in  New  Y^'ork,  when 
a  broker's  ability  to  keep  his  contract  is  questioned.  It  means  that 
a  deposit  of  ten  per  cent  on  the  selling  value  of  the  stock  bid  for 
must  be  put  up  before  the  contract  can  hold  good.  — Medbery. 

Tepees.    The  lodges  or  tents  of  the  Indians  of  the  Far  West. 

Before  the  Indians  could  get  out  of  their  tepees,  the  fire  was  down  on  them. 
.  .  .  Some  sixty  tepees  were  consumed.  —  Philadelphia  Press. 

Large  quantities  of  ammunition,  especially  powder,  were  stored  in  the  tepees, 
and  explosions  followed  the  burning  of  every  tent. — N.  Y.  Tribune,  Report  of 
the  Biy  Horn  Expedition,  April  4,  1876. 

Wken  civilization  becomes  nearer  [the  Black  Hills],  the  pine  maybe  useful  for 
rough  lumber  and  fuel;  but  now  and  for  a  long  time  to  come  its  only  use  seems 
to  be  that  known  to  the  Lidians,  —  for  poles  to  uphold  their  tepees  on  the  prairie. 
Rept.  of  the  Com.  of  Indian  Affairs  for  1874,  p.  405. 

Terawchy.  This  word  is  evidently  of  Dutch  origin,  and  would  seem 
to  be  te  ratje,t\\Q  little  rat,  an  equivalent  for  the  term  "creep- 
mouse,'  '  w^hich  is  used  in  a  like  manner.  It  is  a  A^ery  common  word  in 
the  nursery,  and  is  always  accompanied  by  a  peculiar  motion  of  the 
fingers,  with  the  palm  of  the  hand  presented  to  the  child.  It  is  as 
well  known  among  the  old  English  families  of  New  York  as  among 
those  of  Dutch  descent. 

Terrapin.  (Palustris.)  A  name  given  to  a  species  of  tide- water  tor- 
toise, common  in  Connecticut  and  the  Atlantic  States  south  of  New 
York,  and  considered  an  article  of  luxury.  It  is  found  exclusively 
in  the  salt  water,  and  always  in  the  neighborhood  of  marshes.  The 
most -celebrated  is  the  diamond-back  ;  there  are  also  the  yellow-bellies ^ 
red-bellies,  lofjer-heads,  .muff-boxes,  &c. 

Campanius,  in  his  vocabulary  of  New  Sweden,  gives  tulpa^ 
turpa,^^  a  tortoise;  Rasles,  for  the  Abenaki,  has  toarebe,''  tortue. 
Eliot,  from  the  same  base,  writes  toonuppas-og,  for  tortoise 


700 


TER— TEX 


(Lev.  xi.  29).  *'  Terrapin  "  is  clearly  a  corrupt  form  of  the  Algon- 
kin  name. 

A  small  kind  of  Turtle,  or  Tarapins  (as  we  call  them).  — Beverly's  Viryinia 
1722,  p.  351. 

Of  Terebins,  there  are  clivers  sorts. — Lawson's  Nat.  Hist,  of  Carolina  (1709), 
p.  133. 

I  have  caught  with  mil  e  angle  Pike,  Carpe,  Eele,  .  .  .  Creafish,  and  the  ro^'o^^e 
or  little  Turtle.  —  Whitaker,  Good  Newts  from  Virginia  (1623),  p.  42. 

Terret.  A  ring  through  which,  set  on  a  little  standard  (or  in  tandem- 
driving  on  the  headstall),  passes  one  of  the  reins  by  which  a  horse 
is  driven.  New  England.  Bailey  in  his  Dictionary  gives  Tyerets^ 
ornaments  for  horses. 

Territory.  A  large  district  of  country  belonging  to  the  United  States, 
though  not  forming  a  part  of  any  individual  State,  and  under  a 
temporary  government.  — Worcester. 

Tesquite.  An  alkaline  efflorescence  of  considerable  value,  which  ex- 
udes from  the  earth  around  many  of  the  lakes,  ponds,  and  marshy 
grounds  in  New  Mexico,  California,  and  Arizona.  (Natron,  Carb. 
of  Soda.)    See  Alkali  Desert. 

Test-Paper.  A  paper  or  instrument  shown  to  a  jury  as  evidence.  A 
term  used  in  the  Pennsylvania  courts.  Called  also  a  "standard 
paper."  — Burr'dVs  Law  Die. 

To  tew.    To  fuss  and  fret. 

Tew  round.  To  tew  round  is  to  spend  time  over  one's  household 
affairs  without  accomplishing  any  thing;  to  be  busy  without  doing 
any  thing.  In  the  north  of  England,  tew  means  to  labor ;  to  work 
hard.    See  Putter. 

Texan  Hare.    See  Jackass  Rabbit. 

Texas.  The  third  story,  so  called,  of  a  Mississippi  steamboat.  It 
includes  the  surroundings  of  the  pilot-house,  the  whole  "upper 
story  "  of  the  vessel. 

The  boiler  deck,  the  hurricane  deck,  and  the  texas  deck  are  fenced  and  orna- 
mented with  white  railings.  —  Mark  Twain.,  in  Atlantic  Monthly,  for  Jan.,  1875. 

His  companion  joined  him,  pausing  a  minute  on  the  step-ladder  which  leads  to 
the  pilot-house  from  the  roof  of  the  texas.  —  E.  E.  Hale,  Adv.  of  a  Pullman, 
p.  45. 

Texas-Tender.  The  waiter  who  attends  passengers  on  the  upper  deck 
or  texas  of  the  Mississippi  steamboats. 

We  had  a  tidy,  white-aproned,  black  texas-tender  to  bring  up  tarts  and  ices 
and  coffee  during  mid-watch  day  and  night.  —  Mark  Twain,  in  Atlantic  Monthly, 
Feb  ,  1875. 


THA— THI 


701 


Thanksgiving  Day.  A  day  set  apart  once  a  year  (usually  in  the 
month  of  November),  by  the  Governors  of  States,  for  a  general 
thanksgiving  to  God  for  blessings  enjoyed.  The  custom  originated 
among  the  Puritans  of  New  England,  where,  as  a  season  of  social 
festivities  and  family  reunions,  it  has  almost  wholly  usurped  the  place 
of  Christmas. 

E'en  the  ghosts  of  Thanhs-day  turkeys 

Wander  in  the  fields  around, 
Waking  up  the  midnight  echoes 

With  a  frightful  gobHiri'  sound. 
Wm.  Boyd,  Oakwood  Old,  Camh-idye  [Mass.]  Chronicle,  1857. 

Thank-ye-Ma'ams.  Hollows  or  depressions  in  a  road,  with  low  heaps 
of  earth  or  snow  dug  or  thrown  from  the  hollows.  Sometimes  they 
are  caused  by  depressions  made  to  carry  off  water.  In  winter,  when 
there  is  deep  snow,  these  hollows  are  made  by  sleighs.  The  plung- 
ing and  rising  of  passing  vehicles  causes  the  rider  to  bend  his  body 
with  every  rise  and  fall;  hence,  the  term  of  thank-ye-ma^arns.  See 
CaJiot. 

The  softening  of  so  great  a  body  of  snow  renders  the  roads  slumpy  and  full 
of  thank-ye-ma' ams,  so  that  sleighing  is  not  a  blissful  experience  just  now. 

That  is  constantly  used  for  so  in  Pennsylvania;  as,  "I  was  that  tired." 

The.    American  speakers  and  writers  very  commonly  use  the  definite 

article  in  the  French  manner,  and  contrary  to  the  genius  of  the 

English  language,  before  the  names  of  diseases. 

There  would  be  nothing  questionable  in  the  report  that  De  Soto  died  of  typhus 
feA^er,  or  some  similar  malady,  if  another  account  did  not  ascribe  his  death  to  the 
dysentery,  —  Willmer's  Life  of  De  Soto,  p.  505. 

There.  (Pron.  ^^ar.)  On  the  spot;  on  hand;  at  home.  Western.  The 
author  of  "  A  Stray  Yankee  in  Texas,"  in  speaking  of  this  use  of 
the  word,  says:  "  A  man  who  accepts  an  invitation  to  a  frolic  or  a 
fight,  a  wedding  or  a  funeral,  probably  answers,  I 'm  thar.  A  per- 
son wishing  to  imply  that  he  is  perfectly  at  home  in  any  thing  says 
he  is  thar ;  a  good  hunter  or  fisher  is  also  thar.'''' 

Thimble-Berry.  {Ruhus  occidentalis.)  The  Black  Raspberry,  so 
called  by  many  from  the  naked  receptacle,  which  has  the  shape  of 
a  thimble.    In  some  districts,  the  red  raspberry  is  so  called. 

Thimble- Weed.  (Rwlbeckia.)  A  tall  plant,  six  or  eight  feet  high, 
resembling  the  sunflower.  It  is  one  of  the  herbs  prepared  by  the 
Shakers,  and  is  used  in  medicine  for  its  diuretic  and  tonic  proper- 
ties.   Like  the  Thiinble-berry,  its  receptacle  resembles  a  thimble. 

Thin-skinned.  Exhibiting  while  seeming  to  conceal;  accidentally 
ineffective;  shallow;  purposely  deceptive ;  hypocritical. 


702 


THI— THO 


The  Cnesars  were  divine  while  they  lived,  .  .  .  their  apotheosis  after  death 
was  a  thin-skinned  travesty:  the  Romans  honored  the  live  gods, but  left  the  dead 
ones  to  look  out  for  themselves.  —  iV.  Y.  Tribune,  May  8,  1877. 

Thirds.  "The  widow's  thirds."  Dower.  In  law,  the  portion  of  a 
man's  real  estate  which  his  widow  is  entitled  to  hold  during  her 
natural  life.  The  term  is  quite  as  common  as  dower.  Middleton 
used  it  in  the  same  sense. 

This  here  and  that  there.  These  vulgar  pleonasms  are  often  heard 
in  this  country  as  well  as  in  England. 

This  yere  is  the  common  pronunciation  in  the  South. 

^-l^.^r^t      ;    "n  III  .7 

Thomsonian  Doctor.  A  physician  who  follows  the  Thomsonian  prac- 
tice; also  called  Steam-doctor. 

Thomsonian  System.  A  peculiar  treatment  of  diseases,  so  named 
from  its  inventor,  Samuel  Thomson,  a  native  of  Alstead,  New 
Hampshire,  who  died  at  Concord,  in  that  State,  in  1840,  aged  56 
years.  The  medicines  are  labelled  from  Xo.  1  to  10,  and  are  com- 
pounds of  Cayenne  pepper,  lobelia,  &c.  His  followers  have  dis- 
carded much  that  he  adopted,  and  are  now  known  as  Eclectic  or 
Botanic  physicians. 

Thorny-Locust.    See  Honey-Locust. 

Thoroughfare.  A  low  gap  between  mountains;  as,  "  Thoroughfare 
Gap,"  in  Fauquier  County,  Virginia.  "  Thoroughfare  Mountain." 
Southern. 

Thoroughwort.    Another  name  for  Boneset,  which  see. 

I  kinder  mistrusted  our  Tirzah  Ann  had  fallen  in  love  with  Shakspeare  Bobbet, 
but  I  thou,2;ht  of  Betsy.  .  .  .  Well,  I  gave  her  a  good  thoroughioort  puke,  and  it 
cured  her.  —  Betsy  Bobhet,  p.  328. 

Thousand  of  Brick.  Like  a  thousand  of  brick  is  a  queer  simile  very 
often  heard.  It  means,  of  course,  very  heavily,  like  brick  dumped 
out  of  a  cart;  and  then  vigorously,  vehemently. 

A  huge  negro  woman  threw  herself  convulsively  from  her  feet,  and  fell  like  a 
thousand  of  brick  across  a  diminutive  old  man.  —  Simon  Suggs. 

The  new  "Yankee  Doodle,"  by  George  P.  Morris,  created  an  immense  noise. 
Nobody  could  sit  still ;  hands  and  feet  came  into  the  chorus  of  their  own  accordj 
and  the  house  was  down  "  like  a  thousand  of  brick.' ^  —  New  York  paper. 

I  see  he  was  gettin'  riled  some,  and  I  thought  he 'd  bile  over.  You  see  that 's 
the  way  with  us  Western  folks.  If  folks  is  sassy,  we  walk  right  into  'em  like  a 
thousand  of  brick. —  Mrs.  Clavers,  Forest  Life,  Vol.  I.  p.  109. 

Sweet  is  the  melting  fall  of  music,  but  not  such  music  as  nightly  comes  down 
upon  us  like  a  thousand  cf  bricks  from  the  balconies  of  museums,  nor  such  as  we 
sometimes  hear  at  the  onera.  —  Dow's  Sermons,  Vol  I.  p.  201. 


THR— TIC 


703 


So  I  pitched  into  Doodle  like  a  thousan'  of  brick. 
Mayhap  it  warn't  proper  to  do  it  —  on  tick  ; 
But  John  Bull  is  almight}',  he  '11  see  I  am  paid, 
And  my  cargo  of  cotton  will  break  the  blockade. 

The  London  Times  on  Ameiican  Affairs. 
To  thrap.    (Fr.  f rapper.)    To  strike,  especially  with  some  pliable 

article,  as  a  strap. 
Through  is  used  in  the  West  for  swathe,  or  the  cut  of  the  cradle 
through  grass  or  grain.    Like  "  swathe,"  it  is  also  used  figuratively; 
as,  "  What  a  through  he  cut!  "  i.  e.  what  a  swell! 
Through  the  Mill.    A  person  is  said  to  have  been  through  the  mill 

when  he  has  had  experience  in  a  particular  thing. 
To  throw  in.    To  contribute;  as,  "  I  '11  throw  in  for  a  pony  race." 
Thunder.    Vigor;  efficiency;  eclat. 

Whatever  thunder  there  can  be  in  the  present  Southern  policy  [of  President 
Hayes],  it  is  not  the  thunder  of  those  Republicans  who  oppose  it.  —  Cor.  'N.  Y. 
Tribune. 

Thundering.  Very;  exceedingly.  A  vulgar  colloquialism,  used  both 
in  England  and  in  this  country. 

Lord  Hervey,  in  his  "Memoirs  of  the  Court  of  George  II.," 
mentions  Queen  Caroline's  indignation  at  the  infliction  of  a  "  thun- 
dering  long  sermon." 

I  was  told  that  Faneuil  Hall  was  called  the  "cradle  of  liberty."  I  reckon  old 
King  George  thought  they  were  thundering  fine  children  that  were  rocked  in  it, 
and  a  good  many  of  them.  —  Crockett,  Tour  down  East.  p.  61. 

If  a  chap  only  comes  from  the  North,  and  has  got  a  crop  of  hair  and  whiskers, 
and  a  coat  different  from  everybody  else,  and  a  thunderin''  great  big  gold  chain 
about  his  neck,  he 's  the  poplerest  man  among  the  ladies.  — Major  Jones's  Court- 
ship, p.  82. 

Ticket.  1.  Politically,  it  means  a  printed  list  of  candidates  to  be  used 
at  an  election.  According  to  circumstances,  a  man  is  said  to  vote  the 
straight  ticket,  i.  e.  the  ticket  containing  the  "  regular  nomination  " 
of  his  party  without  change ;  a  scratch  ticket,  a  ticket  from  which  the 
names  of  one  or  more  of  the  candidates  are  erased;  a  split  ticket,  a 
ticket  representing  different  divisions  of  his  party;  or  a  mixed  ticket, 
a  ticket  in  which  the  nominations  of  different  parties  are  blended 
into  one. 

2.  A  "hard  ticket,^^  a  man  whom  other  people  had  better  let 
alone ;  an  unscrupulous  man  to  deal  with. 
Tickler.  L  A  common  name  among  merchants  and  bankers  for  a 
book  in  which  a  register  of  notes  or  debts  is  kept  Cor  reference;  also, 
for  a  book  in  which  the  daily  balance  of  cash  is  entered,  by  the 
cashier  or  teller. 


704 


TIC— TIG 


2.  A  small  pocket  flask  in  which  to  carry  liquor. 

Then  he  took  out  a  tickler  of  whiskey ;  and,  arter  he 'd  took  three  or  four 
swallows  out'n  it,  says  he,  "Oblige  me  by  taking  a  horn." — Southern 
Sketches,  p.  33. 

Tick-Nation.    A  name  given  to  regions  in  which  ticks  abound;  and, 

as  the  grasses  and  sandy  soil  infected  by  them  are  peculiar  to  the 
poorer  parts  of  the  country,  it  is  sometimes  used  as  a  term  of 
i-eproach. 

Tiddlies.  Boys  say,  "run  tiddlies,"  i.  e.  run  over  ice  after  it  has 
begun  to  break  up  on  a  sheet  of  water.    See  Bendolers,  Addenda. 

Tidy,  n.  A  cover,  usually  of  ornamental  work,  for  the  back  of  a  chair, 
the  arms  of  a  sofa,  and  the  like.  —  Webster. 

From  the  old  English  word  "  tide,"  meaning  time,  as  eventide, 
and  closely  connected  with  the  German  zeit.    So  tidy  is  zeitig, 
timely  or  seasonable.  —  Smith,  Curious  Derivations,  p.  97. 
Tusser  uses  the  word  in  this  sense,  as:  — 

If  weather  be  fair  and  tidy,  thy  grain 
Make  speedily  carriage,  for  fear  of  a  rain. 

Husbandry,  for  March,  (1573). 

To  tidy  up.    To  put  things  in  order,  or  make  them  neat,  as  in  a 
dwelling-house.  —  Webster. 
I  have  tidied  and  tidied  over  again,  but  it 's  useless.  —  Dickens. 

Tie.  1.  The  state  produced  by  an  equal  number  of  votes  on  two  oppo- 
site sides.  —  Wo7'cester. 

2.  A  pair  that  are  alike;  a  match.  "  Them  two  hogs  is  a  fie." 
Western. 

To  tie  to.  In  Western  phraseology,  a  man  who  "  will  do  to  tie  to^^  is 
one  who  can  be  relied  upon,  an  honest  man. 

To  tie  up.  To  make  fast,  as  a  vessel  or  steamboat.  An  expression 
peculiar  to  the  West. 

"It's  foggy  to-night,"  said  the  captain,  "and  you'd  best  run  the  boat  till 
nine,  and  then  tie  «/)." 

"  Tie  her  up  !  "  says  Jim.  "  I  tie  her  up  in  a  horn !  Do  you  reckon  I  can't 
run  her  in  such  a  fog  as  this  ?  No,  sir!  I  '11  keep  her  a  bilin'  till  my  watch  is 
up,  and  then  I  '11  tie  uj),  as  you  're  afeard  to  run.  —  Major  Bunkum,  N.  Y.  Spirit 
of  the  Times. 

Tie  Vote.  An  equality  in  the  number  of  votes  given  for  two  candi- 
dates, by  which  neither  party  is  elected  to  the  office  for  which  the 
votes  are  given. 

Tiger.  In  1822,  the  Boston  Light  Infantry,  under  Captain  Mackintosh 
and  Lieutenant  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  visited  Salem  and  encamped  in 


TIG 


705 


Washington  Square;  and  during  their  stay  a  few  of  the  members  in- 
dulged in  sports  incidental  to  camp  duty,  when  some  visitor  exclaimed 
to  one  who  was  a  little  rough,  ' '  Oh,  you  Tiger !  "  It  became  a  catch- 
word, and  as  a  term  of  playful  reproach,  "  You  're  a  Tiger,"  was 
adopted  as  one  of  the  peculiar  phrases  of  the  corps.  On  the  route 
to  Boston,  some  musical  genius  sung  an  impromptu  line,  "  Oh,  you 
Tigers,  don't  you  know,"  to  the  air  of  "  Rob  Roy  McGregor,  oh!  " 
Of  course,  the  appellation  soon  induced  the  Tigers  by  name  to  imitate 
the  actions  of  the  Tiger;  and  the  "  growl  "  was  introduced,  and  at 
the  conclusion  of  three  cheers  "a  tiger  "  was  invariably  called  for. 

In  1826,  the  Infantry  visited  Xew  York,  being  the  first  volunteer 
coi*ps  to  make  a  trip  from  this  city  to  another  State ;  and,  while  there, 
the  Tigers  at  a  public  festival  awoke  the  echoes  and  astonished  the 
Gothamites  by  giving  the  genuine  howl.  It  pleased  the  fancy  of 
the  hosts,  and  gradually  it  became  adopted  on  all  festive  and  joyous 
occasions ;  and  now  ' '  three  cheers  and  a  tiger ' '  are  the  insepara- 
ble demonstrations  of  approbation  in  that  city.  —  Boston  Evening 
Gazette. 

Tiger-Cat.    See  Ocelot. 

To  fight  the  Tiger  is  to  gamble. 

Tight.  1.  Close;  parsimonious;  saving;  as,  "A  man  tight  in  his  deal- 
ings." Close;  hard;  as,  "  A  bargain." —  Webster.  To  these 
American  uses  of  the  word  is  to  be  added  another  similar  to  the 
last.  When  money  is  difficult  to  be  procured  by  discounting,  &c., 
business  men  say,  "The  money  market  is  tight, or  "Money  is 
tight.^^    In  this  sense,  it  is  the  opposite  of  easy,  which  see. 

The  Deacon  was  as  tight  as  the  skin  on  his  back;  begrudged  folks  their  victuals 
when  they  came  to  his  house  —  Widow  Bedott  Pajyers,  p.  30. 

The  money  market,  except  on  the  best  stocks,  is  getting  tight,  and  there  is  a 
general  calling  in  of  loans  upon  the  "fancies."  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

2.  Tipsy;  drunk.  Used  mostly  at  the  South.  The  question  has 
been  asked,  "  Can  a  man  be  considered  a  loose  character  who  comes 
home  tight  every  night  ?  " 

It's  kinder  discouragin'  to  lend  a  fellow  that  gets  tight  a  good  deal, — gets 
tight  sometimes,  any  how;  it 's  hard  enough  to  get  paid  by  folks  that  always  keep 
straight.  —  Habbertm,  The  Barton  Experiment,  p.  126. 

Tight  Match.  A  close  or  even  match,  as  of  two  persons  wrestling  or 
running  together. 

Tight  Place.  To  be  in  a  tight  place  is  to  be  in  straits,  to  be  short  of 
money. 

45 


706 


TIG— TIN 


Tight  Scrouging,  i.  e.  hard  squeezing.    Said  of  any  thing  difficult  to 

accomplish,  —  Sherwood'' s  Georgia. 
Tight  Squeeze.    A  difficulty. 

It 's  a  tiyht  squeeze  sometimes  to  scrouge  between  a  lie  and  the  truth  in  busi- 
ness. —  Sam  Stick,  Human  Nature,  p.  217. 

Tile.    Cant  term  for  a  hat. 

If  they  did  not  yet  farther  make  the  mistake  of  leaving  in  his  hall  a  well-worn 
tile  in  the  place  of  a  new  beaver.  —  N.  Y.  Observer. 

Tilly.    "  Easy  as  tilli/,^"  i.  e.  very  easy. 

Tilt.    1.  The  black-necked  Stilt  (Hiinantopus  nigricollis),  a  small  bird 
found  on  our  shores;  the  Sand-piper,  also  called  a  Tilt-up.  See 
Lawyer,  No.  1. 
2.  A  see-saw. 

Tilter.    Used  as,  and  probably  shows  the  origin  of,  Teeter^  1.  To  see- 
saw on  a  plank.    In  common  use  in  Eastern  Massachusetts. 
Tilt-up  or  Tip-up.    The  popular  name  of  the  Sand-piper.    See  Peet- 

Weet. 

Timber.    Throughout  the  West  and  South,  this  term  is  applied  to 
.    woodland.    A  man  going  into  the  woods  will  tell  you  he  is  going 
into  the  timber. 

After  proceeding  half  a  mile  into  the  timber,  we  were  suddenly  brought  to  a 
stand  by  the  dense  undergrowth.  —  A  Stray  Yankee  in  Texas. 

Timbered  Lands.  Land  covered  with  wood;  forests.  Land  well- 
timbered  means  land  covered  with  large  trees. 

Along  the  coast  of  Texas,  as  in  the  country  west  of  Harrisburg,  there  stretches 
a  prairie  of  from  ten  to  twenty  miles  before  reaching  the  timbered  hotiom-lands. 
Guide  to  Western  Texas,  p.  5. 

Timberheels.    A  headlong  fellow  careless  in  walking. 

Time.    1.  "  What  time  are  you?  "  means.  What  o'clock  is  it? 

2.  "I've  had  a  good  time,^^  i.  e.  I  have  enjoyed  myself.  "I 
went  to  the  ball,  and  had  a  good  time."  A  spree.  "  They  went 
on  a  ^tme,"  i.  e.  they  had  a  spree.  "  A  high  old  f/me,"  or  debauch 
of  the  first  class. 

Timothy.  (Phleum  pratense.)  The  common  name  for  the  Herd's 
Grass;  said  to  be  derived  from  Timothy  Hanson,  one  of  its  early 
propagators.  —  Bigeloiu^s  Flora  Bostoniensis. 

Tinaja.  (Span.,  pron.  tindha.)  The  word  signifies,  primarily,  a  large 
earthen  water-jar,  and  is  applied  on  the  Mexican  frontier  to  water- 
holes  or  cavities  in  rocks  on  the  sides  of  mountains,  where  water 
accumulates.  These  are  filled  during  the  rainy  season,  and  are  the 
chief  or  only  dependence  of  travellers  for  water  at  other  times. 


TIN— TIT 


707 


Permanent  water  is  fonnd  under  a  cleft  of  igneous  rocks,  and  does  not  properly 
deserve  the  name  of  a  spring,  but  is  rather  a  tinaja  supplied  by  water  trickling 
through  the  rocks  from  water-holes  above.  —  SchotVs  Obs.  on  the  Country  along 
the  Mexican  Boundai-y,  p.  69. 

Eight  of  these  tinajas,  one  above  the  other,  the  highest  too  difficult  to  reach 
[are  found  here] ;  as  the  Avater  is  used  from  the  lower  ones,  you  ascend  to  the 
next  higher,  passing  it  down  by  means  of  buckets.  —  Lieutenant  Michler's  Report, 
Mexican  Boundary,  p.  114. 

Tin  Blickey.    (Putch,  blik,  tin.)    In  New  York,  a  tin  pail. 

Tinker.    A  small  mackerel.    New  England. 

Tinner.  A  workman  who  makes  utensils  of  tinned  iron  plates ;  a  tin- 
plate  worker. 

Tipple.  Intoxicating  liquors.  Any  "fancy  drink"  is  a  tipple. 
"  I 've  got  a  new  tipple,"  said  a  liquor-dealer  to  a  regular  customer. 

"VVhj'-  not  send  them  brandy  in  bombs  ?  and  Old  Wlieat  under  a  flag  of  truce  ? 
Why  not  drop  a  bottle  of  tipple  into  their  camps  from  our  balloons  —  N.  Y. 
Tribune. 

Tippybobs.    A  contemptuous  term  for  the  wealthy  classes. 
Tipsinah.    The  wild  prairie  turnip,  used  as  food  by  the  North-western 
Indians. 

Tipteering.    A  mincing  gate  in  walking. 

When  you  see  a  gentleman  tipteerinrj  along  Broadway,  with  a  lady  wiggle- 
wagging  by  his  side,  and  both  dressed  to  kill,  you  may  say  that  he  looks  out  for 
himself  and  takes  care  of  A.  No.  1.  — Bow's  Ser7no7is,  Vol.  I.  p.  208. 

Tip-top.  The  very  highest  part;  the  best  of  any  thing;  excellent;  of 
the  best  quality.  The  building  on  the  summit  of  Moimt  Washing- 
ton is  called  "The  Tip-top  house."  "These  are  the  best  goods 
made  in  the  countiy.    They  are  tip-top.''^ 

Tip-up.    See  Peet-Weet. 

Tisanne.    (Fr.)  A  decoction  of  spruce-tops,  for  "  purifying  the  blood." 

Province  of  Quebec. 
Tithing-Man.    In  New  England,  a  parish  officer  appointed  to  preserve 

order  at  public  worship,  and  enforce  the  proper  observance  of  the 

Sabbath.  —  Worcester. 
Greater  men  than  Uncle  Eliakim  had  to  give  up  before  the  sovereign  power 

of  a  laugh,  and  ere  long  he  resigned  the  office  of  tithiny-man  as  one  requiring  a 

sterner  metal  than  he  possessed.  —  Mrs.  Stowe,  Oldtmon  Folks,  ch.  v. 

To  titivate.  To  dress  up.  "  To  titivate  one's  self  "  is  to  make  one's 
toilet.    Colloquial  in  the  north  of  England. 

Well,  I'll  arrive  in  time  for  dinner;  I'll  titivate  myself  up,  and  down  to 
drawin'-room.  — Sam  Slick  in  England,  ch.  23. 

The  girls  are  all  so  titivated  off  with  false  beauty,  that  a  fellow  loses  his  heart 
before  he  knows  it.  — Dow's  Sermons,  Vol.  I.  D.  151. 


708 


TIT— TOB 


Titter.  An  eruption  on  the  skin.  This  is  merely  another  pronuncia- 
tion of  tetter.  It  is  used  in  New  England,  and,  according  to  Forby, 
is  provincial  in  England. 

To.  1.  For  at  or  in.  An  exceedingly  common  vulgarism  in  the 
Northern  States.  We  often  hear  such  barbarous  expressions  as, 
"He  lives  to  York;"  "  He  wan't  to  hum  "  {i.  e.  at  home),  while 
the  opposite  mistake  of  in  for  into  is  hardly  less  frequent. 

I  have  forgot  what  little  I  learnt  to  night-school ;  and,  in  fact,  I  never  was  any 
great  shakes  at  it.  —  Sam  Slick. 

When  is  charity  like  a  top  ?    When  it  begins  to  hum.  —  Baltimore  Sun. 

The  boiler,  instead  of  going  upward,  moved  in  a  horizontal  hue,  passed  through 
the  main  building  directly  through  the  weaver's  room,  without  injuring  the  work- 
men there,  although  men  were  to  work  on  each  side  of  where  the  boiler  passed.  — 
Home  Sentinel,  Sept.,  1858. 

2.  To,  as  the  sign  of  the  infinitive,  is  sometimes  improperly 
omitted,  particularly  in  such  expressions  as  Meet  days,  Sing  nights, 
Help  make.  Help  transact;  instead  of  "help  to  make,"  "help  to 
transact,"  &c. 

We  found  the  medical  student  at  his  lodgings,  sitting  at  a  table  in  the  middle 
of  a  very  disorderly  apartment,  making  believe  [to]  eat  a  late  breakfast.  —  Put- 
nam''s  Magazine,  May,  1854. 

Toad-Fish.  (Batrachus  varie flatus.)  This  repulsive  creature,  and 
fisherman's  pest,  is  called  also  "Oyster-Fish"  on  the  New  Jersey 
coast,  from  its  frequenting  the  oyster-beds,  and  "  Grubby  "  on  the 
coast  of  New  England. 

Toad-Grunter.    The  toad-fish,  so  called  from  the  noise  it  makes. 

Toad-Sticker.  A  term  for  a  sword,  almost  universal  among  our  sol- 
diers during  the  late  war. 

Tobacco.  (W.  Ind.  tahago  or  tobacco,  a  cigar  or  pipe.)  An  Ameri- 
can plant,  the  dried  leaves  of  wliich  are  used  for  smoking,  chewing, 
and  for  making  snuff.  The  more  common  varieties  cultivated  in 
the  United  States  are  Hudson,  Frederick,  Thickjoint,  Shoestring, 
Thickset,  Sweet-scented,  Orinoko,  &c.  Among  the  host  of  names 
given  to  it  according  to  the  various  modes  in  which  it  is  prepared 
for  chewing  are:  Pigtail,  Ladies'  Twist,  Cavendish,  Honey-dew, 
Negro-head  (pron.  Nigger-head),  Long  Cut,  Short  Cut,  Bull's  Eye, 
Plug,  Fig,  Oronoko  Leaf,  Nail-rod  or  32's,  Roll,  Fine  Spun,  Pound, 
Lone  Jack,  &c.  There  is,  besides,  smoking  tobacco,  put  up  in  papers 
of  various  kinds,  as  Kanaster,  Kite-foot,  Cut-stems,  &c.    In  the 


TOB 


709 


form  of  snuff  there  are  also  many  terms  for  it,  as  Maccoboy,  Rappee 
(American  and  foreign,  named  after  the  places  it  is  manufactm-ed 
in),  American  Gentleman,  Demigros,  Pure  Virginia,  Copenhagen, 
Nachitoches,  Bom^bon,  St.  Domingo,  Scotch,  High  Toast,  Irish 
Blackguard,  Irish  High  Toast,  &c. 

Tobacoo-Box.     A  small  fresh-water  fish,  called  also  Sunfish  and 

Pumpkin- Seed. 
Tobacco-Root.    See  Kooyali-Root. 

Tobogan  or  Tarbogan.  A  sleigh  or  sledge  used  in  Canada  and  by 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  drawn  by  dogs  used  for  travelling  over 
snow,  made  of  thin  boards  ten  or  twelve  feet  long,  and  from  twelve 
to  fifteen  inches  broad.  These  are  cut  thin  at  one  end,  about  three 
feet  of  which  is  bent  over,  lashed  and  covered  with  raw  hide  to  keep 
it  in  place.  Inside  of  this  curve,  the  voyageur  carries  his  kettle.  The 
dogs  attached  to  the  sleigh  are  generally  decorated  with  collars  from 
which  bead-work  and  tassels  are  suspended,  together  with  a  string 
of  small  bells.  Dall  says  they  are  used  in  Alaska,  and  gives  repre- 
sentations of  them.  — Alaska  and  its  Resources,  p,  165.  Hind,  who 
calls  them  carioles,  says  they  are  used  by  the  voyayeurs  of  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company.  —  Red  River  Exploring  Expedition,  Vol.  1. 
p.  84.  Smaller  ones,  from  five  to  eight  feet  in  length,  are  also  used 
in  Canada  for  sliding  down  hill  over  the  snow. 

The  tobogan  will  turn  in  front  to  the  side  on  which  you  press  your  hand.  To 
steer  one  going  down-hill  at  top  speed  needs  nerve  and  experience.  Weighted 
with  two  or  three  riders,  gaining  in  speed,  it  seems  to  fly  along  like  a  highway 
comet  as  it  flashes  past  you,  .  .  .  and  your  blood  curdles  in  your  veins  at  the 
seeming  recklessness  of  the  occupants.  .  .  .  Strap  a  dyspeptic  to  a  toboyan  on 
one  of  our  Canadian  hills,  .  .  .  and  I  would  stake  my  life  that  I  should  either 
scare  away  or  cure  blue  devils  and  dyspepsia.  —  Canadian  Spoi'ts  in  Scribner^s 
Monthly  for  Aug.,  1877,  p.  523. 

The  following  is  from  a  poem  by  Wm.  Boyd,  entitled  "  Swartzen, 
an  Imaginary  Montreal  Fur- Advertisement,"  1865.  Many  words 
in  common  use  in  Canada  will  be  found  in  the  extract. 

Wouldst  thou  purchase 

Moccasins  from  Indian  wigwam. 
Black  or  yellow,  plain  or  quill-worked, 
Or  galoshed  with  India-rubber; 
Aboriginal  toboyynn, 
Excellent  for  coasting-party. 
Or  for  elk  or  red-deer  hunter; 
Yengee  sled  or  roomy  traineau, 
For  the  boys  from  big  to  little, 
For  the  girls  from  teens  to  tiny; 


710 


TOB— TOM 


Snow-shoes  for  suburban  ramble, 
Or  for  tramp  around  the  Mountain, 
Or  for  chasing  in  the  forest,  — 

Go  to  Swartzen,  famous  furrier, 
Chapelier  renowned,  immortal,  — 
Swartzen  of  the  changing  seasons. 
Spring  and  summer,  autumn,  winter. 

Montreal  Transcnpt,  1865. 

Toboganing.  Sliding  down  hill  over  the  snow  on  a  tobogaii,  a  favor- 
ite amusement  in  Canada.  In  New  England,  called  Coasting,  which 
see. 

Tobogganing  is  one  of  the  favorite  winter  amusements  on  the  Mountain. 
Toboggan  has  not  yet  found  its  way  into  the  dictionaries,  and  there  are  other 
ways  of  spelling  it;  and  it  ma}^  be  defined  as  a  pliable  board  turned  up  at  both 
ends,  and  used  for  coasting  down  the  hills  of  Canada.  —  Montreal  Cor.  Provi- 
dence Journal,  July  2,  1877. 

Quaint  old  Quebec  is  fit  for  toboganing  wherever  you  go.  But  one  of  the  most 
unique  rides  is  down  the  ice-cone  of  Montmorency  Falls.  —  Canadian  Sports, 
Scribner's  Monthly,  Aug.,  1877. 

Toboganist.  One  who  indulges  in  the  amusement  of  sliding  down  ice- 
hills  on  a  tobogan. 

The  ice-cone  of  Montmorenc}'  Falls,  seven  miles  from  Quebec,  is  a  great  resort 
for  the  toboganists  in  winter.  — Scribner,  as  above. 

Tod.    Rum,  or  any  alcoholic  beverage. 

Toddy-Blossom.    See  Rum-Bud. 

To  toe  in.    To  turn  in  the  toes. 

To  toe  the  Mark.  A  phrase  borrowed  from  the  prize-ring,  and  mean- 
ing to  come  up  to  one's  obligations. 

To  tole.  To  draw  or  cause  to  follow,  by  presenting  something  pleas- 
ing or  desirable  to  view ;  to  allure  by  some  bait.  —  Webster. 

We  apply  this  old  English  word  only  to  the  alluring  of  animals. 
Thus,  in  New  England  the  farmers  tole  sheep,  and  cause  them  to 
follow,  by  holding  to  them  a  measure  of  corn  or  some  fodder.  In 
the  Middle  States,  wild  ducks  are  toled  within  gun-shot,  by  causing 
a  little  dog  to  run  up  and  down  behind  a  brushwood  fence,  which 
excites  their  curiosity. 

Tom.  A  wooden  trough  used  by  the  California  minei'S  for  w^ashing 
what  is  known  as  "pay-dirt."  Tom  stream  refers  to  the  quantity 
of  water  used  in  the  trough  or  torn. 

Tomahawk.    (Algonkin  Ind.  tomehagen.)    An  Indian  hatchet  or  axe. 
It  was  and  is  the  custom  of  the  Indians  to  go  through  the  cere- 
mony of  burying  the  tomahawk,  when  they  made  peace;  when  they 


\ 


TOM— TOO 


711 


■went  to  war,  they  dug  it  up  again.  Hence,  the  phrases  "to  hmy 
the  toiHcihawk,^'  and  "  to  dig  up  the  tomahaick^^^  are  sometimes  used 
by  political  speakers  and  writers  with  reference  to  the  healing  up 
of  past  disputes  or  the  breaking  out  of  new  ones.    See  Hatchet. 

A  great  surly-Iook'd  fellow  took  up  his  Tomhog^  or  wooden  Cutlash,  to  kill  Mr. 
Church,  but  some  others  prevented  him.  —  Church's  Philip's  War  (1716),  p.  24. 
Fierce  the  tight  and  short, 
As  is  the  whirlwind.    Soon  the  conquerors  ^ 
And  conquered  vanished,  and  the  dead  remain 
Mangled  by  tomahaivks.  —  Bryant,  The  Fountain. 

romato.  1.  (Mexican, /o/?ia^/.)  The  well-known  fruit  of  the  Lyco- 
persicum  esculentum,  formerly  called  love-apples. 

2.  The  Winter-cherry  sometimes  so  called,  and,  specifically, 
Cherry-Tomato. 

Tombs.  A  name  commonly  given  to  the  New  York  city  prison,  in 
allusion  to  its  heavy  Egyptian  style  of  architecture. 

Tombs  Lawyer.  A  lawyer  whose  clients  are  the  inmates  of  the  New 
York  city  prison.    A  contemptuous  term.    See  Shyster. 

Tom-Cod.  {Morrhua  pruinosa.)  A  small  fish  common  to  our  coast, 
but  which  becomes  very  abundant  after  the  first  frost;  hence  the 
xiame  of  Frost-Fish,  by  which  it  is  also  known.  —  Storer,  Fishes  of 
Massachusetts. 

Dr.  J.  V.  C.  Smith  believes  the  torn-cod  to  be  the  same  as  a  fish 
known  in  Europe  as  the  tacaud  of  Cuvier,  and  that  torn-cod  is 
a  corruption  of  the  Indian  name  tacaud,  i.  e.  plenty-fish,  as  this 
little  fish  was  well  known  to  our  aborigines.  Mr.  Trumbull,  of 
Hartford,  who  is  the  best  authority  on  Indian  words,  assures  us 
that  he  knows  no  such  word  as  tacaud  in  any  aboriginal  language 
east  of  the  AUeghanies. 

The  Hull  merchant  came  under  the  frigate's  stern,  and  volunteered  to  go  and 
catch  some  tom-cod.  —  Lieut.  Wise,  Scampavies,  p.  19. 

The  face  of  the  mermaid  was  regular  human,  and  it  looked  rather  tawn}'  and 
flabby  like  a  biled  nigger,  with  fleshy  eyes,  and  a  mouth  like  a  huge  tom-cod.  — 
Story  of  the  Mermaid. 

Tom-Dog.  Male  dogs  as  well  as  cats  take  the  prefix  "tom,"  in 
some  parts  of  the  West.    "  Them  tom-dogs  howls  awful  to-night." 

Tongs.  A  name  for  pantaloons  and  roundabouts,  formerly  in  use  in 
New  England. 

Children  were  playing  on  the  green,  the  bo3-s  dressed  in  tongs ;  some  in  skirt- 
coats,  &c.  —  Margaret,  p.  34. 

Tonnage-Car.    A  railway  car  for  the  conveyance  of  freight 

Toot.       On  a  toot,^^  i.  e.  on  a  spree. 


712 


TOO— TOR 


Toothache  Bush.  (Xanthoxylum  fraxineum.)  Prickly  Ash;  so  called 
from  its  pungent  properties,  made  sensible  when  applied  to  an 
aching  tooth. 

Toothache  Grass.  {Monocera  aromatica.)  A  singular  kind  of  grass 
which  grows  in  Florida,  with  a  naked  stalk  four  feet  high.  It 
affects  the  breath  and  milk  of  cows,  which  eat  it  when  young  and 
tender.    Tj|||B  root  affects  the  salivary  glands.  —  WiUia/ns^s  Florida. 

Tooth-Carpenter.    A  dentist. 

Too  Thin.    Too  plain  or  evident.    The  deception  is  "  <oo  thin,^'  i.  e. 

too  apparent.    Often  expressed  by  the  letters  T.  T.     See  Too  Thin 

to  w(i:-:h,  in  Addenda. 

Tooting-Tub.    A  puritanical  term  for  a  church-organ. 

I've  heard  they 're  subscribing  around  for  an  org-an  !  Yes,  an  organ  !  What 
on  earth  will  they  do  next?  That  ever  I  should  live  to  see  a  Popish  tootin'-tub 
stuck  up  in  our  gallery !  —  Brooke,  Eastford,  p.  22. 

Toozer  or  Twozer.    A  marble. 

Tophet.  Defined  originally  as  the  place  of  abominations,  the  very 
gate  or  pit  of  hell;  hence,  boys  used  to  say,  "  I  '11  see  you  in  Tophet 
before  I'll  do  it,"  meaning  that  they  will- see  one  in  a  very  bad 
place.    "  Go  to  Tophet,''''  go  to  the  devil. 

The  "  Stockton  Independent,"  says  Captain  Weber  took  the  Secession  flag 
from  his  flagstaff,  which  he  found  floating  on  Sunday  morning,  put  it  into  his 
cannon,  fired  it  off,  and  blowed  it  to  Tojihet,  and  then  gave  three  cheers  for  the 
Union. 

Top-Notch.    The  highest  point. 

To-day  the  editor  of  the  "Union"  is  cheered  to  the  very  top-notch  of  joyous 
exultation  by  a  speech  from  some  Democratic  orator  or  a  paragraph  from  some 
Democratic  editor;  to-morrow  he  is  horrified  by  the  atrocious  sentiment  of  some 
rantipole  Barnburner. Y.  Com.  Adv.,  Oct.  16,  1848. 

Top  Sawyer.  The  man  at  the  upper  end  of  a  whip-saw;  hence,  a 
man  of  great  consequence;  an  "upper-crust  "  fellow.  Western. 

Tore.  Taw-er,  the  place  where  the  taw-er  stands.  The  place  where 
one  stands  to  shoot  marbles  from.    Used  by  the  boys  of  New  York. 

Tormentation.    Pain;  torment;  trouble.    New  England. 

Tormented.    Euphemism  for  damned,  as  "  not  a  tormented  cent." 

Tortilla.  (Spanish.)  The  well-known  large,  round,  thin  cake  pre- 
pared from  a  paste  made  of  the  soaked  grains  of  maize,  having  the 
hulls  rubbed  off  before  grinding  the  mass,  and  then  baked  on  an 
earthen  griddle.    See  Hulled  Corn. 

The  corn  for  the  tortillas  is  soaked  with  a  little  ashes  in  the  water,  until  the 
outer  husk  or  shell  is  peeled  off,  when  it  is  ground  upon  an  oblong  stone  called 
a  "metate,"  a  domestic  utensil  handed  down  from  the  aboriginal  inhabitants. 


TOR— TOT 


713 


The  meal  is  then  properly  mixed  and  seasoned,  and  cooked  upon  small  sheets  of 
iron  and  copper.  They  are  baked  very  thin,  and  always  served  up  hot.  — Davis, 
El  Grinyo^  p.  34:1. 

Hearing  a  continual  slap,  slap,  slap,  I  looked  round  and  saw  a  woman  kneeling 
upon  the  ground,  rubbing  the  metate,  while  a  pretty  girl  was  slappuig  a  tortilla 
between  her  hands.  —  Olmsted^ s  Texas. 

A  triangular  piece  of  tortilla  is  converted  into  a  spoon,  and  soup  is  even  eaten 
in  this  way.  Spoons  are  seldom  met  with  even  in  the  houses  of  the  ricli,  the 
use  of  the  tortilla  being  universal.  —  Ruxlon's  Adv.  in  Mexico,  p.  145. 

Tory.  During  the  v^ar  of  the  Revolution,  this  term  was  applied  to  the 
royalists.  Some  years  ago,  v^hen  the  term  "  Wliig  "  was  adopted 
by  one  of  our  political  parties,  that  of  Tory  was  given  to  the  Dem- 
ocratic party.    It  is  not  now  applied  to  any  party. 

It  was  said  that  the  tories  were  arming  and  collecting  in  the  Highlands,  under 
the  direction  of  distinguished  officers,  to  aid  the  conspiracies  formed  by  Gov. 
Tryon  and  his  adherents.  — Irving.,  Life  of  Washinyton,  Vol.  H.  p.  371. 

Tote.  (Fr.  tout,  Lat.  totus.)  The  whole;  all.  "  The  whole  a 
common  pleonasm.    Provincial  in  England  and  in  New  England. 

To  tote.  To  carry.  A  queer  word,  much  used  in  the  Southern 
States.  It  has  been,  absurdly  enough,  derived  from  the  Latin  tollit, 
but  is  more  probably  of  African  origin.  A  friend  learned  in  phil- 
ology insists  that  the  word  is  from  the  Latin  toUere. 

The  militia  had  everlastin'  great  long  swords  as  much  as  they  could  tote.  — 
Major  Jones's  Courtship,  p.  39. 

Here  a  boy  was  ferociously  cutting  wood,  —  there  one  toting  wood.  —  Carlton, 
The  New  Purchase,  Vol.  I.  p.  167. 

The  watchman  arrested  Mr.  Wimple  for  disturbing  the  peace,  and  toted  him 
off  to  the  calaboose.  — Pickings  from  the  N.  0.  Picayune,  p.  120. 

My  gun  here  totes  fifteen  buckshot  and  a  ball,  and  slings  'em  to  kill.  —  Chron. 
of  Pineville,  p.  169. 

"Goodness  gracious!"  said  old  Miss  Stallins,  "white  servants!  Well,  the 
Lord  knows  I  wouldn't  have  none  on  'em  about  me.  I  could  never  bear  to  see  a 
white  gall  toatin''  my  child  about,  and  waitin'  on  me  like  a  nigger :  it  would  hurt 
my  conscience."  —  Major  Jones's  Travels. 

De  'possum  and  de  coon  are  as  sass}'  as  you  please, 
Since  all  de  blooded  dogs  were  toted  off  by  fleas; 
De  measles  toted  oft  all  de  cunnin'  little  nigs, 
An'  de  sojers  ob  de  army  hab  toted  off  de  pigs. 

Negro  Melodies,  Come  hack,  Massa. 

To  tote  fair,  in  Texas,  is  to  be  honest  and  upright  in  one's  dealings 
with  people  there,  in  order  to  avoid  a  serious  catastrophe. 

The  predicament  [of  assassination]  in  Texas  can  be  avoided  by  alwa^vs  '■'■tot- 
ing fair''''  with  everybody.  Indeed,  if  you  tote  fair,  you  need  tote  no  weapons; 
that  is,  you  can  go  unarmed.  —  Texas  Cor.  Chicago  Tribune. 

Tote-Load.    As  much  as  one  can  carry.  Southern 


714 


TOT— TOU 


Totem.  A  corruption  from  the  Algonkin  word,  meaning  "  that  which 
peculiarly  belongs  to  him."  The  family  mark  or  coat-of-arms  of 
the  North  American  Indians. 

Speaking  of  the  Iroquois,  Mr.  Schoolcraft  says:  "Nothing  is 
more  fully  under  the  cognizance  of  observers  of  the  manners  and 
customs  of  this  people,  than  the  fact  of  the  entii-e  mass  of  a  canton 
or  tribe  being  separated  into  distinct  clans,  each  of  them  distin- 
guished by  the  name  and  device  of  some  quadruped,  bird,  or  other 
object  of  the  animal  kingdom.  This  device  is  called  among  the 
Algonkins  (where  the  same  separation  into  families  or  clans  exists) 
totem,  and  we  shall  employ  the  same  term  here,  as  being  already 
well  known  to  writers."  —  Notes  on  the  Iroquois,  p.  12G. 

Think  not  that  my  blood  shall  mingle  with  the  humble  mark  of  the  Awasees, 
—  fit  totem  for  fishermen.  —  Schoolcraft,  AUjic  Researches. 

The  Indian  had  made  a  representation  of  a  rattlesnake  drawn  on  his  breast 
with  yellow  paint.  This  was  to  be  the  totem  or  arms  of  his  tribe.  —  Cooper,  Oak 
Ojjeninys,  Vol.  I.  p.  163. 

And  they  painted  on  the  grave-posts 
Each  his  own  ancestral  totem. 
Each  the  symbol  of  his  household. 

Lony fellow.  The  Song  of  Hiawatha. 
Totemic.    Relating  or  belonging  to  the  totem. 

To  show  how  the  aristocratic  and  democratic  principles  were  made  to  harmo- 
nize in  the  Iroquois  government,  it  will  be  necessary  to  go  back  and  examine  the 
law  of  descent  among  the  tribes,  together  with  the  curious  and  intricate  princi- 
ples of  the  totemic  bond.  —  Schoolcraft,  Notes  on  the  Iroquois,  p.  126. 

Tottlish.  (From  tottle,  to  walk  in  an  unsteady  manner.)  Shaking, 
vacillating,  unsteady. 

Our  little  boat  was  light  and  totlish;  and,  as  I  pressed  the  trigger  of  my  rifle, 
it  rolled  slightly  over,  and  my  ball  passed  over  the  deer.  —  Hammond,  Wild 
Northern  Scenes,  p.  207. 

Sir  Walter  Scott  thus  used  the  word  totty  in  the  same  sense :  — 

I  tell  thee,  fellow,  I  was  somewhat  totty  when  I  received  the  good  knight's 
blow,  or  I  had  kept  my  ground  under  it.  —  Ivanhoe,  ch  xxxiii. 

Touch.  "  It  is  no  touch  to  the  other  machine;  "  i.  e.,  it  will  bear  no 
comparison  with  it.  "The  latest  touch,^' — the  most  recent  style, 
or  newest  contrivance. 

The  children  of  Israel  going  out  of  Egypt  with  their  flocks  and  their  little 
ones  is  no  touch  to  it  [i.  e.  the  first  day  of  May  in  New  York].  — Major  Downing^ 
p.  30. 

Touch  and  go.    A  narrow  avoidance  of  a  contrary  result.    "  Nothing 

to  spare."    Comp.  Ruh  and  go. 
Touch-me-not.     (Impatiens.)    A  plant  found  about  brooks  and  in 

moist  places.  —  Alichaux,  Sylva.    A  popular  name  for  the  common 


TOU— TOW 


715 


Balsam,  in  allusion  to  the  bursting  of  its  capsules  when  touched 
with  the  fingers.    It  is  also  called  Jewel-weed. 
Touse.   A  noise  or  disturbance.    A  Dorsetshire  word.    Qovcv^.  Kesouse. 

The  Loch  Katrin  they  [the  Scotch]  make  such  a  touss  about  is  jest  about 
equal  to  a  good  sizable  duck-pond  in  our  country.  —  Sam  Slick  in  Enyland^ 
ch.  30. 

Marm  Lecain  makes  such  an  eternal  towse  about  her  carpets  that  I  haye  to  go 
along  that  eyerlastin'  long  entry,  and  down  both  staircases  to  tlie  door,  to  spit. 
Sam  Slick. 

When  the  rats  rattle  and  kick  up  a  touse, 
'Tis  ominous  always  of  woe  to  the  house. 

Oracles  of  Mrs.  Partington. 
Tow.    That  which  is  towed,  as  a  boat  or  scow. 

Our  progress  has  been  slow  ...  on  account  of  the  heayy  tows  which  some  of 
the  army  steamers  had  to  carry.  —  Report  from  Roanoke  Island,  Feb.,  1862. 

Tow-Boat.  A  vessel  used  exclusively  for  conveying  freight.  Fleets 
of  barges  and  canal  boats,  sometimes  numbering  forty  or  fifty, 
towed  by  a  single  steam-vessel,  are  seen  on  the  Hudson  Kiver. 

Tow-Head.    1.  A  term  applied  to  a  white-headed  urchin. 

First,  do  you  notice  the  girl?  —  the  slim  one  helping  her  mother,  — 
Tough  little  tow-head,  spry  as  a  catamount,  freckled  as  birch-bark ! 

Trowbridfje,  Poems,  The  Emigrant. 

2.  A  white  ripple  or  foam  in  a  river  produced  by  snags  or  other 
obstructions.  Western. 

An  account  of  the  blowing  up  of  a  steamboat  on  the  Mississippi  in 
1858  says :  — 

The  Pennsylvania  drifted  down  about  two  miles  and  a  half,  where,  being 
stopped  by  tow-head,  she  speedily  burnt  to  the  water's  edge. 

3.  On  the  Ohio  River,  the  term  is  applied  to  the  small  tuft-like 
islands,  found  in  such  numbers  about  Blennerhassett  Island. 

The  tow-heads,  as  the  queer  tufts  at  the  end  of  the  cut-offs  are  called,  the  pas- 
sage of  the  boat  through  a  cut-off,  &c.,  ...  all  strange,  keep  the  passengers  on, 
the  look-out.  —  E.  E.  Hale,  Adventures  of  a  Pullman,  p.  80. 

Towhee  Goldhead.    See  Chewink. 

Town.  1.  In  New  England,  it  is  often  used  for  township,  or  a  small 
territorial  district,  whether  densely  or  thinly  inhabited.  —  Worcester. 

2.  The  body  of  legal  voters  within  a  township.  —  Laws  of  New 
England. 

Town  House.  1.  A  house  where  the  public  business  of  the  town  is 
transacted  by  the  inhabitants  in  legal  meeting. —  Webster. 

2.  A  house  in  town  in  opposition  to  a  house  in  the  country.— 
Webster. 

3.  An  almshouse.  Connecticut. 


716 


TOW— TRA 


Town  Meeting.  A  legal  meeting  of  the  inhabitants  of  a  town  for  the 
transaction  of  business.  —  Webster. 

Town  Representative,  Townsman,  Select  Townsman  Seven  Men, 

&c.  "1G36."  The  thirteen  men,  called  on  our  records  the 
"  Towne  Representatives."  This  phrase  has  led  to  the  mistake  of 
supposing  that  such  individuals  were  members  of  the  General 
Court,  instead  of  having  only  the  oversight  of  the  town  affairs. 
Their  number  was  equal  to  that  of  the  colonial  government  here, 
prior  to  the  arrival  of  Winthrop.  It  is  likely  that  they  were 
elected  soon  after  the  Court  of  Assistants  left  Naumkeag  [1629], 
and  that  there  were  as  many  from  that  time  to  the  year  which  heads 
this  paragraph.  Such  authorities  were  twelve  and  seven,  sometimes 
called  "  the  Townsmen,''  "the  Select  Townsmen,"  and  at  others 
"  the  twelve  men  "  and  "the  seven  men,  from  the  former  part  of 
1637  to  1649.  From  the  last  year  to  1654,  they  were,  for  part  of 
that  period,  denominated  selectmen,  and  afterwards  entirely  so 
called."  —  Annals  of  Salem. 

Township.  The  district  or  territory  of  a  town.  In  the  United  States, 
many  of  the  States  are  divided  into  townships  of  five,  six,  or  seven, 
or  perhaps  ten  miles  square,  and  the  inhabitants  of  such  townships 
are  invested  with  certain  powers  for  regulating  their  own  affairs, 
such  as  repairing  roads  and  providing  for  the  poor.  The  township 
is  subordinate  to  the  county.  —  Webster. 

In  Canada  (Province  of  Quebec),  the  districts  or  parts  that  are 
exempt  from  feudal  laws  are  called  townships.    See  Seigniories. 

Tow-Row.    A  noise;  a  racket. 

Track.  The  line  of  a  railroad,  or  rather  between  the  rails.  "  A  man 
walking  on  the  track  was  run  over  and  killed."  A  car  is  said  to 
be  "off  the  track,^^  when  its  wheels  are  off  the  rails. 

Trade.  Medicine;  a  medical  prescription.  A  physician  informs  me 
that  this  use  of  the  word  is  common  in  the  country  parts  of  Rhode 
Island. 

Trail.  1.  Footstep,  track,  left  by  man  or  beast.  "  A  ti-ail  is  a  succes- 
sion of  marks  left  on  the  ground  or  grass  by  any  thing  moving  to  a 
definite  end;  as,  a  trail  of  troops,  an  Indian  trails  a  deer  trails  a 
wagon  trail.  Sign  is  more  or  less  pasitive  that  something  has 
been  present  on  the  ground.  A  trail  is  made  up  of  "  sign;  "  but 
"  sign  "  is,  by  no  means,  a  trail.  Feeding  deer  make  "  sign,"  but 
it  may  be  impossible  to  trail  them.  There  may  be  abundance  of 
sign  in  and  about  an  Indian  camp;  yet  it  may  take  the  keenest  eye 


TRA 


717 


and  closest  scrutiny  to  detect  the  trail  by  which  they  left  it."  — 
Colonel  Dodge,  Plains  of  the  Great  West,  p.  407.    See  Sign. 

Hawkeye  entered  the  water  ;  and  for  near  an  hour  they  travelled  in  the  bed  of 
the  brook,  leaving  no  dangerous  trail.  —  Cooper,  Last  of  the  Mohicans 

2.  An  Indian  footpath  or  road. 

It  was  the  policy  of  the  President  of  Texas  to  open  a  direct  road  to  Santa 
by  a  route  much  nearer  than  the  great  Missouri  ti-ail.  —  KmdalVs  Santa  Fe 
Expedition.,  Vol.  I.  p.  14. 

It  is  suggested  that  the  respective  locations  for  the  Indians  might  be  made, 
apart  from  the  great  Northern  and  Southern  trails,  thoroughfares  of  migration, 
and  the  settlements  limited  within  certain  prescribed  boundaries,  where  the  gov- 
ernment might  protect  them  from  the  encroachments  of  white  men.  —  Report  of 
the  Philadelphia  Committee  at  a  Meeting  in  behalf  of  th  e  Indians,  March  31, 1848. 

Train.  (Fr.  traineau.)  A  peculiar  kind  of  sleigh  used  for  the  trans- 
portation of  merchandise,  wood,  &c.,  in  Canada. 

To  train.  To  carry  on ;  to  act  wild.  Almost  peculiar  to  girls  in  Kew 
England.       She 's  an  awful  one  to  train." 

Trainers.    The  militia  when  assembled  for  exercise. 

The  gentler  sex  partake,  by  sympathy  at  least,  in  the  excitement,  by  running 
after  the  trainers.  —  Mi-s.  Clavers's  Western  Clearings,  p.  28. 

Training-Day.  The  day  when  the  militia  are  called  out  to  be  re- 
viewed. 

Tramp.  A  strolling  vagabond;  men  without  employment  strolling 
about  cities  and  in  the  country,  begging  food,  unwilling  to  work, 
and  often  ready  to  steal.  In  England,  a  tramp  is  a  foot  traveller. 
It  was  believed  that  they  had  some  signs  by  which  they  knew 
where  they  would  be  kindly  received.  The  "  Chicago  Tribune  " 
claims  to  have  been  informed  of  their  signs,  which  are  as  follows:  — 

In  the  language  of  the  tramps,  the  letter  "  H  "  on  the  gate-post  means  that 
the  residents  will  give  the  caller  a  handful  of  grub;  "  S.,"  that  he  will  get  a  seat 
at  the  table;  '*  S.  M.,"  that  he  will  get  a  square  meal  ;  and  "  G.  B.,"  that  he 
will  get  the  "grand  bounce."  Now,  as  the  secret  is  out,  let  every  householder 
hie  himself  to  his  gate-post,  and  dig  in  letters  deep  the  mystic  sign  "  G.  B." 

To  trampoos.  To  tramp.  Perhaps  from  the  Fr.  trepigner,  to  stamp 
with  the  feet. 

I  felt  as  lonely  as  a  catamount,  and  as  dull  as  a  bachelor  beaver;  so  I  tram- 
pousses  off  to  the  stable.  —  Sam  Slick  inEnr/land,  ch.  2. 

So  we  trampoused  along  down  the  edge  of  the  swamp,  till  we  came  to  a  track 
Porter's  Tales  of  the  South-west,  p.  44. 

When  I  get  hum,  I  guess  that  my  narration 
Will  make  some  little  stir  among  the  nation. 
Some  years  ago,  I  laiuied  near  to  Dover, 
And  seed  strange  sights,  tramjioodny  England  over. 

D.  Humphreys,  The  Yankee  in  England 


718 


TRA 


Transient.  A  transient  visitor  is  one  who  stays  a  short  time  at  a 
place.  At  a  hotel  there  is  a  distinction  Vjetween  "  steady  boarders  " 
who  remain  a  length  of  time,  and  the  transient  ones  who  stop  but 
for  a  day  or  two.    In  this  sense,  the  word  is  not  used  in  P^ngland. 

To  transpire.  To  happen.  A  sense  common  in  the  United  States,  but 
not  so  given  in  the  latest  English  dictionaries. 

To  trapes,  trapesing.  Used  in  New  England,  in  a  somewhat  differ- 
ent sense  from  the  English,  "  to  wander  about,"  "  slow,"  "  listless." 
Here  it  commonly  signifies  a  careless,  objectless,  or  lawless  going 
about ;  often  used  as  synonymous  with  ' '  gadding. ' ' 

So  away  goes  lunch,  and  off  goes  you  and  the  "Sir"  a-trampoosin'  and  a 
trapesin''  over  the  wet  grass  agin.  —  Sam  Slick  in  England,  eh.  2, 

It  has  happened  more  than  once  to  Meister  Karl,  during  his  tourifacations, 
trajjesings.  tramps,  trudges,  and  travels,  ...  to  be  thrown  into  many  a  canny 
country  corner  of  New  England.  — Leland,  Meister  KarVs  Skttcli-Bvok,  p,  259. 

Trap-Fishing.  The  trap  for  fishing  is  a  line  to  which  several  baited 
hooks  are  attached  at  intervals,  sunk  and  kept  in  place  by  an  anchor 
and  leads.  This  mode  of  catching  fish  is  now  much  practised  on 
our  coast. 

Traps.    Clothes,  baggage,  and  every  thing  appertaining  to  it. 

We  call  clothes  and  other  tixins  " ira/js "  here,  and  sometimes  "duds"  for 
shortness.  —  Sam  Slick,  Wise  Saws. 

A  cheerful  black  boy  followed  with  their  other  traps,  and  so  they  crossed  to  the 
platform  of  the  through-train.  —  E.  E.  Hale,  Adventures  of  a  Pullm,an,  p.  143. 

Trash.  1.  At  the  South,  poor  people  are  contemptuously  called  trash. 
The  term  is  more  frequently  applied  by  the  Negroes  to  the  poor 
whites;  as,  "  poor  white  /ra.s/«,"  or  "  white  trash.^^    See  White  Trash. 

From  a  poem  called  "  The  Black  Wife's  Testimony  "  is  the 
following,  which  refers  to  a  Negro :  — 

Haggard  and  tall  and  black  was  she ; 

The  kind  of  human  trash 
That  Avas  bred  around  the  sugar-mills 
Ere  freedom  robbed  them  of  "guiding  wills  " 

Of  owner  and  coffle  and  lash.  —  New  York  Evening  Post. 

Shakespeare  thus  applies  the  term  to  a  worthless  person:  — 
I  suspect  this  trash 
To  be  a  party  in  this  injury.  —  Othello,  v.  1. 

2.  The  leaves  of  the  sugar-cane,  in  the  West  Indies,  stripped  from 
the  cane  to  permit  it  to  ripen.  These  leaves  are  laid  upon  the 
ground,  to  prevent  the  sun's  influence  on  the  earth,  that  every 
moisture  possible  may  be  retained  for  the  nourishment  of  the  plant. 
Trash  is  also  used  for  foddering  cattle  and  thatching  houses.  — > 
CarmichaePs  West  Indies. 


TRA— TRO 


719 


To  trash  Cane.    To  strip  off  the  dry  leaves  from  the  sugar-cane. 

To  trash  a  Trail.  An  expression  used  at  the  West,  meaning  to  con- 
ceal the  direction  one  has  taken  by  walking  in  a  stream,  or,  in  fact, 
taking  to  water  in  any  way.  The  fox,  deer,  and  other  animals, 
understand  this  mode  of  escape  as  well  as  man. 

To  treat.    To  invite  another  to  drink  and  pay  for  the  liquor. 

To  tree.  To  take  refuge  in  a  tree,  said  of  a  wild  animal;  to  force  to 
take  refuge  in  a  tree,  drive  to  a  tree,  said  of  the  hunter.  To  tree 
one^s  self  is  to  conceal  one's  self  behind  a  tree,  as  in  hunting  or 
fighting.    This  hunter's  word  is  purely  American. 

Besides  treeincj,  the  wild-cat  will  take  advantage  of  some  hole  in  the  ground, 
and  disappear  as  suddenly  as  ghosts  at  cock-crowing.  —  Thorpe''s  Backwoods, 
p.  180. 

Forty-five  years  ago,  there  was  an  extensive  religious  excitement  in  Kentucky, 
produced  by  a  man  partially  deranged,  who  had  been  a  hunter  and  who  believed 
himself  inspired.  His  proceedings  were  characterized  by  the  greatest  fanaticism, 
and  partook  of  the  character  of  the  man  as  a  hunter.  In  order  to  resist  the  devil 
and  make  him  flee  from  you,  it  was  necessary,  he  contended,  to  give  him  chase, 
to  tree  and  shoot  him  as  you  would  a  wolf  among  the  sheep,  who  came  but  to 
devour.  As  the  meeting  was  held  in  a  grove,  one  individual  suddenly  started  in 
pursuit,  as  he  supposed,  of  the  devil;  and  others  of  a  peculiar  nervous  tempera- 
ment, having  no  power  to  resist,  involuntarily  joined  in  the  pursuit;  and  this  was 
called  the  '•^running  exercise!''^  One  climbed  up  a  tree;  and  others  caught 
the  mania.  This  was  called  the  climbing  exercise  ! ''''  Another  was  moved  to 
bark;  and  soon  others,  even  though  they  used  every  method  to  prevent  it,  fell 
to  involuntarily  barking  like  dogs,  while  others  gathered  round  the  tree  praying 
for  success.  This  was  called  "  treeing  the  devil  !  "  It  was  literally  a  devil  chase  ! 
And  such  a  time  of  running,  climbing,  dog-barking,  and  devil-chasing,  was,  per- 
haps, never  known  before  or  since.  — Evening  (  Wash.)  Star,  May  4,  1854. 

Tree-Molasses.    Molasses  made  from  the  Sugar-maple  tree;  a  term 

very  common  in  the  AVest. 
Tree-Sugar.    Sugar  made  from  the  Maple-tree.  Western. 
Tricksy.    Trickish;  practising  tricks.    This  old  English  word  is  still 

used  in  the  South  and  West,  where  "  a  tricksy  horse  "  is  a  common 

expression. 
Trimmings.    The  accessories  to  any  dish. 

A  cup  of  tea  with  trimmings  is  always  in  season,  and  is  considered  as  the 

orthodox  mode  of  welcoming  any  guest. —  Mrs.  Clavers,  A  New  Home. 

The  party  luxuriated  at  Florence's  [eating-house]  on  lobster  and  tiimmings.  — 

Knickerbocker  Mag.,  Aug.,  1845. 

Troll.    A  large  seine. 

To  troll.  A  method  of  fishing,  by  a  long  line  attached  to  the  stern  of 
a  boat,  which  is  set  in  motion  by  sails  or  muffled  oars.  A  squid,  a 
piece  of  tin,  or  a  strip  of  red  and  white  cloth,  is  attached  to  the 


7-20 


TRO— TRU 


hook,  which,  passing  rapidly  along  the  surface  of  the  water,  is 
seized  by  the  fish.  Striped  bass  and  Blue-fish  are  generally  caught 
in  this  way. 

Those  who  prefer  the  more  active  and  invigorating  practice  of  our  much 
admired  art  will  find  trolUny  for  this  beautiful  game  fish  [the  Striped  Bass]  as 
exciting  a  recreation  as  any  that  comes  within  the 'angler's  reach. — Amer. 
An(jler''s  Guide,  p.  237. 

To  trot  out.    To  bring  forward. 

The  friends  of  Alexander  H.  Stephens  are  making  vigorous  efforts  to  trot  him 
out  for  the  Presidency.  Several  Democratic  county  conventions  in  Georgia  have 
already  declared  in  his  favor.  — N.  Y.  Evening  Post,  Feb.  18,  1860. 

Truck.  1.  Stuff;  and,  especially,  vegetables  raised  for  market,  called 
also  garden-truck  and  market-truck.  South  and  West.  The  term 
was  formerly  used  in  Massachusetts  where  it  was  applied  to 
groceries. 

About  this  time  [1778]  family  stores  were  usually  called  truck.  .  .  .  She 
looked  out  of  the  window  for  the  market  people,  to  ask  them  if  they  would  take 
truck  for  their  produce.  —  Annals  of  Salem. 

They  purchased  homespun,  calico,  salt,  rum,  tobacco,  and  such  other  truck  as 
their  necessaries  called  for.  —  Chronicles  of  Pineville,  p.  40. 

The  fact  is,  if  the  people  of  Georgia  don't  take  to  makin'  homespun  and  sich 
truck  for  themselves,  and  quit  their  everlastin'  fuss  about  the  tariff  and  free  trade, 
the  first  they  '11  know,  the  best  part  of  their  population  will  be  gone  to  the  new 
States.  —  Major  Jones's  Travels. 

Now  they  passed  down  into  Punkatees  Neck  ;  and  in  their  march  they  found 
a  large  wigwam  full  of  Indian  truck,  which  the  soldiers  were  for  loading  themselves 
with.  —  Church's  Indian  War,  1716. 

"What  do  the  doctors  give  for  the  fever  and  ague  ?  " 

"  Oh,  the}'-  give  abundance  o'  truck."  —  Georgia  Scenes,  p.  192. 

2.  A  two-wheeled  vehicle  drawn  by  a  horse,  and  used  a  few  years 
since  for  transporting  merchandise.  In  New  England,  the  terms 
truck,  truckmen,  and  truckage,  are  commonly  used,  instead  of  cart, 
cartman,  and  cartage,  employed  elsewhere. 

The  Boston  truck  is  constructed  of  two  long  parallel  shafts,  hewn  from  the  best 
of  oak,  winter  felled,  well-seasoned,  and  free  from  faults.  These  shafts  are 
twenty-five  feet  long,  ten  inches  wide,  and  five  inches  thick,  strengthened  under- 
neath, in  the  middle  portion,  with  shorter  pieces  of  the  same  width.  The  upper 
ends  of  the  shafts  are  cut  curving  and  shaped  round,  to  fit  the  sides  of  the  wheel- 
horse.  They  are  then  framed  together  by  two  transverse  pieces :  the  well-com- 
pacted structure  is  placed  upon  a  low  axle,  supported  by  wheels  which  are  three 
feet  in  diameter,  and  thus  the  truck  is  complete.  —  E.  Everett,  Mount  Vernon 
Papers,  No.  III. 

These  two-wheeled  vehicles  have  been  wholly  superseded  by 
trucks  of  four  wheels. 


TRU— TUC 


721 


Truckman.    The  driver  of  a  truck. 

The  truckman  is  in  keeping  with  his  truck  and  his  horses :  regularly,  six  feet 
two  in  his  shoes;  stout  in  proportion  ;  temperate,  intelligent,  patient. — E.  Everett^ 
Mount  Vernon  Papers,  No.  III. 

Truck-Patch,    A  piece  of  ground  devoted  to  rearing  vegetables-. 

Trump.  In  the  game  of  whist,  a  trump  card  has  a  greater  value  than 
the  best  card  in  any  other  suit;  hence,  figuratively,  a  man  who  is 
very  expert  in  his  profession,  or  in  any  way  great,  is  said  to  be  a 
trump. 

Thingnm,  my  boy,  you 're  a  irM??i7?,  and  take  after  your  father  in  having  a 
living  soul.  You  have  an  immense  head,  and  it  must  hold  a  great  man}'  brains. 
Poe's  Works,  Vol.  IV.  p.  211. 

The  editor  sat  in  his  sanctum,  and  brought  down  his  fist  with  a  thump: 
"God  bless  that  old  farmer,"  he  muttered,  ''He 's  a  regular  editor's  trump.'''' 

Carlton,  Farm  Ballads,  p.  86. 

From  a  ballad  addressed  to  the  Honorable  Gerritt  Smith  after  his 
speech  before  the  Union  League  Convention :  — 

Gerritt,  old  bo}',  your  hand, 

We  knew  you 'd  take  that  stand ! 
We 've  had  our  eye  on  you  for  several  years. 

A  rare  bird  on  the  stump 

Is  an  abolition  trump  : 
We 've  met  confounded  few  these  latter  years. 

Trust-Deed.  A  deed  conveying  property  to  a  trustee.  New  Eng- 
land.   In  other  States,  called  "  a  Deed  of  Trust/ ^ 

Trustee-Process.  The  name  given,  in  the  New  England  States,  to 
the  process  of  foreign  attachment.  The  strict  trustee  process  ex- 
tends to  the  goods,  effects,  and  credits  of  the  principal  debtor  in  the 
hands  of  his  agent,  trustee,  or  debtor,  and  who,  as  trustee,  is  sum- 
moned to  appear  and  answer.  It  does  not  extend  to  the  real  estate 
in  the  hands  of  the  trustee.  —  Gushing  on  Trustee  Process. 

In  personal  actions,  brought  in  the  court  of  common  pleas  or  the  supreme  court, 
the  suit  may  be  commenced  by  process  of  foreign  attachment,  or  trustee  ^jrocess, 
in  the  manner  prescribed  by  law.  —  Laws  of  Massachusetts. 

To  try  on.  To  try;  to  attempt.  "  I 'm  too  wide-awake  to  be  cheated, 
so  you  need  not  try  it  on."  A  vulgarism  of  recent  origin,  from  a 
popular  farce  called  "  Trying  It  On." 

Tuckahoe.  1.  (Sclerotium  giganteum.)  Algonkin,  petukgunnug,  a 
round  loaf  or  cake  of  bread  {Eliot)  =  tauquauh  (Mohican.  aS".  Bar- 
ton). The  Virginia  truffle.  A  curious  vegetable,  sometimes 
called  by  the  name  of  Indian  Bread  or  Indian  Loaf,  found  in  the 
Southern  States  bordering  on  the  Atlantic.    It  is  a  natural  produc- 

46 


722 


TUC— TUG 


tion,  the  origin  of  which  has  greatly  peri:)lexed  naturalists,  as  it  is 
commonly  found  several  feet  under  the  surface,  and,  like  the  trufiie 
of  Europe,  has  apparently  no  stem  or  leafy  appendage  connecting  it 
with  the  external  atmosphere.  They  are  generally  found  through 
the  instrumentality  of  hogs,  whose  acute  sense  of  smelling  enables 
them  to  fix  upon  the  spot  where  they  lie  buried.  They  are  usually 
of  a  globular  or  flattened  oval  shape,  and  rather  regular  surface,  the 
large  ones  resembling  somewhat  a  brown  loaf  of  coarse  bread.  The 
size  varies  from  an  acorn  to  the  bigness  of  a  man's  head.  — Farmer^ s 
Encyclopaidia.  Kalm  thinks  the  Tuckahoo  of  Carolina  is  the  same 
plant  which  the  Swedes  of  Xew  eJersey  call  (from  the  Indian  name) 
Taw-ho,  Taia-king,  or  Tuck-ah, —  namely,  the  Virginia  Wake- Robin, 
Arum  Vlrginianum  [now  Peltandra  Vircjinica\\  and  says  that  he 
cannot  learn  that  the  Lycoperdon  tuber  (Truffles),  though  abundant 
in  iSTew  Jersey,  were  ever  eaten  by  the  Indians.  —  Travels,  Vol.  1. 
p.  225. 

A  root  .  .  .  called  Tochawhough  growing  like  a  flagg,  of  the  greatness  and  tast 
of  a  Potato,  which  passeth  a  fierce  purgation  before  they  may  eate  it,  being 
poison  whiles  it  is  raw. — Purchns  his  Pihjrhnaye,  from  Captain  Smith'' s  MS. 
(p.  635). 

Out  of  the  ground  the  Indians  dig  earth-nuts,  wild  onions,  and  a  tuberous  root 
they  call  tuckahoe,  Avhich,  while  crude,  is  of  a  very  hot  and  virulent  quality ;  but 
they  manage  to  make  bread  of  it,  &c. — Beverhfs  Virginia,  Book  III.  (1707). 

2.  The  term  tuckahoe  is  often  applied  to  an  inhabitant  of  Lower 
Virginia,  and  to  the  poor  land  in  that  portion  of  the  State. 
Tuckered  out.    Tired  out.    Used  in  Xew  York  and  Xew  England. 

I  guess  the  Queen  don't  do  her  eating  very  airly;  for  we  sot  and  sot,  and 
waited  for  her,  till  we  got  e'en  a'most  tuckered  out. — N.  Y.  Family  Camp. 
How  are  you  this  morning,  Mrs.  Ashton  ? 

Law  sakes  alive  I  I  'ai  clear  tuckered  out  with  these  young t)nes.  They 've  had 
the  agur  this  morning,  and  are  as  cross  as  bear  cubs. — Stonj  of  the  Bee  Tree. 

We  fought  until  we  were  completely  tuckered  out.  When  we  compared  notes, 
he  had  got  my  right  eye,  and  I  had  chawed  off  both  his  ears. — Southern  Sketches, 
p.  123.  ^ 

To  tuck  on.  To  unduty  increase  or  enhance.  "That  horse  is  not 
worth  half  what  you  gave  for  him.  The  dealer  has  tucked  it  on  to 
you  pretty  well." 

Tug.  Peat. 

I  was  informed  by  several  old  persons  that  they  well  remembered  when  sev- 
eral tuy-bo<js  were  entirely  dug  out,  and  that  by  throwing  back  the  loose  turf  the 
peat  grew  again  in  40  years,  so  as  to  fill  the  bogs.  — Jackson's  Geology  of  Rhode 
Island,  p.  117. 

Attached  to  every  dwelling  [on  Block  Island],  we  find  a  tug-house,  in  Avhich  la 
stored  the  winter's  fuel.  —  Ibid. 


TUK— TUP 


723 


Tuk,  for  took.    A  vulgar  pronunciation,  common  to  North  and  South, 
Tular.    A  marsh  in  which  Tule  abounds.    Texas  and  California. 
Tule.    (Scirpus  lacustris.)    The  Mexican  name  for  a  sort  of  bulrush 

covering  immense  areas  in  the  Sacramento  Valley,  Klamath  Basin, 

and  on  the  Columbia  River. 

We  enter  the  square  of  the  Alamo,  San  Antonio.  This  is  all  Mexican.  Win- 
dowless  cabins  of  stakes,  plastered  with  mud,  and  roofed  with  river  grass  or  tuh^ 
houses  of  adobes,  witii  groups  of  brown  idlers  round  the  doors. — Olmsted's  Texas. 

Now  I  found  a  comfortable  house  built  by  putting  upright  poles  in  the  ground, 
thatclnng  them  with  tales,  and  covering  the  sides  with  the  same.  —  lVood''s  Re- 
port to  Postmaster-General  Brown,  p.  25. 

Tulip-Tree.  (Liriodendron  tuUpifera.)  A  large  tree  bearing  flowers 
resembling  the  tulip.    Also  called  Whitewood. 

The  tulip-tree,  high  up,  • 
Opened,  in  airs  of  June,  her  multitude 
Of  golden  chalices  to  humming-birds 

And  silken-winged  insects  of  the  sky.  — Bryant,  The  Fountain. 

Tullibee,  Tulibee.  (Coregonus  artedi.)  A  congener  of  the  White 
Fish  (C.  albus),  common  in  the  rivers  and  lakes  of  the  North-west. 
From  the  Indian:  Cree,  attonibis ;  Chippewa,  odbnabee,  "  wet  mouth  " 
(according  to  Schoolcraft). 

Tumble.    A  cock  of  hay;  aheap.  Connecticut. 

Tumble-Bug.  The  Dung-beetle,  called  in  England  Dumhle-dore  and 
Straddle-bob. 

It  is  strange,  my  hearers,  that  we  mortals  should  be  so  attached  to  this  mun- 
dane sphere  of  ours.  .  .  .  With  all  its  frauds  and  deceptions,  we  cling  to  it,  as  it 
turns  upon  its  axis,  like  a  tumhle-bucj  to  his  ball,  when  it  accidentally  rolls  down 
hill.  —  Bow's  Sermons,  Vol.  I.  p.  211. 

To  tump.    Probably  an  Indian  word.    It  means  to  draw  a  deer  or 

other  animal  home  through  the  woods,  after  he  has  been  killed. 

"  We  tumped  the  deer  to  our  cabin."  Maine. 
Tumpline.    A  strap  placed  across  the  forehead  to  assist  a  man  in 

cai-rying  a  pack  on  his  back.    Used  in  Maine,  where  the  custom  was 

borrowed  from  the  Indians. 
Tuna.    (Span.)    The  fruit  of  the  prickly  pear  cactus  or  Indian  fig. 

(Cacfus  tuna.) 

Excellent  pulrpie  is  made  here,  and  a  beverage  expressed  from  the  juice  of  the 
tuna,  which  I  tasted  for  the  first  time.  —  Ruxton's  Adventures,  p.  69. 

Tunk.    A  stroke;  a  blow  with  the  fist.    New  England.  Provincial 

in  England. — Wright. 
Tupelo.    See  Pepperidge. 


724 


TUR 


Turfman.    A  man  addicted  to  the  turf;  to  races. 

Turkey.  A  drunken  man  is  sometimes  said  to  have  "  got  a  turkey  on 
his  back."  Perhaps  the  allusion  is  to  his  having  won  one  at  a  raffle 
in  a  drinking-place. 

Turkey-Buzzard.  (Cathartes  aura.)  A  common  American  species 
of  vulture,  having  a  distant  resemblance  to  a  turkey,  and  remark- 
able for  its  graceful  flight  in  the  higher  regions  of  the  air.  They 
were  formerly  found  as  far  north  as  Pennsylvania,  but  they  are  now 
confined  to  the  Southern  States. 

The  flight  of  the  Turkey -buzzard  is  graceful  compared  with  that  of  the  Black 
Vulture.  It  pails  admirably  either  high  or  low.  with  its  wings  spread  be^-ond 
the  horizontal  position.  — Audubon,  Ornithological  Biog.,  Vol.  II.  p.  296. 

Turned  up  his  Toes.    An  expression  applied  to  one  who  is  dead. 

Turner.    (Germ.)    A  gymnast. 

Turnip.  A  watch.  A  name  originally  applied  to  the  old-fashioned 
silver  watches,  which  were  nearly  as  thick  as  turnips. 

Turn  of  Meal.    A  quantity  of  grist  sent  to  mill.  Tennessee. 

Turnstone.  (Strepsilas  interpres.)  The  Brant  Bird,  or  Calico  Back. 
Also  called  Horsefoot  Snipe,  from  its  feeding  on  the  spawn  of  the 
King  Crab. 

Turpentine  State.  The  State  of  North  Carolina,  so  called  from  the 
quantity  of  turpentine  obtained  from  its  pine  forests. 

Turret-Ship.  There  are  two  varieties  of  turret-ship^  of  which  the 
earliest  and  best  is  that  which  was  invented  by  Captain  John 
Ericsson,  of  New  York.  The  other  variety — which  in  many  of  its 
features  resembles  the  plan  of  Ericsson  —  is  known  as  the  system 
of  Captain  Cowper  Coles,  and  this  system  has  been  adopted  to 
some  extent  in  the  British  navy;  while  the  American  rv^xj  has 
adopted  the  system  of  Ericsson,  usually  called  the  Monitor  system, 
from  the  Monitor,  the  name  of  the  first  vessel  of  this  kind  that  was 
constructed.  —  Robinson,  in  Brande  and  Cox  Die.  of  Science  and 
Art.    See  Monitor. 

Turtle.  The  application  of  this  term  to  the  common  tortoise  is  peculiar 
to  America.  Although  formerly,  is  not  now  so  used  in  England. 
Its  first  use  is  in  the  account  of  the  voyage  of  Captain  Gosnold  to 
Virginia,  in  1602. 

I  commanded  some  of  my  companie  to  seek  out  for  crabbes,  lobsters,  turtles, 
&c.,  for  sustaying  us  till  the  ship's  return.  — Brereton's  Brief  and  True  Relation 
(1602). 


TWI— UNO 


725 


Twins.  Dinner  and  tea  at  one  meal.  New  England.  The  English 
slang  term  is  Box- Harry  (Ducange,  Anglicanus,  ed.  1857).  The 
custom  of  "  having  twins,"  in  the  short  days  of  winter,  was  formerly 
very  common  among  the  farmers  in  New  England. 

Twistical.    Tortuous,  perverse.    A  factitious  word. 

He  may  be  straight-going,  farzino,  manwards ;  but,  in  his  dealings  with  t'  other 
sex,  he  is  a  leetle  ttaistical,  according  to  their  tell.  I  wouldn't  make  a  town  talk 
of  it.  — B.  Hunijjhreys,  The  Yankee  in  Enyland. 

Twist  on  the  Shorts.  A  clique  phrase  of  Wall  Street,  used  where 
the  shorts  have  undersold  heavily,  and  the  market  has  been  artifi- 
cially raised,  compelling  them  to  settle  at  ruinous  rates.  —  Medbery, 
Men  and  Mysteries  of  Wall  Street. 

To  twitch.  To  draw  timber  along  the  ground  by  a  chain.  Used  by 
lumbermen  in  Maine. 

Two-forty  Pace.    With  great  speed.    A  2.40  gait  for  a  trotting- 
horse  was,  not  long  ago,  thought  to  be  very  fast.    Now  a  2.15  gait 
would  be  the  one  demanded. 
*Typo.    A  contraction  of  typographer.    A  name  sometimes  given  to 
compositors  in  a  printing-office.    Comp.  Jour. 

When  a  boy,  the  writer  became  acquainted  with  an  old  bookworm  of  a  man 
who  was  in  possession  of  a  manuscript  written  in  1714-1716,  by  two  ambitious 
typos,  entitled  "The  Desultory  Meditations  of  Two  London  Printers."  —  The 
Pnnter,  Dec,  1858. 


Ugly.  Ill-tempered,  vicious,  cross-grained.  "  He  has  an  ugly  tem- 
per." A  term  applied  both  to  men  and  animals.  It  is  local  in 
England,  and  colloquial  in  the  United  States.  "  Ugly  "  in  England 
is  "  homely  "  in  New  England. 

The  questions  of  the  spies  were  answered  in  a  sullen,  swaggering  manner;  so 
much  so  that  Captain  Caldwell  at  once  remarked  to  his  men,  in  a  low  tone  and 
in  English,  that  these  fellows  looked  uyly  and  fighty.  —  Kendall's  Santa  Fe, 
Vol.  I.  p.  133. 

Umbrella-Tree.  {Magnolia  tripetala.)  The  popular  name  of  this 
tree  in  the  Southern  States,  from  the  large  leaves  closely  arranged 
around  the  ends  of  its  branches. 

Uncle.  Used  in  the  Middle  and  Southern  States  in  accosting  an 
elderly  colored  man.  "  Your  uncle,"  for  myself,  is  a  very  odd,  yet 
common  phrase.  "  Your  uncle 's  the  man  to  do  that;  "  i.  e.,  "I  'U 
do  it  for  you." 


726 


UNC 


Uncle  Sam.  The  cant  or  vulgar  name  of  the  United  States  govern- 
ment; sometimes  called  Brother  Jonathan.  It  is  used  as  "John 
Bull"  is  in  England.  Mr.  Frost,  in  his  "Naval  History  of  the 
United  States,"  gives  the  following  account  of  the  origin  of  the 
name:  — 

"  Immediately  after  the  last  declaration  of  war  with  England, 
Elbert  Anderson,  of  New  York,  then  a  contractor,  visited  Troy  on 
the  Hudson,  where  was  concentrated,  and  where  he  purchased,  a 
large  quantity  of  provisions,  beef,  pork,  &c.  The  inspectors  of 
these  articles  at  that  place  were  Messrs.  Ebenezer  and  Samuel 
Wilson.  The  latter  gentleman  (iuA'ariably  known  as  '  Uncle  Sam ') 
generally  superintended  in  person  a  large  number  of  workmen, 
who,  on  this  occasion,  were  employed  in  overhauling  the  provi- 
sions purchased  by  the  contractor  for  the  army.  The  casks  were 
marked  '  E.  A.  — U.  S.'  This  work  fell  to  the  lot  of  a  facetious 
fellow  in  the  employ  of  the  Messrs.  Wilson,  who,  on  being  asked  by 
some  of  his  fellow- workmen  the  meaning  of  the  mark  (for  the  let- 
ters U.  S.,  for  United  States,  were  then  almost  entirely  new  ta 
them),  said,  '  he  did  not  know,  unless  it  meant  Elbert  Anderson  and 
Uncle  Sam,''  —  alluding  exclusively,  then,  to  the  said  '  Uncle  Sam  ' 
Wilson.  The  joke  took  among  the  workmen,  and  passed  currently; 
and  '  Uncle  Sam^  himself,  being  present,  was  occasionally  rallied 
by  them  on  the  increasing  extent  of  his  possessions. 

"Many  of  these  workmen,  being  of  a  character  denominated 
'food  for  powder,'  were  found,  shortly  after,  following  the  recruit- 
ing drum,  and  pushing  toward  the  frontier  lines,  for  the  double 
purpose  of  meeting  the  enemy  and  of  eating  the  provisions  they  had 
lately  labored  to  put  in  good  order.  Their  old  jokes  accompanied 
them,  and  before  the  first  campaign  ended  this  identical  one  first 
appeared  in  print:  it  gained  favor  rapidly,  till  it  penetrated  and 
was  recognized  in  every  part  of  the  country,  and  will,  no  doubt, 
continue  so  while  the  United  States  remain  a  nation." 

Mr.  Wilson  died  in  Troy,  New  York,  in  August,  1854,  at  the  age 
of  eighty- four  years ;  and  the  "  Albany  Argus,"  in  noticing  his  death, 
referred  to  the  circumstance  above  stated  as  the  origin  of  the  popu- 
lar sobriquet  of  Uncle  Sam. 

For  I  have  loved  my  country  since 

My  eve-teeth  filled  their  sockets, 
And  Ujicle  Sam  I  reverence, 

Partic'larly  his  pockets. 

J.  a.  Lowell,  Biylow  Papers. 


UNC— UNF 


727 


We  are  the  sons  of  Uncle  Sam,  and  natives  to  his  land, 
Fighting  for  our  country  now,  and  side  by  side  we  stand. 
Oh !  Uncle  Sam 's  a  hero,  as  the  nations  all  do  know, 
And  when  he  'son  the  battle  field  he  strikes  an  awful  blow. 

Song  bif  Geo.  Newton. 

Unconscionable.  Enormous;  vast.  A  low  word. — Johnson.  Used 
adverbially  at  the  West,  as  in  the  following  example:  — 

"  That 's  an  unconscionable  slick  gal  of  your'n,"  says  I;  and  it  did  tickle  his 
fancy  to  have  her  cracked  up,  'cause  he  thought  her  creation's  finishin'  touch, — 
so  did  I !  — Robb's  Squatter  Life. 

Under-Coat.    A  petticoat.    North  Carolina. 

Under  Conviction.  To  he  under  conviction  (sell,  of  sin)  is  a  common 
expression,  applied  to  a  person  who  feels  a  remorse  for  sins  com- 
mitted, and  is  desirous  to  be  received  into  the  pale  of  the  church. 

A  chaplain  at  one  of  our  State  prisons  was  asked  by  a  friend  how  his  parish- 
ioners were.    "  All  under  conviction,''^  was  the  answer.  — Newspaper. 

Underground  Railroad.  The  means  of  conveyance  by  which  fugi- 
tive slaves  were  formerly  enabled  to  escape  to  the  free  States  and 
Canada. 

It  is  probable  that  nothing  has  awakened  more  bitterly  the  animosity  of  the 
slave-holding  community  than  the  existence,  in  the  Northern  States,  of  an  indefi- 
nite yet  very  energetic  institution,  known  as  the  underground  railroad.  —  3{rs. 
Stoive,  Bred,  Vol.  II.  p.  302. 

He  [Connelly]  regarded  the  underground  railroad  as  a  peculiarly  Southern 
institution,  taking  away  from  the  South  every  year  thousands  of  the  most  intelli- 
gent, restless,  and  desperate  Negroes,  who  would  do  infinitely  more  mischief  if 
kept  there.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  June,  1858. 

And  now,  if  we  may  believe  the  promises  made  by  the  Democrats  for  two  years 
past,  we  are  on  the  eve  of  a  political  millennium.  .  .  .  There  is  to  be  no  more 
"agitati(m"  of  the  slavery  question.  The  underground  railroad  is  to  suspend 
running,  and  rejoicing  hosts  of  Negroes  are  to  return  from  the  bleak  wilds  of 
Canada  to  the  luxurious  delights  of  life  on  the  plantation. — Albany  Evening 
Journal,  Dec,  1857. 

Underpinners.  The  legs,  which  in  English  flash  language  are  called 
pins. 

Under-Vest.    An  under-shirt;  a  species  of  mail-coat  worn  by  soldiers. 
An  officer  of  the  19th  Massachusetts  was  "iron-clad  "  with  a  patent  under-vest. 
A  ball  struck  his  breast,  whirled  him  round,  indented  the  plating,  and  rolled 
down  his  pantaloons.  —  Cor.  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Undisgruntled.    See  Disgruntled. 

Unescapable.  That  cannot  be  escaped.  "  Unescapable  doom. "  —  John 
Neat.    "  As  an  argument,  it  is  unescapable." —  Congregationalist. 

Unfellowshipped.    Not  having  fellowship;  not  recognized  socially. 
Why  am  I  as  one  in  a  wilderness?    Why  is  my  soul  unj'ellowshipjjed  and  alone? 
H.  W.  Beecher,  in  The  Independent,  May  8,  1861. 


UNI— UPL 


Union.  In  a  political  sense,  the  connection  between  the  States  of 
North  America;  also  the  body  of  States  so  connected. 

Do  the  people  of  the  South  consider  the  present  Union  these  States  as  an 
evil  in  itself,  and  a  thing  that  it  is  desirable  we  should  get  rid  of  under  all  cir- 
cumstances? There  are  some,  I  know,  who  do;  but  I  am  satisfied  that  an  over- 
whelming majority  of  the  South  would,  if  assured  that  this  government  was 
hereafter  to  be  conducted  on  the  true  principles  and  construction  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, decidedly  prefer  to  remain  in  the  Union  rather  than  incur  the  unknown 
costs  and  hazards  of  setting  up  a  separate  government.  —  Speech  of  Hon.  J.  H. 
Hammond^  Oct.  27,  1858 

To  unload  Stock  means,  in  the  language  of  the  Stock  Exchange,  to 
sell  out  a  stock  which  one  has  held  for  some  time  for  the  pui-pose  of 
speculating  in  it. 

Unmitigated.  Not  softened.  — Johnson.  Not  mitigated;  not  lessened 
in  severity. —  Worcester.  Undiminished;  complete;  thorough;  con- 
summate ;  as,  "  He 's  an  unmitigated  humbug."  This  very  common 
word  is  not  mentioned  by  Webster.  Shakspeare  uses  it  in  the  same 
sense  as  it  is  now  used  with  us. 

With  pulilic  accusation,  uncovered  slander,  unmitigated  rancour.  —  Much  Ado 
about  Nothing,  iv.  1. 

Up.  A  common  colloquialism,  as  in  the  phrase,  "  What  is  up  for  to- 
day? "  I.  e.  what  is  going  on,  what  is  to  be  done.  In  the  West,  it 
would  appear  to  have  been  used  in  a  wider  sense,  from  the  following 
example  taken  from  the  circular  of  a  school  at  Faribault,  Minn.  It 
is  one  of  its  wise  regulations. 

"  If  a  snow-storm  is  up,  the  teacher  takes*the  privilege  to  dismiss  the  school 
earlier  in  the  afternoon  than  it  otherwise  would  have  been." 

Up  and  dust.    Hurry!    Move  fast! 

Up  a  Tree.    To  be  cornered;  to  fail  in  an  undertaking. 

You  mustn't  wander  aAvay,  and  you  mustn't  declaim :  if  you  do,  their  attention 
is  off,  the  public  see  it,  and  you  are  up  a  tree.  —  Sam  Slick.  Wise  Sam,  p.  24. 

Up-Country.  In  New  Hampshire,  this  is  used  adverbially  on  the 
coast:  "  to  go  up-countrg  "  is  to  go  into  the  interior.  At  the  South, 
it  is  used  adjectively,  as  see  at  Rice- Bird.  As  a  noun,  it  is  in  fre- 
quent use.  "  Many  families  have  left  Savannah  for  the  up-country.^' 
Cor.  N.  Y.  Tribune.  "  As  the  up-country  editor,  who  said,"  &c.  — 
N.  H.  Palladium. 

To  up  Jib.  To  be  of£.  A  sailor's  phrase,  much  used  in  familiar  lan- 
guage in  Nantucket,  Salem,  and  other  localities  in  Massachusetts. 

Upland  Cotton,  as  opposed  to  Sea  Island,  is  not  necessarily  raised  on 
high  ground ;  but  even  near  the  sea  the  fibre  is  shorter  than  that 
produced  in  the  limited  region  known  as  Sea  Island. 


UPN— UPP 


729 


Up  North.    Used  instead  of  North,  and  adverbially. 
Upper  Crust.    The  higher  circles ;  the  aristocracy. 

I  want  you  to  see  Peel,  Stanle}',  Graham,  Shiel,  Russell,  Macaulay,  old  Joe, 
and  so  on.    They  are  all  upper  crust  here.  — Sam  Slick  m  Enyland. 

Upper  House.  A  Senate.  In  New  England  and  in  some  other  States. 
The  names  Upper  House  and  Lower  House  originated  about  the 
year  1718,  in  Massachusetts,  when  the  Kepresentatives  gave  the 
designation  to  the  Council  "as  a  fleer,  and  to  intimate  that  they 
might  consider  themselves  in  another  capacity  than  as  a  Privy 
Council."  —  Drake^s  Hist,  of  Boston,  p.  558,  n. 

Upper  Ten  Thousand  or,  simply.  The  Upper  Ten.  The  upper 
circles  of  New  York,  and  hence  of  other  large  cities.  A  phrase 
invented  by  N.  P.  Willis. 

The  Biscacciauti  troupe  commence  their  season  of  Italian  opera  at  the  Chestnut 
to-morrow  night.  The  seats  for  the  first  night  are  ulready  many  of  them 
engaged,  and  engaged  too  by  the  very  cream  of  our  '■'■upper  ten;''^  while  the 
moderate  democratic  prices  of  admission,  which  have  been  wisely  adopted,  will 
invite  large  slices  of  the  honest  and  hearty  masses.  —  Letter  from  Philad.  N.  Y. 
Herald. 

Researches  in  some  of  the  upper  ten  districts 
Reveal  the  most  painful  and  startling  statistics, 
Of  which  let  me  mention  only  a  few 
In  one  single  house,  on  the  Fifth  Avenue. 

Butler,  Nothing  to  Wear. 
Caring  naught  for  what  vengeance  the  mob  has  in  store, 
Let  that  mob  be  the  ujjper  ten  thousand  or  lower. 

Lowell,  Fable  for  Critics. 
The  expression  is  now  used  in  England. 

To  provide  for  the  well-being  of  the  children  of  affluent  parents,  our  social 
reformers  urge  that  the  mothers  of  the  upper  ten  thousand  should  put  their  nur- 
series under  the  control  of  a  superior  nurse,  &c.  —  London  Athenmum,  Nov.,  18G8, 
p.  719. 

Uppertendom.  The  aristocracy;  people  of  fashion.  Comp.  Japotri- 
cadom. 

His  rich  relatives  were  always  in  such  a  panic  lest  uppertendom  should  discover 
that  their  cousins  lived  in  an  unfashionable  part  of  the  town,  dined  at  one  o'clock, 
and  noticed  trades-people  and  mechanics.  —  Fanny  Fern. 

At  a  ball  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor  was  a  co-mingling  of  uppertendom  with 
lower  twent^^doin,  —  an  avalanche  of  exclusiveness  in  a  torrent  of  mobocracy.  — 
Doesticks,  p.  1:31. 

Mr.  Duganne,  in  his  poem  entitled  "Parnassus  in  Pillory," 
speaking  of  N.  P.  Willis,  says:  — 

Gad !  what  a  polish  uppertendom  gives 
This  executioner  of  adjectives; 

This  man  who  chokes  the  English  worse  than  Thuggists, 
And  turns  the  trade  to  trunk-makers  or  druggists. 


730 


UPR— V 


Upright.    A  leg.  Western. 

Up-River.  1.  The  direction  of  the  upper  portion  of  a  river,  up  the 
stream.    Common  use. 

2.  Situated  in  or  near  the  upper  portion  of  a  stream. 

All  Thursday  afternoon  there  was  a  continuous  stream  [sic]  of  floating  timber 
going  down  the  swollen  current  from  the  up-river  lumber-yards.  — Philadelphia 
p(ij)ers. 

Up  to  Snuff.  Well  informed;  apprised  o'f  the  current  or  recent 
affairs. 

Up  to  the  Hub.  To  the  extreme  point.  The  figure  is  that  of  a  vehi- 
cle sunk  in  the  mud  up  to  the  hub  of  the  wheels,  which  is  as  far  as  it 
can  go. 

"  You've  hearn  tell  of  the  bank  and  tariff  questions  ?" 

"Yes,"  replied  the  new  editor  of  the  "  Eagle"  newspaper. 

"  Well,  boss,  we  expect  you  to  be  right  co-chunk  iip  to  the  hub  on  them  thar 
questions,  and  pour  it  into  the  enemy  in  slashergaff  stvle."  —  Robb,  Squatter  Life, 
p.  31. 

"For  my  jiart,"  said  Abijah,  grimly,  "if  things  was  managed  m}' way,  I 
shouldn't  commune  with  nobody  that  didn't  believe  in  election  up  to  the  hub.^^  — 
Mrs.  Stowe,  Dred,  Vol.  I.  p.  311. 

Use.  (As  me  the  weed.)  This  is  common  in  the  Xorth  in  a  phrase 
like  this.  "  Take  sugar  in  your  tea?  "  "  No,  thank  you,  I  don't 
use  it."    The  French,  in  offering  snuff,  say,  "  En  usez-vous?  " 

To  use  up.       To  exhaust,  wear  out. 

Moving  on  the  first  day  of  May  in  New  York  has  used  me  up  worse  than  build- 
ing forty  acres  of  stone  wall.  —  Major  Downing^  May-day  in  Neio  York. 

Well,  being  out  night  arter  night,  she  got  kinder  used  up  and  beat  out,  and 
unbeknownst  to  me  used  to  take  opium.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature,  p.  192. 

Hans  has  been  really  ill :  five  days  down  with  severe  pains  of  the  limbs  have 
left  him  a  "little  weak,"  which  with  him  means  well  used  up.  —  Kane,  Arctic 
Expedition,  Vol.  II.  p.  100. 

U-ster.    Used  to. 


V. 

V.    Five.    Five  dollars.    Much  used  in  making  bets;  as  "I'll  bet 
youaV." 

Says  I,  "Mate,  I've  a  notion  to  go  over  and  shake  hands  with  him."  Says 
he,  "  I  think  I  see  you  doing  it,  Tom."  Says  I,  "  Mate,  I 'm  a-going  to  do  it." 
Says  he,  "Oh.  yes,  I  guess  so."  "Maybe  you  don't  want  to  bet  you  will, 
Tom?  "  Says  1,  "  I  don't  mind  going  a  V  on  it.  Mate."  Says  he,  "  Put  it  up." 
"Up  she  goes,"  says  I,  planking  the  cash. 


VAC— VAM 


731 


Vacancy.  A  parish  having  no  minister  or  official  connection  with 
themselves. 

He  [Mr.  McElroy]  was  sought  by  the  vacancies.  — Presbyterian^  Philad.,  Sept., 
1876. 

Vacher.  (French.)  The  stock  or  cattle-keeper  on  the  prairies  of  the 
South-west.  His  duty  is  also  to  break  wild  horses,  to  run  cattle, 
and  to  brand  calves.    (Span,  vaquero.} 

Valedictorian.  The  student  of  a  college  who  pronounces  the  vale- 
dictory oration  at  the  annual  Commencement. —  Webster. 

Valedictory.  In  American  colleges,  a  farewell  oration  or  address 
spoken  at  Commencement  by  a  member  of  the  class  which  j-eceive 
the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts,  and  take  their  leave  of  the  college 
and  of  each  other.  —  HcdVs  College  Words. 

Valinch.  A  liquor-sampler.  A  utensil  well  known  among  grocers  and 
coopers  for  drawing  liquor  fi'om  the  bung-hole  of  a  cask.  The 
French  call  it  tdte-vin  :  the  Spaniards,  homhilla  de  hodegas  or  cata- 
liquidos.  The  word  is  mentioned  by  Worcester,  but  not  by 
Webster,  nor  by  any  English  lexicographer.  It  is  figured  in  Orr's 
Mechanical  Philosophy,  where  it  is  called  a  Wine-taster ;  and  by 
Sclioedler  in  his  "  Book  of  Nature,"  where  it  is  called  a  "  Dipping 
Syplion.''^ 

To  vamose.  (Span,  vamos,  let  us  go.)  Used,  in  the  South-west 
chiefly,  in  the  sense  of  to  depart,  decamp,  be  off.  A  curious  gram- 
matical perversion. 

I  couldn't  stand  more  than  this  stanza,  coming  from  a  street  voice  compared 
with  which  the  notes  of  a  hand-saw  are  positively  dulcet,  and  I  accordingly 
vamosed.  —  N.  Y.  Mirror,  May,  1848. 

Yankee  Sullivan's  house,  corner  of  Frankfort  and  Chathcam  Streets,  is  in  a 
dangerous  condition  ;  its  foundation  walls  having  been  partially  undermined  for 
the  purpose  of  excaA'ating  a  cellar.  Its  occupants  received  some  very  ominous 
premonitions  of  a  downfall  early  yesterday  morning,  and  forthwith  vamosed 
•with  their  baggage.  — Journ.  of  Commerce,  June,  1848. 

On  Sunday,  our  city  was  thrown  into  a  state  of  intense  excitement.  Between 
seventy  and  eighty  slaves  had  disappeared.  Several  Negroes  who  had  made 
arrangements  to  vamose  were  left  behind,  and  gave  the  alarm.  —  Washington 
vaver. 

The  devil  Avrote,  and  vamosed.    The  next  night 
He  came  again,  —  this  time  a  little  tight,  — 
And  showed  the  name  who  served  Jeff.  Davis  best. 
And  lo!  Bo  Lition's  name  led  all  the  rest. 

Parody  on  Lei<jh  Hunt's  "  Abou  Ben  Adhem.^^ 

To  vamose  the  Ranch.  To  leave  the  house,  quit  the  spot,  be  off. 
Like  the  word  vamose,  much  used  on  the  Western  frontier  and  in  the 
South.    This  is  surelv  breaking  Priscian's  head  with  a  vengeance. 


732 


VAQ— VEN 


The  Camanches  came  within  a  league  of  us,  but  vamosed  the  ranch  when  they 
learned  that  the  rangers  were  here.  —  Southern  Sketches,  p.  141. 

Vaquero.  (Span.)  A  man  who  has  charge  of  cattle,  horses,  and 
mules;  a  horseman.    See  Vacher. 

Behold  the  Vaquero  !  how  dashing  and  bold 
In  his  broad  sombrero.  — Joaquin  Miller. 

Vara.  (Span.)  A  measurement  thirty-nine  inches  in  length,  used 
in  Mexico,  and  hence  introduced  in  the  States  bordering  on  that 
country.  Thus,  in  California,  in  speaking  of  a  piece  of  land,  so 
many  varas  in  length  or  breadth,  instead  of  so  many  yards  or  feet, 

Mr.  S.,  a  gentleman  of  wealth  in  San  Francisco,  has  just  completed  his 
horse-palace  at  a  cost  of  $100,000,  on  a  full  fifty  mm  lot.  —  San  Francisco  jiupf^f^ 
March,  3876. 

Various.    Several  persons.    "I  talked  for  an  hour  with  various  of 

them."  — Cor.  N.  Y.  Times. 
Varmint.    A  corrupt  pronunciation  of  the  word  vermin.,  applied  to 

noxious  wild  beasts  of  any  kind.    It  comes  to  us  from  the  north  of 

England.        ^       St^i^  U  (U^^-^c^,,.^' .  ^ ^  . 

There  are  more  than  a  hundred  lakes  and  brakes  in  them  diggin's,  that  hain't 
never  been  pressed  by  no  mortal  'ceptin'  varmints.  —  Traits  o  f  American  Humor. 

I  shot  tolerably  well,  and  was  satisfied  the  fault  would  be  mine,  if  the  varmints 
did  not  suffer.  —  Crockett,  Tour,  p.  125. 

"These  beavers,"  said  old  Ryan,  "are  industrious  little  fellows.  They  are 
the  knowingest  varmint  as  I  know."  — Irving's  Tour  on  the  Prahies. 

Uncas,  call  up  your  father:  we  have  need  of  all  our  weapons  to  bring  the  cun- 
ning varmint  from  his  roost.  —  Cooper,  Last  of  the  Mohicans,  p.  104. 

Vegetable  Ivory.    See  Ivory-Nut,  in  Addenda. 

Vegetable  Marrow,    See  Alligator  Pear. 

Vegetable  Oyster,    See  Oyster-Plant,  in  Addenda. 

Vegetarian,  A  disciple  of  a  strict  dietetic  school,  in  which  animal 
food  is  prohibited. 

Vegetarianism.    The  doctrines  of  the  Vegetarians. 

Vendibility,  Salableness, 

A  great  number  of  manufactured  articles  derive  their  vendibility  almost  en- 
tirely from  the  pattern  of  the  design,  —  Mr.  Sheppard's  Speech  before  Maryland 
Institute,  1857. 

Vendue.  (French  vendre,  to  sell;  vendu,  sold.)  A  public  auction. 
This  word  is  in  use  in  the  United  States  and  the  West  Indies;  but 
it  is  not  common  in  England,  though  it  is  found  in  the  recent 
English  dictionaries  of  Knowles,  Oswald,  and  Smart.  —  Worcester. 
It  was  used  as  early  as  1754  in  Pennsylvania  (see  Mittelberger's 
Travels,  p.  22).    The  word  is  fast  becoming  obsolete  with  us. 


YER— VIG 


733 


Verse  about.    A  verse  or  two  by  each  reader  in  turn. 

Reading  the  Scriptures  verse  about,  ...  a  custom  common  in  many  Christian 
families;  .  .  .  that  is,  each  member  of  the  families  reading  averse  or  two  in 
turn  until  the  whole  chapter  is  finished.  —  N.  Y.  Obsei-ver. 

Vest.    See  Pull  down  your  Vest. 

Veteran.  A  term  applied  during  the  late  civil  war  to  soldiers,  who, 
at  the  termination  of  the  period  for  which  they  had  enlisted,  enlisted 
again;  hence,  there  were  thousands  of  ye/emn.'?  under  twenty-two 
years  of  age.  In  the  British  army,  a  veteran  is  a  soldier  advanced 
in  years,  who  has  seen  much  service. 

To  veteranize.    To  make  veteran  soldiers  by  re-enlisting. 

About  this  time,  we  were  much  embarrassed  by  a  general  order  of  the  War 
Department,  promising  a  thirty-days  furlough  to  all  soldiers  who  would  veteranize  ; 
viz.,  le-enlist  for  the  war. —  General  Sherman's  Memoirs,  Vol.  I.  p.  395. 

Vigilance  Committee.  A  portion  of  the  citizens  of  a  place  who, 
assuming  that  the  regular  magistrates  are  unable  or  unwilling  to 
execute  the  laws,  undertake  to  watch  over  its  safety,  and  to  punish 
its  criminals.  The  most  notorious  of  these  self-constituted  bodies 
have  been  those  of  San  Francisco  and  New  Orleans. 

Few  people  abroad,  who  had  been  trained  from  infancy  to  revere  "  the  majesty 
of  the  law,"  and  who  had  never  seen  any  crime  but  what  their  own  strong  legal 
institutions  and  efficient  police  could  detect  and  punish,  could  possibly  conceive 
such  a  state  of  things  as  would  justify  the  formation  and  independent  action  of 
an  association  which  set  itself  above  all  formal  law,  and  which  openly  adminis- 
tered summary  justice,  or  what  they  called  justice,  in  armed  opposition  and 
defiance  to  the  regularly  constituted  tribunals  of  the  country.  Therefore,  in 
other  lands,  it  happened  that  the  vigilance  committee  became  often  a  term  of 
reproach,  and  people  pointed  to  it  as  a  sign  that  society  in  California  was  utterly 
and  perhaps  irredeemably  impure  and  disorganized.  —  Annals  of  San  Francisco, 
p.  562. 

A  hand-bill  having  been  posted  in  Richmond,  Virginia,  calling  a  meeting  of 
the  citizens  for  this  evening,  to  form  a  vif/ilance  committee  to  suppress  certain 
secret  movements  among  the  colored  population,  and  to  stop  outrages  on  private 
property.  Governor  Wise  addressed  a  letter  to  Mayor  Mayo,  calling  his  attention 
to  the  movement,  and  adding  that  he  would  use  force  in  prohibiting  such  meeting 
from  being  held  on  the  Capitol  square.  The  Mayor  in  repl}'  states  that,  knowing 
the  author  of  the  hand-bill  to  be  one  of  the  few  rowdies  of  that  citv,  he  considers 
himself  a  '■'■vif/ilance  committee  "  enough  for  him  and  his  comrades,  and  therefore 
deems  it  unnecessary  to  adopt  any  unusual  meastires  against  the  proposed  move- 
ment. —  Sun,  July  1,  ISo's. 

Last  month,  in  the  town  of  Maubeuge,  in  the  north  of  France,  a  Protestant 
congregation  was  broken  up  and  a  part  of  its  members  marched  on  a  Sunday 
from  their  place  of  worsliip  to  the  town  jail.  The  final  prnceedings  of  tlie  civil 
authorities  in  the  case  were,  according  to  our  American  notions  of  right  and  law, 
as  gross  a  violation  of  justice  as  vigilance  committee  or  lynching  mob  was  ever 
guilty  of.  —  N.  Y.  Tnlmne,  Sept.  30,  1858. 


734 


VIG— VOY 


Vigintial.    Relative  to,  produced  in  (twenty  years). 

Shall  society  suffer  that  the  slave-holder  may  continue  to  gather  his  vigintial 
crop  of  liuman  flesh.  —  il/?-.  Faulker  in  Leyidature  of  Virfjinia,  1832. 

Vim.    Spirit;  activity;  energy. 

The  "  New  York  Herald,"  April  17,  1875,  in  speaking  of  Mr. 
Fullerton's  cross-examination  of  Mr.  Beecher  at  his  trial,  said:  — 

Mr.  Fullerton  figuratively  jumped  into  the  ring,  rolled  up  his  sleeves,  and 
squared  off  with  a  vitn  and  determination  that  sometimes  makes  victory  lialf 
assured. 

We  are  of  those  who  believe  that  our  S3\stem  of  school  management  can  be 
improved,  and  made  more  efficient.  We  believe  that  more  of  vim,  snap,  or 
activity  can  be  infused  into  it,  to  the  manifest  advantage  of  every  interest  — 
Providence  Press,  ,Ian.  8,  1876. 

Mr.  McClure,  in  speaking  of  the  cities  and  towns  of  recent  growth 
in  Montana,  says:  — 

Virginia  City  is  sobering  down  with  "the  ebbing  tide  into  substantial.  legitimate 
business  ;  but  Helena  has  all  the  vim,  recklessness,  extravagance,  and  jolly  prog- 
ress of  a  new  camp.  —  Toicr  through  Rocky  Mountains. 

Virgalieu  Pear.    So  called  in  New  York.    A  world-renowned  pear, 

and  one  that  has  been,  if  it  is  not  at  the  present  time,  more 

extensively  cultivated  than  any  other.    It  is  the  Doyenne  Blanc  of 

French  authors,  the  Butter  Pea?'  of  Philadelphia,  and  the  St. 

ISIichael  of  Boston. 
Virgin  Dip.    The  flow  of  turpentine  for  the  first  year  after  making 

an  incision  into  the  pines.    North  Carolina.    See  Box  and  Dip. 
Virginia  Creeper.    The  ornamental  woody  vine  Aynpelopsis  quinque- 

folia,  cultivated  for  covering  walls  and  fences.    By  some  it  is  called 

Woodbine,  and  by  others  American  Ivy. 
Virginia  Pence.    A  rail  fence  laid  up  in  a  zigzag  manner;  also  called 

a  worm-fence,  which  see.    Hence  the  phrase  "to  walk  a  Virginia 

fence  "  is  applied  to  a  drunken  man. 
Virginia  Reel.    The  common  name  throughout  the  United  States  for 

the  old  I^^nglish  "  country-dance  "  (contre-danse). 
Virginny  or  Old  Virginny.    The  common  negro  appellation  of  the 

State  of  Virginia. 
Vly.    (Dutch.)    In  Xew  York,  a  swamp,  a  marsh.    See  Fit/. 
Voodonism.    In  Louisiana,  superstitious  rites  or  observances  among 

the  Xegroes. 

Voyage.    Among  whalers,  each  man  calls  his  share  of  the  proceeds  of 

the  cruise,  which  he  receives  instead  of  wages,  his  voyage. 
Voyageur.    (French.)    A  Canadian  boatman.  —  Worcester, 


YUM— WAK 


735 


The  Canadian  voyageur  is,  in  all  respects,  a  peculiar  character;  and  on  no 
point  is  he  more  sensitive  than  in  the  just  distribution  of  pieces  among  the  crew 
forming  a  party.  —  Sh'  John  Franklin'' s  Narrative. 

There  is  no  form  of  wretchedness  among  those  to  which  the  checkered  life  of 
a  voyageur  is  exposed,  at  once  so  great  and  so  humiliating,  as  the  torture  inflicted 
by  the  musquitos. — Bach,  Arctic  Journal^  p.  117. 

I  vum!  for  /  voio!  is  a  euphemistic  form  of  oath  often  heard  in  New 
England. 

"  /  vum,''''  said  he,  "  I 'm  sorry;  what 's  the  matter?  "  —  Margaret,  p.  86. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Dow,  Jr.,  in  one  of  his  edifying  discourses  on 
profanity,  not  inaptly  observes:  — 

What  though,  instead  of  saying,  "  I  swear  to  God,"  you  say,  "I  declare  to 
goodness  "  V  It  is  as  much  the  same  thing  as  a  bobolink  with  a  new  coat  of 
featliers.  /  vum  is  just  the  same  in  spirit  as  I  vow,  and  a  "  diabolical  falsehood  " 
is  synonymous  with  a  devilish  lie.  —  Dow's  Sermons,  Vol.  III.  p.  265. 


w. 

To  Wabash.  "He's  Wabashed,^^  meaning  he  is  cheated,  is  an  ex- 
pression much  used  in  Indiana  and  other  parts  of  the  West. 

To  wabble.  In  the  Western  States,  to  make  free  use  of  one's  tongue; 
to  be  a  ready  speaker. 

Wagged  out.  Tired;  worn  out  (as  if  finished  wagging).  Massa- 
chusetts. 

Waggletail.    The  larva  of  the  mosquito,  &c. ;  also  called  a  wiggler. 

Wahoo  Elm.  {Ulmus  alata.)  A  native  of  Virginia  and  of  the 
States  farther  south.  It  is  known  by  its  longitudinal  ridges  of 
cork-like  bark  on  all  its  twigs  and  branches.  —  Scott,  Suburban 
Home,  p.  819. 

To  wait  upon.    To  pay  attention  to  a  lady  with  a  view  to  matrimony. 

To  wake  Snakes.  1.  To  make  a  rousing  noise;  and  hence  to  rouse 
up,  get  into  action. 

Well,  here  I  be:  loake  snakes,  the  day's  a-breaking. — Southern  Sketches, 
p.  119. 

Come,  wake  snakes.  a.\)d  push  off  with  the  captain,  and  get  the  fish  on  board.  — 
8am  Slick,  Human  Nature,  p.  164. 

So  then,  as  Mexico 's  gone  goose 
And  VMikin'  snakes,  it  ain't  no  use; 
Agin  old  Bull  let  "s  vengeance  vow, 
And  take  no  action  else  just  now. 

Mexico  and  Monroe,  Land.  Punch,  Aug.,  1863. 


736 


WAK— WAL 


2.  To  get  into  trouble. 

Hosea  Biglow  (iiitrodaced  to  us  by  his  friend  Lowell  the  poet), 
in  speaking  of  military  service,  says:  — 

This  goin'  where  glory  awaits  ye  hain't  one  agreeable  featur'; 
And,  if  it  warn't  for  wakhi'  snakes,  I 'd  be  home  agin  short  metre. 

Biyloio  Papers. 

Wake  up.    Stir  yourself.    See  Clape. 

To  wake  up  the  Wrong  Passenger.  To  make  a  mistake  in  the  in- 
dividual. A  modern  substitute  for  the  old  phrase,  "  To  get  the 
wrong  sow  by  the  ear."  The  allusion  is  to  the  custom  on  board 
steamboats  of  arousing  or  waking  passengers  at  stopping-places  at 
night,  when  frequent  mistakes  are  made  and  the  wrong  person 
called  up. 

The  tyrant  coquette,  as  a  matter  of  course. 
Thinks  her  lover  must  mind  the  rein,  just  like  a  horse; 
Discouraged,  he  leaves  her,  she  sees  her  mistake, 
And  laments  that  she  did  the  wrong  passenger  wake. 

The  Stage-driver'' 8  Ball,  Comic  Song. 

Sam  Slick  gives  the  following  account  of  an  interview  between 
an  abolitionist  preacher  and  a  contented  slave.   The  former,  address- 
ing the  slave,  says:  — 
"  Poor,  ignorant  wretch  !  " 

"Massa,''  replied  the  Negro,  "  you  has  waked  up  de  wrong  passenger  dis  time. 
I  isn't  poor.  I  ab  plenty  to  eat  and  plenty  to  drink.  When  I  wants  money, 
Missus  gives  it  to  me.  When  I  wants  wild  ducks  or  venison,  all  I  got  to  do  is 
to  say  to  dat  Yankee  oberseer,  '  Missus  and  I  want  some  canvas-back  or  some 
deer.'"  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature,  p.  289. 

Congress  having  passed  a  resolution  of  inquiry  touching  the 
occasional  absence  of  President  Grant  from  Washington,  the  latter 
made  a  prompt  reply,  showing  that  all  previous  Presidents  had  been 
absent  more  or  less.  In  relation  to  the  movement,  the  "  New  York 
Herald,"  May  4,  1876,  says  :  — 

The  investigating  busybodies  at  Washington  "  waked  up  the  wrong  passenger," 
when  they  called  the  President  to  account  for  his  absences  from  the  national 
capitol. 

Walk.  As  "Ladies'  Walk,"  "Gentlemen's  Walk,"  i.  e.  a  privy. 
This  absurd  piece  of  squeamishness  is  common  at  hotels  and  at 
railroad-stations. 

Walking  Papers  or  Walking  Ticket.    Orders  to  leave;  a  dismissal. 

When  a  person  is  appointed  to  a  public  office  or  receives  a  commis- 
sion, he  receives  papers  or  documents  investing  him  with  authority; 
so,  when  he  is  discharged,  it  is  said  in  familiar  language  that  "  he 
has  received  his  walking  papers  or  his  walking  ticket.^' 


WAL 


737 


It  is  probable  that  "  walking  papers  "  will  be  forwarded  to  a  large  proportion 

of  the  corps  diplomatique  during  the  session  of  Congress.    B  and  B  are 

already  admonished  to  return,  and  the  invitation  will  be  pretty  general.  — N.  Y. 
Herald,  Letter  from  Washington. 

"We  can  announce  with  certainty  that  the  Honorable  Mr.  D  has  received 

his  walking  ticket,  accompanied  with  some  correspondence  with  his  Excellency 
that  has  given  him  offence.  —  Kingston,  Canada,  Whig,  Dec,  1843. 

Mr.  Duane  was  ordered  to  remove  the  deposits.  He  answered  that  his  duty 
did  not  require  it.  In  a  few  hours,  he  got  his  walking  ticket  that  his  services 
were  no  longer  wanted.  —  Crockett,  Tour  down  East,  p.  30. 

'*  If  you  ever  question  me  again,"  said  Mrs.  Samson  Savage,  "you  '11  get  your 
walking  ticket  in  short  order."  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers,  p.  307. 

To  walk  into.  To  get  the  upper  hand  of ;  to  take  advantage  of ;  to 
punish.    A  common  vulgarism. 

To  walk  into  a  Down-East  land-jobber  requires  great  skill,  and  a  very  consider- 
able knowledge  of  human  nature.  —  Sam  Slick,  3d  Series,  p.  122. 

I  went  into  the  dining-room,  and  sot  down  afore  a  plate  that  had  my  name 
writ  on  a  card  onto  it,  and  I  did  walk  into  the  beef,  and  taters,  and  things,  about 
east.  —  Hiram  Bigelow^s  Lett,  in  Family  Comp. 

The  way  in  which  the  "Courier"  and  "Enquirer"  walks  into  the  character 
and  I'eputation  of  some  of  their  old  associates  in  the  Clay  movement  is  a  caution 
to  respectable  blackguards,  and  makes  Wall  Street  journalism  a  rival  to  Five 
Point  eloquence.  —  N.  Y.  Herald,  Sept.  16,  1858. 

Walkist.  A  professional  walker;  a  pedestrian.  The  newspapers 
called  Weston  "the  great  walkist."  The  term  has  even  been 
applied  to  fast-walking  women. 

Little  Von  Hillem,  the  xoalkess,  is  expected  to  set  the  fashion  for  all  the  Boston 
girls  next  year.    Fashions  will  have  to  change  some  tirst.  —  Providence  Press. 

Walk-over.  Complete  and  easy  triumph.  The  "  Vicksburg  Herald  " 
says : — 

What  a  difference  it  makes  to  a  candidate,  when  he  knows  he  is  offered  a  walk- 
over instead  of  a  forlorn  hope  ? 

To  walk  round  a  person  is  to  gain  the  advantage  of  him. 

My  ambassadors,  said  the  President,  may  not  dance  as  elegantly  as  European 
courtiers,  but  they  can  walk  round  them  in  a  treaty,  that 's  a  fact.  —  Sam  Slick, 
Wise  Saws,  p.  20. 

To  walk  the  Chalk.  To  walk  straight,  or  rather  to  keep  up  to  the 
mark. 

"The  Tallapoosa  volunteers,"  said  Captain  Suggs;  "so  let  ever^'body  look 
out  and  walk  the  chalk.'' ^  —  Simon  Suggs,  p.  89. 

Wall  Flower.  A  term  ungallantly  applied  to  those  of  the  fair  sex 
present  at  a  ball,  who,  for  lack  of  invitation  to  dance,  are  con- 
strained to  remain  in  their  seats.    See  Sot. 

47 


738 


WAL— WAM 


To  wallop.  To  beat.  Provincial  in  England  and  colloquial  in  the 
United  States. 

I  grabs  right  hold  of  the  cow's  tail,  and  veiled  and  screamed  like  mad,  and  ivul- 
lopped  away  at  her  like  any  thing.  —  Sam  Slick  in  Enyland^  ch.  18. 

There's  nothing  like  wallopping  iov  taking  the  conceit  out  of  fellows  who  think 
they  know  more  than  their  betters.  —  J.  C.  Neal,  Orson  Dabbs. 

All  I  know  was  loallopped  into  me.  I  took  laniin'  through  the  skin.  —  NeaVs 
Charcocd  Sketches. 

Wall  Paper.    Paper  hangings. 

Wall  Rock.    Granular  limestone,  used  in  building  walls. 

Walt.  Crank.  A  ship  is  said  to  be  wait,  when  she  has  not  her  due 
ballast;  that  is,  not  enough  to  enable  her  to  bear  her  sails,  and  keep 
her  stiff.  Hubbard,  in  his  "  History  of  New  England,"  speaking 
of  Lamberton's  ill-fated  ship,  says  that  "she  was  ill-built,  very 
wait-sided.^'  —  Rev.  Alex.  Young,  note  to  Chron.  of  Massachusetts. 

The  next  year  brought  a  Flemish  fly-boat  of  about  140  tons,  which  being  unfit 
for  a  fishing  voyage,  and  wanting  lodging  for  the  men,  they  added  unto  her 
another  deck,  by  which  means  she  was  carried  so  high  that  she  proved  wait  and 
unable  to  bear  sail.  —  White,  The  Planter's  Plea,  1630,  p.  1. 

In  the  north  of  England,  wait  means  to  totter,  to  overthrow,  — 

HaUiwell. 

Wamble- cropped.  Sick  at  the  stomach;  and,  figuratively,  crest- 
fallen, humiliated.    New  England. 

There  stood  Captain  Jumper,  shaking  General  Taylor's  hand  when  he  came  on 
board  the  "  Two  Pollys,"  trying  to  get  a  start  in  the  address,  but  could  not;  and 
then  I  tried  it.  I  never  saw  Captain  Jumper  so  wilted  down  before,  and  that 
made  me  feel  so  wamble-cropt  I  could  not  say  a  word.  — Major  Doioninc/s  Letter 
■from  Baton  Rouge,  June  15,  184:8. 

The  Captain  looked  so  awful  womble-cropt  that  I  pitied  him.  I  never  saAV 
such  an  uncomfortable-looking  countenance.  —  Widow  Bedoti  Papers,  p.  2b'4. 

Wampum.  (A  term  in  the  Algonkin  languages  signifying  white,  the 
color  of  the  shells  most  frequent  in  wantpiim  belts.)  Shells,  or 
strings  of  shells,  used  by  the  American  Indians  as  money.  These, 
when  united,  formed  a  broad  belt,  which  was  worn  as  an  ornament 
or  girdle.  It  was  sometimes  called  wumpumpeage  or  wampeage  and 
sewan.     See  Peage,  Sewan,  and  Seawant. 

The  Indians  are  ignorant  of  Europe's  coin.  Their  own  is  of  two  sorts:  one, 
white,  which  they  make  of  the  stem  or  stock  of  the  periwinkle,  when  all  the  sliell 
is  broken  off;  and  of  this  sort  six  of  their  small  beads,  whi  -h  they  make  with 
holes  to  string  the  bracelets,  are  current  with  the  English  for  a  pennv.  The 
second  is  black,  inclining  to  blue,  which  is  made  of  the  shell  of  a  fish  which  some 
English  call  hens,  Po(iiiahock;  and  of  this  sort  three  make  an  English  penny. 
Their  white  money  they  call  icompam,  which,  signifies  white;  their  black,  Suckau- 


WAN— WAR 


739 


hock,  Sucki,  signifying  black. — R.  Williams,  Key  to  the  Indian  Language 
(1643). 

Though  the  young  Indian  women  are  said  to  prostitute  their  bodies  lor  warn- 
pumpmk  and  other  such  like  fineries,  I  could  never  find  any  ground  for  the  accu- 
sation.—  Bever^ly's  Virginia  (1705),  Book  III. 

A  Sagamore  with  a  huinbird  in  his  eare  for  a  pendant,  a  black  hawk  on  his 
occiput  for  a  plume,  good  store  of  wampumpeage  begirting  his  loines,  his  bow  in 
hand,  his  quiver  at  his  back,  with  six  naked  Indian  spatterlashes  at  his  heels  for 
his  guard,  thinks  he  is  all  one  with  King  Charles. —  Wood's  New  England 
(1634),  p.  66. 

And  there  the  fallen  chief  is  laid. 
In  tasseird  garb  of  skins  arrayed. 
And  girdled  with  his  wampum  braid. 

Whittier,  The  Funeral  Tree. 

Wangan.  (Indian.)  On  the  rivers  of  Maine,  a  boat  used  chiefly  by- 
lumbermen  for  carrying  provisions,  tools,  &c. 

Among  the  dangers  [of  lumbering  in  Maine],  where  life  and  property  are  haz- 
arded, is  that  of  "running  the  ■wangan,'''' — a  phrase  ■well  understood  on  the 
river.  —  The  Americans  at  Home,  Vol.  III.  p.  254. 

Among  scenes  like  these  the  river-driver  passes  the  day.  Such  are  the  vicis- 
situdes of  life  for  him  who  runs  the  wangun. —  Harjier's  Mag.,  Vol.  XX.  p.  450. 

Want  to  know.  Among  the  most  common  singularities  of  expression 
are  the  following:  "I  should  admire  to  see  him,"  for  ''I  should 
like  to  see  him; '7  want  to  know  !  "  and  "  Do  tell!  "  both  exclam- 
ations of  surprise,  answering  to  our  "  Dear  me!  "  These  last,  how- 
ever, are  rarely  heard  in  society  above  the  middling  class.  —  LyeWs 
Second  Visit,  ch.  ix. 

Wapatoo.  A  name  given  by  the  Oregon  Indians  to  the  bulb  of  the 
Scifjittaria  variabilis,  used  by  them  as  an  article  of  food. 

Wapiti.  (Cervus  Canadensis.)  The  American  elk  or  stag.  From 
the  Cree  Wapitew,  "  grayish  "  or  "  pale  "  as  distinguished  from  the 
common  moose,  which  is  nearly  black. 

War.  Was.  Xegro  dialect.  Sometimes  a  corruption  of  "  was  "  and 
"were." 

Warden.  A  town  officer  in  two  of  the  island  towns  of  Rhode  Island, 
New  Shoreham,  and  Jamestown,  with  similar  privileges  and  juris- 
diction within  his  town  that  justices  of  the  peace  have  throughout 
their  respective  towns  and  counties.  —  Revised  Statutes  of  Rhode 
Island. 

War-Path.    A  march  to  battle,  warlike  expedition  of  the  Indians. 

The  Lenape  would  not  go  to  the  war-path,  because  they  did  not  think  it  well. 
Cooper,  Last  of  the  Mohicans. 

When  on  the  imr-path,  more  than  ordinary  care  is  taken  to  adorn  the  body, 
and  the  process  of  painting  occupies  a  considerable  time.  —  Buxton's  Adv.  in  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  p.  237. 


740 


WAR— WAT 


The  hunters  walked  in  single  file,  following  their  leader,  like  Indians  on  a  war- 
path.  —  Mayne  Eeid,  The  Boy-Hunters,  p.  254. 

This  calamity  threw  these  people  [the  Sioux]  into  such  a  state  of  gloom  and 
sudden  anger  that  it  was  almost  iinjjossible  to  keep  them  from  taking  the  war- 
path. —  Rejyort  of  the  Cunimr.  of  India n  Affairs  for  1874,  p.  358. 

Warm-US.  A  sort  of  roundabout  jacket  made  of  homespun  cloth,  and 
worn  without  buttons,  being  tied  across  the  body  by  the  lower  cor- 
ners.   (Dutch,  warmhuis,  a  warmer,  chauff'olr.) 

Warrant-Trying.  The  magistrate's  monthly  courts  at  the  cross-roads. 
Virginia. 

War- Whoop.  The  Indian  cry  of  war;  a  yell  made  on  attacking  a 
foe. 

• .  .  Ere  dark  pestilence 

Devoured  his  warriors,  — laid  his  hundreds  low, — 
That  Sachem's  war-whoop  roused  to  his  defence 
Three  thousand  bowmen.  —  Diirfee,  Whatcheer,  Canto  III. 

The  red  men  say  that  here  she  walked  * 

A  thousand  moons  ago  ; 
They  never  raise  the  war'-whoop  here, 
And  never  twang  the  bow.  —  Bryant. 
We  must  trust  to  the  experience  of  men  who  know  the  ways  of  the  savages, 
and  who  are  not  often  backward  when  the  ivar-whoop  is  howled.  —  Cooper.,  Last 
of  the  Mohicans. 

Washing,  in  Wall  Street  slang,  is  where  one  broker  arranges  with 
another  to  buy  a  certain  stock  when  he  offers  it  for  sale.  The  bar- 
gain is  fictitious;  and  the  effect,  when  not  detected,  is  to  keep  it 
quoted,  and,  if  the  plotters  buy  and  sell  the  stock  to  a  high  figure,  to 
afford  a  basis  for  bona  fide  sales.  —  Medbery.,  Men  and  Mijsteries  of 
Wall  Street,  p.  138. 

From  the  spring  of  '58  to  '60,  the  Stock  Board  slowl}'  recovered  its  old  tone. 
The  bear  element  was  in  its  glory.  Brokers  had  become  fearful  of  forced  quota- 
tions. Washing  had  become  a  constant  trick  before  the  panic,  and  bids  were 
now  closely  scrutinized.  —  Ibid.,  p.  327. 

Wastage.    The  accidental  waste  of  a  barrel,  box,  &c. 

Watch  out.    Look  out.    "  Watch  out  for  the  stage."  Pennsylvania. 

Water-Dogs.  The  Western  name  for  various  species  of  salamanders, 
or  lizard-shaped  animals,  with  smooth,  shiny,  naked  skins;  some- 
times called  Water-puppies  and  Ground-puppies.  In  Pennsylvania 
and  the  Eastern  States,  they  are  called  Spring-keepers  and  Man- 
eaters. 

Water-Lot.    A  lot  of  building-ground  covered  by  water. 

An  act  passed  by  the  legislature,  ceding,  for  the  period  of  ninety-nine  years, 
all  the  right  and  interest  which  the  State  of  California  had  in  those  parts  of  the 


WAT— WAX 


741 


city  called  the  Beach  and  Water-Lots,  provided  that  twenty-five  per  cent  of  all 
moneys  thereafter  arising  in  any  way  from  the  sale  or  other  disposition  of  the 
said  property'  should  be  paid  over  by  the  city  to  the  State.  —  Annals  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, p.  324. 

Water-Oats.    See  Canada-Rice. 

Water-Privilege.  The  advantage  of  a  water-fall  in  streams  sufficient 
to  raise  water  for  driving  water-wheels,  or  a  place  affording  such 
advantage.  —  Webster. 

Water-Proof.  A  garment,  especially  an  outer  garment,  designed  to 
protect  from  rain.    Used  mostly  by  women.    See  Scutum. 

Water-Shed.  A  word  formed  in  imitation  of  the  German  Wasser- 
scheide  (water-divide),  to  denote  a  height  of  land  which  separates 
waters  flowing  in  different  directions;  better  termed  "dividing 
ridge."    See  Divide. 

The  crests  of  the  serpentine  water-sheds  gradually  diverging  towards  the  Tejon, 
where  there  is  an  impinging  of  the  two  masses  to  such  a  degree  as  to  completely 
envelop  the  plain.  —  Lt.  Parke,  Pacific  Railroad  Report,  Vol.  VII.  p.  5. 

To  water  Stock  is  the  hydraulic  employed  by  modern  managers  to 
double  the  quantity  of  a  stock  without  improving  its  quality.  — 
Medhery.    See  Stock-  Watering. 

Water- Witch.  1.  A  person  who  pretends  to  have  the  power  of 
discovering  subterranean  springs  by  means  of  the  divining-rod, 
made  once  from  the  witch-hazel,  but  now  more  commonly  from  the 
peach-tree. 

In  many  parts  of  the  country,  not  a  well  is  dug  without  a  previous 
consultation  with  a  water-witch ;  and  one  who  attempts  to  run  coun- 
ter to  the  popular  delusion  is  in  danger  of  having  his  "  common 
sense  "  doubted. 

2.  An  aquatic  bird.  See  Dipper. 
Wauregan.  (Ind.  ivunnegan,  fine,  showy.)  Noticed  by  Miss  Caul- 
kins  in  her  "  History  of  Norwich,"  and  by  Dr.  Bacon  in  his  "  His- 
torical Discourses,"  p.  341,  who  cites  Roger  Williams's  Key,  where 
it  means  well  or  good,  and  Eliot's  Bible,  Gen.  i.  10,  n  and  r  being 
interchanged  dialectically.  The  word  is  still  local  in  and  about 
Norwich,  Conn. 

To  wax.    To  overcome  another,  or  surmount  a  difficulty  by  stratagem. 
The  Washington  correspondent  of  the  "  N.  Y.  Herald,"  March 
16,  1876,  in  speaking  of  the  sale  of  post-traderships  by  Orville 
Grant,  the  President's  brother,  says:  — 

The  trader  at  Fort  Lincoln,  fearing  removal,  Orville  Grant's  clerk  at  Standing 
Rock  advised  hina  to  tell  Grant,  "he  can  wax  you." 


742 


WAX— WEE 


Wax-Myrtle.  (Genus  Myrica.)  A  shrub,  of  which  there  are  several 
species,  bearing  a  berry  covered  with  a  shining  wax,  which  is  pre- 
pared for  commerce  by  the  poor  people  along  the  Northei-n  lakes. 
Also  cal]ed  Candleberry  Myrtle. 

Wax-Plant.  (Monotropa  uriiflora.)  A  perfectly  white,  fleshy  plant, 
looking  as  if  made  of  wax.  Before  the  fruit  matures,  the  heads 
are  bent  over;  hence  the  name  "  Indian  Pipe." 

Way.    Away.    Often  heard  in  good  society. 

The  deaf  man  drove  them  luay  off  from  the  Erbey  mansion  into  a  wood.  He 
drove  through  this  wood,  .  .  .  loay  into  a  green  circle,  where  ...  —  Cor.  N.  Y. 
Tribune. 

Wayfaring-Tree.    See  Hobble-Bush. 

Ways,  for  way,  distance,  space.    A  very  common  vulgarism. 
It 's  only  a  little  ways  down  to  the  village.  —  Mnvfjaret,  p.  123. 

There's  no  Two  Ways  about  it,  i.  e.  the  fact  is  just  so,  and  not 
otherwise.  A  vulgarism  of  recent  origin,  equivalent  to  the  common 
phrase,  "  There  h  no  mistake  about  it,'^  or  "It 's  just  as  I  tell  you, 
and  no  mistake.''^ 

Jist  so,  jist  so,  stranger :  yon  are  just  about  half  right,  and  there 's  no  two 
ways  about  it.  —  Sam  Slick,  3d  Ser.,  ch.  7. 

There 's  no  two  ways  about  that,  sir  ;  but  ar'n't  you  surprised  to  see  such  a  tine 
population  V  —  Hoffman,  Winter  in  the  West. 
Weak  Fish.    See  Squeteague. 

Weak  Sister.    A  person  that  cannot  be  relied  upon. 

The  rebels  assert  that  the  Union  has  no  friends  at  the  South.  The  assertion 
is  false.  There  are  white  Unionists  there,  but  they  are  weak  sisters,  — overawed 
terrorized,  silenced.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Dec,  1861. 

Wearables.    Something  to  wear ;  clothes. 

To  wear  the  Collar.  In  political  parlance,  to  be  subject  to  the  con- 
trol of  another;  to  be  directed  in  political  matters. 

Weather.  "  Fine  weather  overhead"  means  a  clear  sky.  "We  are 
going  to  have  falling  weather, means  we  are  going  to  have  rain, 
snow,  or  hail.  "  He 's  under  the  weather, is  a  figurative  expres- 
sion, meaning  badly  off;  in  straitened  circumstances. 

Weather-Breeder.  A  distant  cloud  portending  a  storm.  In  England, 
it  means  a  fine  day. — Halliwell.  "Dowse  the  top-gallant  sail, 
boys.    See  that  weather-breeder  ahead." 

Wed.  Sometimes  vulgarly  used  for  weeded  ;  as,  "  He  iced  the  garden." 
Comp.  plead  for  pleaded. 

Weed.  A  common  term  for  tobacco;  as,  "Do  you  use  the  iveed?^^ 
meaning,  do  you  chew  tobacco?    See  Indian  Weed. 


WEE— WEL 


743 


Those  who  were  not  dancing  were  seated  around  the  room,  some  smoking 
others  chewing  the  loeed^  still  others  drinking.  — Mysteries  of  New  York,  p.  81). 

By  the  appearance  of  the  shirt-bosoms  of  some  inveterate  chewers  of  the  weed, 
I  should  judge  they  had  been  squirting  their  juice  in  the  face  of  a  north-easter. 
Bow's  Sermons,  Vol.  III. 

Weedy- Weedy.  A  plant  resembling  spinach,  much  used  in  the  West 
Indies.  —  CarmichaeV s  West  Indies. 

Weevil.  The  name  is  given  in  this  cotmtry  to  at  least  six  diiferent 
kinds  of  insects,  two  of  which  are  moths,  two  are  flies,  and  two  are 
beetles.  —  Harris,  Insects  Injurious  to  Vegetation,  p.  18. 

Well.  One  of  the  most  marked  peculiarities  of  American  speech  is 
the  use  of  the  word  "  ivell  "  at  the  beginning  of  sentences,  espe- 
cially in  answer  to  questions.  Englishmen  have  told  me  that  they 
could  always  detect  an  American  by  this  use  of  the  word.  Mr. 
Lowell,  so  thoroughly  comprehends  the  various  shades  of  its  mean- 
ing, by  the  manner  in  which  it  is  pronounced,  that  we  avail  ourselves 
of  his  remarks  upon  it:  "Put  before  such  a  phrase  as  '  How  d 'e 
do  ?  '  it  is  commonly  short,  and  has  the  sound  of  wul ;  but,  in  reply, 
it  is  deliberative,  and  the  various  shades  of  meaning  which  can  be 
conveyed  by  difference  of  intonation,  and  by  prolonging  or  abbre- 
viating, I  should  vainly  attempt  to  describe.  I  have  heard  ooa-ahl, 
ivahl,  aid,  wal,  and  something  nearly  approaching  the  sound  of  le  in 
able.  Sometimes  before  '  I '  it  dwindles  to  a  mere  / ;  as,  '  1  /  dunno. '  " 
"A  friend,"  continues  Mr.  Lowell,  "told  me  that  he  once  heard 
five  ^  wells, ^  like  pioneers,  precede  the  answer  to  an  inquiry  about 
the  price  of  land.  The  first  was  the  ordinary  wul,  in  deference  to 
custom;  the  second,  the  long,  perpending  ooald,  with  a  falling 
inflection  of  the  voice;  the  third,  the  same,  but  with  the  voice  ris- 
ing, as  if  in  despair  of  a  conclusion,  into  a  plaintive,  nasal  whine; 
the  fourth,  luulh,  ending  in  the  aspirate  of  a  sigh;  and  then,  fifth, 
came  a  short,  sharp  wal,  showing  that  a  conclusion  had  been 
reached."  — Poetical  Works,  Int.  to  Bi glow  Papers,  Household  Edition, 
p.  221. 

When  Zekle  went  a  courting  Huldy,  the  fair  one,  meeting  him 
at  the  door,  said :  — 

"  You  want  to  see  my  pa,  I  s'pose  ?  " 

"  W(dl,  .  .  .  no,  ...  I  come  designin',"  — 
"  To  see  my  ma  V    She 's  sprinklin'  clothes 

Agin  to-morrer's  ir'nin'.''  —  Ibid. 

Well  to  live.    1.  In  easy  circumstances ;  well  off.    This  expression 
is  of  English  origin. 


WEN— WES 


I  wanted  to  see  how  these  Northerners  could  buy  our  cotton,  carry  it  home; 
manufacture  it,  bring  it  back,  and  sell  it  for  half  nothing;  and,  in  the  mean  time, 
be  well  to  live,  and  make  money  besides.  —  Crockett,  Tour. 

2.  In  New  England,  a  cant  phrase  to  denote  a  person  in  that 
state  of  intoxication  in  which  he  drives  dull  care  away,  and  fancies 
himself  at  the  top  round  of  fortune's  ladder. 

Wench.  In  the  United  States,  this  word  is,  except  by  the  vulgar, 
applied  only  to  black  women  and  girls. 

The  blushing  morn  at  length  came  travelling  up  from  the  oriental  clime,  and 
sowed  the  earth  with  pearls  and  diamonds,  that  glittered  upon  the  dark  bosom  of 
night  like  jewels  upon  the  brow  of  an  Ethiopian  wench.  —  Doio's  Sermons,  Vol.  III. 
p.  111. 

Wendigo.    Among  the  Northern  Indians,  a  hobgoblin. 

"These  Montagnais  think,"  continued  Pierre,  "that  the  Wendigoes  are  giant 
cannibals,  twenty  and  thirty  feet  high.  They  think  that  they  can  live  on  human 
flesh,  and  that  many  Indians  who  have  gone  hunting,  and  have  never  afterwards 
been  heard  of,  have  been  devoured  by  the  Wendiyoes.''''  —  Hind's  Explor.  of  Lab- 
rador, Vol.  I.  p.  59. 

Schoolcraft,  in  "  Algic  Researches,"  mentions  the  belief  of  the 
Western  tribes  in  these  Wendigoes.  In  the  Red  River  country  is 
the  Windego,  or  Cannibal  Lake,  so  called  from  an  unnatural  d.  ed 
committed  by  a  band  of  Ojibways.  A  band  of  forty,  unable  to  pro- 
cure food,  nearly  perished  by  famine.  The  survivors  lived  upon  the 
dead  bodies  of  their  companions.  —  Hindis  Canadian  Exploring  Exp. , 
Vol.  I.  p.  64. 

Went.  Sometimes  used  by  uneducated  persons  for  gone.  "Let  her 
went"  is  a  common  slang  expression.  "Yesterday  was  Good- 
Friday,  and  you  should  have  went  to  church."  Pegge  includes  it 
among  the  London  vulgarisms. 

Werowance.    Among  the  Indians  of  Virginia  and  Maryland,  the 

name  by  which  the  head  chief  was  known. 

In  some  places  of  the  conntr}'  [Virginia],  one  onely  town  belongeth  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  a  Wiroans  or  chiefe  Lord;  in  other  some,  two  or  three;  in  some,  six, 
eight,  or  more;  the  greatest  Wiroans  that  yet  we  had  dealing  with  had  but  eighteen 
townes  in  his  government.  —  Hariot,  Newfound-land  of  Virginia  (1590),  p.  25. 

When  a  Werowance  dieth,  his  eldest  sonne  suceeds,  and  after  him  the  second, 
and  so  the  rest,  each  for  their  lives,  and  when  all  the  sonnes  are  dead,  then  the 
sonnes  of  the  Werowance'' s  eldest  daughter  shall  succeede  —  A  Relation  of  Mary- 
land (1&35),  p.  33. 

West.  The  Western  States  of  the  American  Union,  especially  those 
lying  to  the  west  of  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and  North  Carolina. 

The  enterprising,  ingenious,  and  indomitable  North  ;  the  substantial  and  mag- 
nificent Central  States,  the  great  balance-wheel  of  the  system  ;  the  youthful, 


\yES— WHA 


745 


rapidly  expanding,  and  almost  boundless  West;  the  ardent,  genial,  and  hospi- 
table South,  — I  have  traversed  them  all.  —  Speech  of  E.  Everett,  July  5,  1858. 

Westerner.    A  native  or  resident  of  the  West. 

Western  Reserve.  A  name  formerly  given  to  a  tract  of  country 
reserved  by  the  State  of  Connecticut,  at  the  time  of  the  cession  of 
the  North-west  Territory  to  the  United  States.  In  1800,  jurisdic- 
tion over  this  tract  was  relinquished  to  the  Federal  Government,  the 
State  reserving  the  right  to  the  soil  and  disposing  of  it  in  small 
lots  to  settlers  (from  which  sales  she  obtained  her  magnificent 
school-fund),  while  the  Indian  titles  to  the  rest  of  the  soil  were 
bought  up  by  the  General  Government.  — Wheeler'' s  Dictionary. 

West-Pointer.  A  student,  a  graduate  of  the  U.  S.  Military  Academy 
at  West  Point. 

LiEUTEXANT  Charles  H  .  —  The  brilliant  charge  of  this  young  West- 
Pointer,  through  Fairfax  Court-House  [village]  -  —N.  Y.  Tribune. 

To  wet.  "  Have  you  wet  that  new  coat."  A  hint  to  "  treat."  Grose 
has  becerage,  as  drink  demanded  of  any  one  having  a  new  suit  of 
clothes.  —  Classical  Die. 

To  whale.  1.  To  thrash;  to  beat.  Colloquial  with  us  and  in  the 
north  of  England.    "  Whale,^^  "  wallop." 

2.    VsnaW J  to  whale  away.    To  talk  vehemently ;  to  harangue. 

Professor  Stubbins  is  always  a  whalin^  away  about  the  dignity  of  labor,  and 
has  been  deliverin'  a  course  o'  lectures  on  the  subject.  — Widow  Bedott  Pajiers, 
p.  289. 

I  went  to  Baptist  meeting.  The  elder,  as  usual,  whaled  away  through  his 
nose,  thumped  the  desk,  and  went  over  and  over  the  same  thing,  without  ever 
making  the  most  remote  approach  to  any  thing  like  the  shadow  of  an  idea.  — 
Ibid.,  p.  105. 

Their  masters  can  cuss  'em,  and  kick  'em,  and  wale  'em, 
An'  the}^  notice  it  less  'an  the  ass  did  to  Balaam. 

J.  R.  Lowell,  Blfjlow  Papers,  I.  p.  13. 

Whaler.    A  big,  strapping  fellow. 

"He 's  a  whaler  ! "  said  Rory ;  "  but  his  face  is  mighty  little  for  his  body  and 
legs."  —  Georyia  Scenes,  p.  184. 

Whaling.    A  lashing;  a  beating. 

But  it  is  possible  that  we  may,  at  some  future  time,  go  to  war  with  England, 
her  writers  and  speakers  having  spoken  disparagingly  of  us  while  her  actors, 
half-pay  officers,  and  other  travelling  gentry,  carry  their  heads  rather  high  in 
passing  through  our  country,  —  for  which  "arrogant "  demeanor  we  are  bound  to 
give  her  a.  whaliny  !  —  TV.  Y.  Tribune,  Aug.,  1847. 

Whangdoodle.  A  humorously  imaginary  creature,  whose  precise 
nature,  form,  and  attributes  are  left  to  everyone's  individual  fancy. 

Where  the  lion  roareth  and  the  whangdoodle  mourneth  for  her  first-born.  —  Tht 
Earp  of  a  Thousand  Strings. 


74(3 


Whap  !    An  intei  jectioii  expressive  of  a  sudden  blow,  like  whack! 

But  a  day  of  i)aynunit  is  coming;  and,  if  tlie  nionej'  ain't  fortliconiiiig,  out 
comes  a  Randolph  writ,  and  whap  goes  your  money  and  liberty.  —  CrocktWs 
Sj)eech,  Tour,  p.  lO'J. 

I  began  to  tliink  smokin'  warn't  so  bad  after  all,  when  whoj)  went  my  cigar 
right  out  of  my  mouth  into  my  bosom.  —  Savi  Slick  in  Enyland,  ch.  2. 

To  whap  over.    To  knock  over.    New  England. 

Whapper  or  Whopper.    Any  thing  uncommonly  large;  a  monstrous 

lie.    This  word  is  provincial  in  various  parts  of  England,  and  is 

common  with  us. 

"  Do  you  call  them  large  turnips  ?  " 
"Why,  yes,  they  are  considerably  large." 

"They  may  be  so  for  turnips,  but  they  are  nothing  to  an  onion  I  saw  the  other 
day." 

"And  how  large  was  the  onion 

"Oh,  a  monster  I  it  weighed  forty  pounds." 

"  Forty  pounds  !  " 

"Yes:  we  took  off  the  la3'ers,  and  the  sixteenth  layer  went  completely  round 
a  demijohn  that  held  four  gallons !  " 
"  What  a  whopper  !  " 
"You  don't  mean  to  say  that  I  lie  ?  " 

"  Oh,  no  !  what  a  lohopptr  of  an  onion,  I  mean,"  — N.  Y.  Spint  of  the  Times. 
Before  you  lie,  brethren,  make  up  your  minds  to  go  it  strong;  for  a  little  cal- 
low fib  stands  but  a  small  chance  among  the  big  whoppers  that  are  let  loose  now- 
a-days.    As  my  friend  Pope  might  have  said :  — 

A  little  lying  is  a  dangerous  thing: 

Go  your  whole  length,  or  never  make  a  spring. 

Daw's  Sermons,  Vol.  I.  p.  91. 

Whapper- Jaw.    A  protruding  under-jaw;  so  toliapper-jawed. 
Whapping  or  Whopping.    Very  large. 

We 've  got  only  one  crib,  and  that 's  a  whappin''  one  too.  —  Major  Downinifs 
Letters,  p.  67. 

A  whappin'  big  pan  of  mush  stood  in  the  centre  of  the  table,  and  a  large  pan 
of  milk  beside  it,  with  lots  of  corn-bread  and  butter.  —  Robb,  Squatter  Life,  p.  61. 

A  few  years  ago,  whappimj  great  sleeves  and  big  antecedents  were  all  the  rage ; 
and  what  a  funny  figure  our  belles  did  then  cut !  —  Dotv's  Sermons,  Vol.  III.  p.  21. 

Wharf-Boat.  On  the  Western  rivers,  the  height  of  the  water  is  so 
variable  that  a  fixed  wharf  would  be  useless.  In  its  place  is  used 
a  rectangular  float,  in  part  covered,  for  the  reception  of  goods,  or 
for  a  dram-shop.  It  is  generally  aground  on  the  shore  side,  and  is 
entered  by  a  plank  or  movable  platform.    This  is  a  wharf-boat. 

Wharf-Rats.    1.  Rats  that  inhabit  wharves. 

2.  Thieves  that  infest  the  wharves  of  seaport  towns. 

To  wharf  up.  To  bank  up,  pile  against,  as  earth  around  an  under- 
pinning.   New  England. 


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Wharves.  Mr.  Pickering  notices  this  form  of  the  plural  of  icharf,  as 
peculiar  to  Americans.  The  English  say  wharfs.  In  the  Colony 
and  Province  Laws  of  Massachusetts,  Mr.  Pickering  says  he  ob- 
served the  plural  wharfs  (or  wharf es)  as  late  as  the  year  1735;  but 
after  that  period  the  form  wharves  is  used. 

Whatcheer.  The  shibboleth  of  the  people  of  the  State  of  Rhode 
Island.  When  Roger  Williams,  the  founder  of  this  ancient  colony, 
pushed  his  way  from  Salem,  Massachusetts,  in  the  year  1G36,  through 
the  w'ilderness,  he  embarked  in  a  canoe  with  five  others,  on  Sekonk 
River,  and  landed  near  the  present  site  of  the  city  of  Providence. 
As  the  party  approached  the  shore,  they  were  saluted  by  a  company 
of  Indians  with  the  friendly  interrogation  of  "  What  cheare  Netop  ?  ' ' 
a  common  English  phrase,  which  they  had  learned  from  the  colo- 
nists, equivalent  to  the  modern  How  do  you  do  ?  and  meant  by  the 
natives  as  W^elcome!  —  Key  to  Indian  Language  (1643),  p.  1. 

It  is  amusing  to  see  to  what  objects  this  word  Whatcheer  is  ap- 
plied, in  Rhode  Island,  not  one  of  which  has  the  least  connection 
with  it. 

The  cove  where  the  party  landed  is  called  "  Whatcheer  Cove," 
which  term  is  also  applied  to  the  lands  adjacent.  Then  there  is  in 
Providence  a  "  Whatcheer  Bank,"  a  "  Whatcheer  Church,"  "  What- 
cheer hotels,"  a  "  Whatcheer  Insurance  Company,"  a  "  Whatcheer 
Hall,"  a  "  Whatcheer  Building,"  and,  last  of  all,  a  "  Whatcheer 
Lager  Beer  Saloon  !  "  A  recently  formed  association  in  Provi- 
dence also  christened  their  ground  for  rifle-shooting  the  ' '  Whatcheer 
Park,"  a  most  ridiculous  term,  which  we  think  the  association  has 
since  dropped  for  the  beautiful  and  sonorous  name  of  "  Narragansett 
Park.'' 

Judge  Durfee,  a  Rhode  Island  poet,  has  rendered  this  event  memo- 
rable by  an  interesting  poem,  entitled  "  Whatcheer^  or  Roger  Williams 
in  Banishment."    In  describing  the  landing  of  his  hero,  he  says:  — 

And  straight  the  kindling  words  burst  on  his  ear, 

Their  shouts,  embodied,  sought  the  joyous  sky 
With  open  arms,  and  greeting  of  Whatcheer  ! 

Lined  all  the  shoves  and  banks,  and  summits  high. 
Whatcheer  !  Whatcheer  !  resounded  far  and  near, 

Whatcheer!  Whatcheer  !  the  hollow  woods  reply; 
Whatcheer !  Whatcheer  !  swells  the  exulting  gales. 

Sweeps  o'er  the  laughing  hills  and  trembles  through  the  vales. 

The  Indians  of  Maryland  are  said  to  have  used  the  expression 
kekicknitop^  meaning  "  How  do  you  do  ?  " 


748 


WIIA— Will 


Kekicknitop  the  heathen  cry'd  : 
How  IS  it,  Tom,  my  friend  reply'd. 
Cook,  The  Sot-weed  Factor,  or  Voyage  to  Maryland  (1708),  p.  11,  with 
note  on  the  word. 

What  for  a  is  frequently  used  by  Pennsylvanians,  instead  of  "  What 

kind  of  a,"  in  asking  questions.    It  is  a  literal  translation  of  the 

German  idiom,  "  Was  fiir  ein.^^ 
To  wheal.    To  swell. 

The  father  discovered  a  gainsome  expression  of  face.  .  .  .  His  cheeks  whealed 

and  puffed,  and  through  his  lips  his  laughter  exposed  his  white  teeth.  —  Margaret, 

p.  10. 

Wheat  and  Indian.  A  mixture  of  wheat  flour  and  the  meal  of  Indian 
corn. 

Wheaton.  To  loheaton  it,  among  the  West  Point  cadets,  is  to  play 
sick.  The  term  is  derived  from  the  name  of  old  Dr.  Wheaton, 
U.  S.  A.,  long  stationed  at  West  Point. 

Wheelbarrow-Boat.  A  steamboat  with  a  stern-wheel,  used  on  some 
of  the  Western  rivers,  as  well  as  in  Canada  and  Oregon.  See  Stern- 
Wheel. 

Wheel-Horse.  An  intimate  friend;  one's  right-hand  man;  a  lead- 
ing man.  Western. 

It  is  probable  that  the  only  man  put  forward  by  the  Republican's  wheel-hoi-sea 
of  Illinois  for  high  appointment  under  President  Ha3'es  will  be  the  Honorable 
John  A.  Logan.  —  Lett,  in  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Feb.  26,  1877. 

Wheeling.  The  act  of  conveying  on  w^heels,  or  driving  a  wheeled 
vehicle.  It  is  good  or  bad  vilieeling,  according  to  the  state  of  the 
roads. 

It  is  mid-winter  still,  and  there  is  snow  on  the  ground ;  but  the  sleighing  is 
not  as  good  as  it  was,  and  the  state  of  the  streets  admits  loheeling.  —  The  Upper 
Ten  Thousand,  p.  30. 

At  the  North-west,  wheeling  is  synonymous  with  hauling. 
Wheels.    To  "grease  the  wheels,"  to  furnish  money  necessary  for 

the  accomplishment  of  an  object. 
Whelk.    A  wale ;  a  sore ;  a  swelling ;  a  pustule. 

The  Negro  had  been  most  unmercifully  beaten;  that  he  was  but  one  whelk 
from  his  neck  to  his  ankles.  — Richmond  Enquirer,  Jan.,  1862. 

Whetsaw.  The  White-breasted  Nut-hatch  (Sitta  Canadensis)  is  so 
called  in  Pennsylvania,  from  the  resemblance  its  tones  sometimes 
bear  to  the  whetting  of  a  saw.  —  Nuttall. 

Which  is  what.  "It  is  fun  of  a  different  sort  which  is  what  does 
harm."  —  The  Congregationalist,  May,  1877.     It  is  not  easy  to 


WHI 


749 


straighten  out  this  remarkable  expression.  "Which  is  which'* 
explains  itself,  as  ordinarily  heard.  So  does  even  the  "  but  what  " 
for  "  that,"  &c.,  as  "  I  don't  know  but  what." 

Whiffle-Tree.  The  bar  on  which  the  traces  of  a  dragging  horse  are 
hooked,  and  by  which  he  draws  his  load.  In  England,  called  a 
vMpple-tree.  — HallhcelL    It  is  better  known  as  a  ftwimjle-tree . 

Whig  and  Tory.  During  the  war  of  the  American  Revolution,  the 
terms  Whig  and  Tory  were  applied,  — the  former  to  those  who  sup- 
ported the  Revolutionary  movement,  the  latter  to  the  royalists,  or 
those  who  adhered  to  the  British  government.  Tory  was  then  a 
stigma  of  the  most  reproachful  kind. 

Whigs  and  Democrats.  It  is  very  difficult  to  give  a  precise,  accurate, 
and  satisfactory  definition  of  the  principles  distinctively  held  by 
the  two  great  political  parties  into  which  the  population  of  the 
American  Union  is  divided,  —  one  popularly  styling  itself  the 
Democratic^  the  other  the  Whig  party.  In  point  of  fact,  the  satiri- 
cal definition  of  the  outs  and  the  ins  would  not  be  very  far  out  of 
the  way;  for  the  doctrines  of  government  and  legislation  theoreti- 
cally advanced  by  the  Democratic  party,  when  out  of  power,  are  not 
so  radically  diverse  from  those  of  the  W^higs  in  the  same  condition, 
as  are  the  practices  of  either,  when  in  power,  from  their  professions. 
As  times  change,  and  circumstances,  the  demands  or  wishes  of 
these  parties  change  also;  so  that  what  was  Whig  doctrine  in  1830 
may  be  Democratic  doctrine  in  1850,  and  vice  verm. 

The  nominal  distinctions,  some  years  ago,  were,  on  the  Whig  side, 
a  Protective  Tariff,  a  National  Bank,  Division  of  the  Proceeds  of 
the  Public  Lands  among  all  the  States,  and  the  duty  of  the  General 
Government  to  carry  on  works  of  Public  Improvement,  such  as 
Canals,  Roads,  &c. 

The  Democrat?!  were  for  Free  Trade,  no  connection  of  the  govern- 
ment with  Banking,  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the  public 
lands  among  the  States  in  which  the  lands  lie.  and  non-interference 
by  the  government  with  internal  improvements. 

But  all  these  questions  have  rarely  been  brought  to  the  practical 
test.  Absolute  free  trade  has  ever  been  impracticable,  because  it 
would  deprive  the  government  of  the  revenue  derived  from  imix)sts. 
The  government  has  always  been  obliged  to  carry  on  some  kind  of 
financial  operations,  differing  more  in  name  than  in  reality  from  a 
system  of  banking  considered  as  a  means  of  supplying  a  currency. 
The  public  lands  have  rarely  yielded  any  proceeds  beyond  the  wants 


7L0 


WHI 


of  the  g-ovei'iiment.  And  the  only  real  question,  fairly  at  issue, 
has  been  that  of  improvement  in  public  works. 

The  Democrats  popularly  charge  upon  the  Whigs  a  desire  to 
strengthen  and  centralize  the  National  Government,  declaring 
themselves  to  be  in  favor  rather  of  strengthening  the  local  govei-n- 
ments  of  the  several  States,  and  of  limiting,  as  far  as  constitution- 
ally possible,  the  agency  of  the  National  Government,  or  government 
of  the  Union ;  but  in  practice  the  Democratic  party  is  ready  enough 
to  assume  power  for  the  General  Government  when  any  thing  is  to 
be  gained  by  so  doing;  and  in  this,  as  in  most  other  instances,  the 
difference  between  the  two  parties  lies  rather  in  words  than  in 
deeds. 

The  Whigs,  on  the  other  hand,  popularly  charge  upon  the  Demo- 
crats an  undue  degree  of  subserviency  to  the  Executive,  especially 
since  the  elevation  of  General  Jackson  to  the  presidency  in  1829; 
and  this  charge  seems  to  have  more  foundation  in  truth.  It  is  cer- 
tain, at  all  events,  that  the  thi-ee  Democratic  presidents,  Jackson, 
Van  Buren,  and  Polk,  have  found  a  more  zealous  and  unscrupulous 
support  in  questionable  measures  than  was  ever  given  to  a  Whig 
president,  or  indeed  to  any  of  their  predecessors. 

Perhaps,  on  the  whole,  it  may  be  truly  said  that  the  main  prac- 
tical difference  between  the  Whigs  and  Democrats  lies  in  the  fact 
that  the  latter  give  a  more  unhesitating  and  thorough-going  support 
to  all  measures  which  involve  the  question  of  party-measures,  which 
become,  by  any  means,  party  tests,  whether  emanating  from  the 
Executive  or  adopted  by  him  under  impulse  from  his  adherents.  — 
[,/.  Inman,  1848.] 

WMggism  or  Whiggery.  Whig  principles;  the  doctrines  of  the 
Whig  party.  These  words  have,  in  the  United  States,  lost  their 
original  opprobrious  meaning,  and  are  frequently  used  by  the  Whigs 
themselves  in  speaking  of  their  doctrines. 

Professor  Amasa  Walker  here  came  forward,  and  said  they  all  stood  together 
upon  the  same  platform,  and  he  had  heard  too  much  of  Wlii(j(jory  about  their 
proceedings  already;  and,  as  they  stood  upon  a  broad  platform,  he  as  a  Democrat 
protested  against  their  throwing  in  so  much  Whignery,  and  entertaining  them 
about  Gen.  Taylor's  white  horse.  — Rep.  of  a  Free-soil  Convention  at  Worcester, 
Mass.,  .Tune  28,  1848. 

The  Whigs  in  Boston  see  by  the  movement  in  New  York,  and  by  accounts 
from  Ohio,  that  there  is  a  chance,  at  least,  of  General  Taylor  being  vigorously 
opposed  by  somer  men  of  undoubted  Whif/genj  \i\  influential  States. — Letter 
from  Boston,  in  N.  Y.  Herald,  June  21,  1848. 

While,  for  till.  "  Stay  while  I  come,"  instead  of.  Stay  till  I  come. 
Used  in  the  Southern  States.  —  Sherwood's  Georqia. 


WHI 


751 


To  whip  the  Cat.  I  can  give  no  other  explanation  of  the  phrase 
than  to  quote  the  following  passage  by  Mr.  Goodrich,  who.  in  de- 
scribing the  early  customs  of  New  England,  says:  — 

Twice  a  year,  the  tailor  came  to  the  house  and  fabricated  the  semi-annual  stock 
of  clothes  for  the  male  members,  this  being  called  wliipphKj  the  cat.  —  Reminis- 
cences., Vol.  I.  p.  74. 

Mr.  Hart  made  shoes,  a  trade  he  prosecuted  in  an  itinerating  manner  from 
house  to  house,    whipping  the  cat,'^  as  it  was  termed.  —  JuckVs  Maryaret,  ch.  iii. 

To  whip  the  Devil  around  a  Stump.  To  make  false  excuses  to  one's 
self  and  others  for  doing  what  one  likes. 

While  INIr.  Jones  is  describing  his  wants  in  the  money  line,  and  telling  the 
president  how  "  near  through"  he  is,  that  officer  is  carrying  on  a  mental  addi- 
tion, it  may  be  after  this  manner:  "Jones,  you're  a  clever  fellow,  but  Smith 
tells  me  you  are  engaged  in  a  coal-stock  operation.  I  have  heard  also  that  you 
have  been  dabbling  in  Erie.  There  is  a  want  of  candor  now,  I  perceive,  in  the 
statement  of  your  affairs.  There,  you  are  now  irhippiny  the  devil  aroilnd  the 
stump:  I  see  his  foot."  —  N.  Y.  Eveninc/  Post,  1857. 

Whiskey.    1.     Whiskey  straight  is  the  pure,  undiluted  liquor. 

Down  in  a  small  Palmetto  Sfate,  the  curious  ones  may  find 

A  ripping,  tearing  gentleman  of  an  uncommon  kind; 
A  staggering,  swaggering,  sort  of  a  chap,  who  takes  his  zchiskey  straight. 

And  frequently  condemns  his  eyes  to  that  ultimate  vengeance  which  a  clergyman 
of  high  standing  has  assured  must  be  a  sinner's  fate, — 
This  South  Carolina  gentleman,  one  of  the  present  time.  —  Comic  Song. 

When  Hon.  Frajik  P.  Blair,  then  Democratic  candidate  for  Vice-President  of 
the  United  States,  declared,  in  a  speech  from  the  steps  of  the  Manhattan  Club, 
that  the  main  plank  in  the  Democratic  platform  was  whiskey  straight,  he  probably 
shocked  a  few  of  his  more  orthodox  and  respectable  hearers.  —  V.  Y.  Times, 
March  7,  1872. 

Bourbon  whiskey,  it  is  known,  is  the  best  article,  being  made  of 
rye,  which  see. 

A  man  who  had  been  drinking  freely  rushed  into  a  bar-room:  — 

Who  was  thinkin'  and  thinkin'  and  thinkin'. 

And  cursin'  himself  and  his  fate. 
And  ended  his  thinkin'  as  usual. 

By  orderin'  a  bourbon  straight.  —  The  Bar-tender's  Song. 

•J.  Straight  Whiskey  means  the  liquor  upon  which  the  excise  duty 
has  been  paid.  Crooked  whiskey  is  that  on  which  by  frauds,  or  by 
the  connivance  of  government  inspectors,  the  payment  of  duty  has 
been  evaded.  Immense  quantities  of  the  latter  were  distilled  at  St. 
Louis,  Chicago,  and  other  Western  cities,  in  1872-75,  by  which  the 
government  was  defrauded  out  of  millions  of  dollars.  Several  dis- 
tillers and  government  officials,  being  convicted  of  tliese  frauds,  were 
heavily  fined  and  sentenced  to  State  pri.sons. 


752 


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In  the  McKee  trial,  the  manager  of  the  Bingham  St.  Louis  distillery  testified 
to  the  general  operations  of  the  ring,  the  amounts  of  cro< >ke.(l  whishey  mi\(\Q.  hy 
their  house,  the  sums  of  money  paid  to  the  ring  fund,  and  the  special  assessments 
for  the  alleged  purpose  of  huying  off  the  revenue-officers,  and  to  prevent  seizures. 
N.  Y.  Times,  Jan.,  1876. 

Half  a  dozen  whiskey-dealers  were  arrested  yesterday,  and  held  to  bail  to 
ansAver  a  charge  of  neglecting  duties  imposed  upon  them  by  law  with  reference 
to  the  payment  of  taxes.  These  dealers  had  received  a  large  amount  of  whiskey 
from  the  West,  and  it  is  suspected  that  they  have  been  aiding  the  Western  dis- 
tillers in  putting  the  "  crooked''''  liquor  upon  the  market.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Jan., 
1876. 

The  three  witnesses  from  Chicago  who  are  to  testify  relative  to  the  crooked- 
whiskey  business  as  carried  on  in  New  York  have  arrived  here,  and  under  direc- 
tion of  Attorney  Bliss  go  before  the  grand  jury  to-day.  The  books  of  several 
whiskey  firms  in  this  city,  it  is  stated,  have  been  recently  seized.  —  Philadelphia 
Press. 

Alfred  Bevis,  distiller,  testified  that  Joyce  showed  him  the  Sylph  dispatch 
from  Babcock,  in  December,  1874,  and  that  his  understanding  from  it  was  that 
the  revenue  agents  were  not  coming,  and  on  the  strength  of  the  information 
preparations  were  made  to  run  crooked.  —  N.   Y.  Herald. 

Whiskey-Bloat.  A  person  bloated  from  drinking  whiskey.  "  Pri- 
vate pilferers,  the  tvhiskey-bloats,  the  bullies  in  Ward  elections.'* 
Cincinnati  Com.  Adv. 

Whiskey- Jack.  A  name  for  the  Blue  Jay  (Garrulus  crisiatus).  Can- 
ada and  parts  of  New  England.  The  name  is  a  corruption  of  the 
Indian  Ouishcatchan.  See  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,  1634, 
ch.  iv. 

The  Whiskey-Jack  is  numerous  on  the  ridge,  and  in  the  spruce  swamp  were 
several  ravens.  — Hind's  Canadian  and  Red  River  Exp  ,  Vol.  I.  p.  51. 

Whiskey-Mill.  In  California  and  the  Far  West,  a  grog-shop;  a 
grocery  where  whiskey  is  sold. 

Piatt  City  consists  of  one  fair  hotel,  several  small  boarding-houses  for  opera- 
tives, several  warehouses,  as  many  stores,  and  about  forty  ivhiskey-mills,  or 
small  groceries  where  whiskey,  tobacco,  and  portable  eatables  are  sold  at  fabu- 
lous prices.  — McClure,  Rocky  Mountains,  p.  55. 

Whiskey-Root.  A  plant  of  the  Cactus  species  possessing  intoxicating 
properties,  which  is  thus  described  by  a  correspondent  of  the  "  New 
Orleans  Picayune:"  "It  is  what  the  Indians  call  Pie-o-ke.  It 
grows  in  Southern  Texas,  on  the  range  of  sand-hills  bordering  on 
the  Rio  Grande,  and  in  gravelly,  sandy  soil.  The  Indians  eat  it  for 
its  exhilarating  effect  on  the  system,  it  producing  precisely  the  same 
as  alcoholic  drinks.  It  is  sliced  as  you  would  a  cucumber,  and  these 
small  pieces  chewed,  the  juice  swallowed,  and  in  about  the  same 
time  as  comfortably  tight  cocktails  would  '  stir  the  divinity  within  ' 


WHI 


753 


you  this  indicates  itself:  only  its  effects  are  what  I  might  term  a 
little  more  k-a-v-o-r-t-i-n-g,  giving  rather  a  wider  scope  to  tlie  im- 
agination and  actions." 

Whiskey-Skin.  A  drink  made  of  whiskey,  sugar,  and  mint,  called 
otherwise  whiskey-smasA,  perhaps  on  account  of  the  crushed  ice  with 
which  it  is  cooled. 

Whiskey-sodden.    Soaked,  steeped  in  whiskey. 

A  babbling,  hva.y\r\ing,  whiskey-sodden  preacher  of  rebellion. — N.  Y.  Tribune^ 
March,  1862. 

White  Fish.    1.  See  Menhaden. 

2.  A  certain  fish  abounding  in  the  great  lakes  of  the  West. 

White  Frost.    Hoar-frost.    Western  and  New  England. 

White  League.  A  military  organization  formed  in  New  Orleans,  in 
1874,  for  the  ostensible  purpose  of  putting  down  the  blacks,  in  con- 
sequence of  a  report  that  they  were  arming  themselves  and  prepar- 
ing for  an  uprising.  Several  thousand  of  the  Democratic  party 
enrolled  themselves  in  response  to  a  call,  and  ordered  arms  from 
New  York.  Upon  the  arrival  of  a  steamer  with  these  arms,  the 
city  authorities,  fearing  that  the  real  object  of  the  White  League 
was  to  take  possession  of  the  State  government,  refused  to  allow  the 
arras  to  be  landed.  On  the  l4th  of  September,  the  White  League, 
having  armed  themselves  as  well  as  they  could,  proceeded  to  the 
levee  in  front  of  the  city,  where  the  steamer  was  lying,  in  order  to 
take  forcible  possession  of  the  arms.  This  action  occasioned  the 
riots  of  that  date,  causing  the  death  of  over  one  hundred  persons, 
and  was  the  origin  of  the  White  League,  afterwards  so  famous  in 
Louisiana  politics. 

Referring  to  the  information  filed  against  the  members  of  the 
Louisiana  Returning  Board,  a  Washington  despatch  to  the  "New 
York  Sun  "  says:  — 

Back  of  the  Attorney-General,  District  Attorney,  and  Grand  Jury,  stands  the 
powerful  *'  White  League,''''  which  will  brook  no  interference  by  Nichols. 

Another  Washinf^ton  despatch  presents  this  view,  which  may  suggest  the 
quer}'  whether  Tilden  is  aiding  the  murderous  White  League,  or  the  White 
League  is  aiding  Tilden. 

White  Liner.    A  political  party  in  Louisiana. 

Governor  Stone  was  elected  by  the  v^hite-liners,  aspires  to  be  re-elected  next 
fall,  and  must  rely  on  this  same  class  for  his  future  success.  —  Cor.  of  Washing~ 
ton  Star. 

White-Oak  Cheese.    Tough,  hard  cheese  made  from  skimmed  milk. 
White  Settlements.    The  settlement  of  Kentucky,  the  first  Western 
State,  was  by  an  emigration  from  Virginia  through  the  Cumberland 

48 


754 


WHI 


Gap.  The  fertile  soil,  which  was  the  temptation,  lay  in  the  middle 
of  the  State;  and  the  surrounding  region,  being  comparatively  poor 
(except  in  coal  and  iron),  was  neglected,  although  traversed  by  the 
whole  emigration.  The  centre,  or  "  Garden  Spot,"  was  called  "  The 
White  Settlements,^^  while  Indians  still  lingered  on  its  outskii'ts. 

Now  that  these  comparatively  poor  regions  of  the  State  have 
become  inhabited,  the  name  is  still  retained,  and  without  explana- 
tion would  be  deemed  absurd ;  for  all  the  Indians  have  disappeared 
long  ago,  and  Negroes  are  only  to  be  found  in  numbers  on  the  large 
farms  of  these  very  white  settlements. 

The  phrase  seems  to  be  used  only  by  those  who  live  between  the 
mountains  and  the  region  so  designated,  in  which  the  term  is  never 
oused,  although  well  understood.  —  [G.  C.  Schaeffer.'\ 

White  Trasn.  A  term  applied,  Especially  by  Negroes,  to  the  poor 
white  people  of  the  South.    See  Poor  White  Folks. 

In  social  relations,  the  Negroes  are  sensitive  to  the  overbearing  propensities  of 
a  proprietary  who  are  accustomed  to  regard  all  neighbors  out  of  their  own  class 
as  white  trash.  —  Olmsted'' s  Texas. 

Of  all  the  pizen  critters  that  I  knows  on,  these  ere  mean  v-hife  trash  is  the 
pizenest.  They  ain't  got  no  manners  and  no  bringing  up.  — 3frs.  Stowe,  Dred, 
Vol.  II. 

"  The  fact  is,"  said  Mr.  Gordon,  "  what  with  niggers,  and  overseers,  and  white 
trash,  my  chances  of  salvation  are  dreadfully  limited."  — Ibid.,  Vol.  I.  p.  271. 

Whitewood.  (Liriodendron  tulipifera.)  A  large  tree  bearing  flowers 
resembling  the  tulip.    See  Tidip-Tree. 

Then  in  the  woods  rang  the  sound  of  an  axe,  and  I  was  the  chopper, 
Slashing  away  at  the  tops  of  a  whitewood  fallen  in  the  forest. 

Trowbrid(je''s  Poems,  The  Emigrant. 

Whiting.  The  name  by  which  the  Hake  (Merlucius  vulgaris,  Cuvier) 
is  generally  known  to  fishermen,  in  New  England.  — Storer. 

Whit-Plotting.  A  term  used  in  Nantucket  for  visiting  among  rela- 
tions and  friends. 

Whit-Pot.  A  kind  of  pudding.  New  England.  It  is  the  White-Pot 
of  Devonshire. 

To  whittle.  To  cut  or  dress  with  a  knife.  The  word  as  well  as  the 
practice  of  whittling  for  amusement  is  so  nmch  more  common  with 
us,  especially  in  New  England,  than  in  the  old  country,  that  its  use 
may  not  improperly  be  regarded  as  an  Americanism. 

Dexterity  with  the  pocket-knife  is  part  of  a  Nantucket  education ;  but  I  am 
inclined  to  think  the  propensity  is  national.  Americans  must  and  will  whittle.  — 
N.  P.  Willis. 


WHI— WHO 


755 


In  the  "  Yankee  Ballad  "  by  Miss  Abby  AUin,  in  speaking  of  the 
New  Englander,  she  says :  — 

No  matter  where  his  home  may  be, 

What  flag  may  be  unfurled, 
He  '11  manage  by  some  cute  device 
To  whittle  through  the  world. 
The  Pierce  administration,  which  came  into  power  with  a  majority  of  eighty, 
has  now  been  whittled  down  to  ten,  as  appeared  by  the  vote  on  the  Ostend  con- 
vention. —  Providence  Journal. 

In  the  olden  time  of  England,  the  days  of  Norman  pride, 
The  mail-clad  chieftain  buckled  on  his  broad-sword  at  his  side; 
And,  mounted  on  his  trusty  steed,  from  land  to  land  he  strayed, 
And  ever,  as  he  wandered  on,  he  whittled  with  his  blade. 

0,  those  dreamy  days  of  whittling. 

The  same  poem,  in  alluding  to  the  common  people  who  overthrew 
the  English  government  in  the  time  of  Charles  I.,  thus  continues:  — 

They  whittled  down  the  royal  throne  with  all  its  ancient  might. 
And  many  a  tough  old  cavalier  was  whittled  out  of  sight; 
They  whittled  off  the  king's  head,  and  set  it  on  the  wall ; 
They  whittled  out  a  Commonwealth,  but  it  could  not  last  at  all. 
0,  those  tier}'  days  of  whittling. 

Anglo-Saxon  Whittling  Song,  Congregationalist. 

Mr.  McClure,  in  his  travels  through  the  Far  West  to  California, 
tells  a  remarkable  story  of  a  jury  in  Montana,  who 

Complained  that  they  could  not  get  suitable  sticks  to  whittle ;  and  the  deputy 
sheriff  now  passes  a  soft-pine  board  along  the  jmy  as  soon  as  they  are  sworn, 
and  each  one  splits  off  a  piece  corresponding  with  his  appetite  in  that  line.  — 
Rocky  Mountains,  p.  411. 

Whittled.    Tipsy,  drunk.    Perhaps  in  allusion  to  "  cm^." 

Whittler.    One  who  whittles. 

Not  an  aged  dame  of  Plymouth, 
Nor  the  oldest  whittler  known. 
Can  the  finger  point  to  time-notch 
Chronicling  his  leave  of  home. 
Wm.  Boyd,  Oakwood  Old,  Cambridge  {Mass.)  Chronicle,  1857. 

Whole  Cloth.    A  lie  made  out  of  whole  cloth  is  one  in  which  there  is 
no  admixture  of  truth. 

Isn't  this  entire  story  about  your  Jersey  grandmother  made  out  of  whole  cloth, 
spun  on  your  own  wheel,  withj'^our  tongue  for  the  spindle?  —  C.  Matthews,  The 
Motley  Book,  p.  68. 

Mr.  R.  W.  Thompson,  in  a  late  work  on  "  The  Papacy  and  the 
Civil  Power,"  states  that  Dr.  Pusey  in  his  History  of  the  Councils 
fixes  the  number  of  the  Xicene  canons  at  twenty,  yet  "  publishes  a 
false  and  forged  canon,  which  he  calls  the  twenty-ninth,  to  prove 


756 


WHO 


that  the  Council  of  Xice  thereby  declared  the  Bishop  of  Rome  to  be 
Christ's  vicegerent  in  the  government  of  the  Church,"  and  adds:  — 

The  forgery,  whenever  and  by  whomsoever  made,  is  bold  and  entire,  and  made 
out  df  whole  cloth.  Tliere  is  not  a  single  word  by  any  of  the  early  Fathers  that 
can  be  tortured  into  such  a  meaning.  —  p.  318. 

Whole-footed.  Sound. 

So  Mr.  D  has  shown  his  cloven  foot  to  the  South  at  last.    I  never  believed 

he  Avas  whole-footed.  I  never  had  conrtdence  iu  him.  —  Richmond  South,  Dec, 
1857. 

Whole  Heap.  Many;  several;  much;  a  large  congregation.  An  ex- 
pression peculiar  to  certain  parts  of  the  South  and  West.  —  Sher- 

woocPs  Georgia. 

Whole-souled.  1.  Noble-minded.  A  phrase  in  great  favor  with 
persons  fond  of  fine  talking  and  fine  writing,  like  the  following 
extract  from  a  rhapsody  about  a  Fourth  of  July  oration  of  Mr. 
Choate's:  — 

The  soaring  and  revelling  ideas,  the  whole-souled  patriotism,  the  gorgeous 
word-painting,  the  flow  and  headway  of  resistless  emotion,  were  all  suited  to  the 
audience,  which  hung  entranced  upon  the  lips  of  the  orator.  —  Boston  Journal, 
July,  1858. 

2.  Generous;  free-hearted. 
Whole  Team.    To  say  that  a  man  is  a  whole  team  signifies,  in  New 
England  and  Western  parlance,  that  he  is  possessed  of  uncommon 
powers  of  body  or  mind.    See  Full  Team. 

Among  other  amplifications  of  the  phrase  is  that  of  a  whole  team 
and  a  horse  to  spare,  or  a  horse  to  let. 

The  author  of  a  series  of  lively  sketches,  in  "  Blackwood's  Maga- 
zine," on  "  Canada  and  the  North-west  States,"  says:  — 

I  once  heard  a  Yankee  desci'ibe  the  greatest  friend  he  possessed  in  the  world  as  a 
hull  team  and  a  horse  to  spare,  besides  a  big  dog  under  the  wagon."  —  Vol. 
LXXVIII.  p.  336. 

In  a  sketch  of  fashionable  society  in  New  Yoi-k,  the  writer  thus 
speaks  of  a  specimen  of  Young  America:  — 

Here's  the  first  curiosity  of  the  place.  He's  just  three  years  old  rising;  can 
drive  a  horse  on  a  straight  road;  eats  every  thing  he  can  get,  and  drinks  every 
liquid  in  the  house  except  ink.  Isn't  he  a  beauty?  Isn't  he  a  whole  team  and 
one  horse  extra  ? —  The  Upper  Ten  Thousand. 

Rip  van  Hawser  and  his  two  splendid  galls.  Oh,  my  sakes !  Weren't  they 
whole  teams  of  themselveSj  and  a  horse  to  spare  ?  —  Sam  Slick,  Wise  Saws,  p.  23. 

Whoosh.  A  term  used  in  New  England  in  backing  a  horse  or  an  ox. 
In  Moor's  Suffolk  Glossary,  it  is  defined  as  "an  imperative  com- 
manding the  fore-horse  of  a  team  to  bear  to  the  left."    Mr.  Forby, 


WIC— WID 


757 


on  the  contrary,  in  his  Norfolk  Glossary,  says  "  Woosh  wo  !  means 
"  Go  to  the  right."  Both  authors  derive  it  from  the  French  gauche. 
Perhaps  from  Whoa,  Hush  ! 

Wicket.  A  place  of  shelter,  or  camp  made  of  the  boughs  of  trees, 
used  by  lumbermen  in  Maine. 

Wicopy.    See  Leather-  Wood. 

Wide-awake.  On  the  alert;  ready;  prepared;  to  be  on  the  watch 
for  any  thing. 

Miss  Harriet  had  more  clothes  and  more  money  than  the  rest ;  because  she  was 
always  wide-aioake,  and  looking  out  for  herself.  —  Mrs.  Stoive's  Dred,  Yo\.l. 
p.  210. 

In  the  morning,  and  before  sunrise,  Bogard,  who  was  a  Yankee  and  a  ivide- 
awake  fellow,  thrust  his  head  out  from  under  his  robe,  exclaiming,  as  he  grasped 
for  his  gun,  "  Bv  darn,  look  at  old  Cale !  "  —  Catlin's  North  Am.  Indians,  Vol.  I. 
p.  71. 

The  Homeric  Greeks  were  too  shrewd  and  wide-a  wake  a  people  to  sow  where 
they  did  not  reap  ;  and  the  increase  of  communication,  and  consequent  frequency 
of  visitors,  were  sure  to  close  quickly  the  open  door,  and  the  unasked  right  of 
entr3\  —  Mahaffy,  Social  Life  in  Greece.,  p.  48. 

"  Oh  what  is  the  good  of  a  wide-awake  boy. 

Who  whoops  and  halloos 

As  he  ties  on  his  shoes. 

And  who  dances  a  jig 

While  he 's  combing  his  wig 
And  washing  his  face  with  a  very  poor  grace ; 

Who  whips  on  his  jacket, 

And  makes  all  the  racket 

He  po&sibly  can? 
Now,  tell  me,  I  pray,  what 's  the  good  of  this  boy? 
Well,  a  wide-awake  boy  makes  a  icide-awake  man.— Anonymous. 

Wide-awake,  n.  A  kind  of  low-crowned  felt  hat,  with  a  broad  brim; 
a  slouched  hat. 

Wide-awakes.  The  name  of  a  political  organization  appertaining  to 
the  Republican  party,  whose  object  was  to  promote  the  election  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  to  the  Presidency.  The  order  originated  in  Hart- 
ford, Conn.  On  the  25th  of  February,  1859,  when  the  Hon.  Cassius 
M.  Clay  was  to  address  the  Republicans  of  that  city,  certain  young 
men  got  up  a  torchlight  procession  in  his  honor.  Finding  that  the 
oil  was  liable  to  run  down  from  the  torches  and  injure  their  clothes, 
they  prudently  provided  themselves  with  oil-cloth  caps  and  glazed 
capes. 

The  party,  meeting  with  some  opposition  from  the  Democrats  on 
their  return,  resolved  to  form  a  club,  to  be  equipped  with  swinging 
torches  and  black  capes  and  caps,  to  act  as  an  especial  escort  on 


758 


WIG— WIL 


occasion  of  public  parades  of  the  Republican  party.  Accordingly,  on 
the  3d  March  following,  a  club  of  fifty  was  formed,  called  the  "  Wide- 
awake Club,"  a  Constitution  w^as  adopted,  and  officers  elected. 
The  organization  became  very  popular,  and  similar  clubs  were  im- 
mediately formed  in  various  parts  of  the  Union,  so  that  it  was  esti- 
mated that  before  the  Presidential  election  in  1860  their  numbers 
exceeded  half  a  million.  At  a  general  meeting  in  New  York  on 
the  3d  October,  20,000  assembled  and  marched  in  procession  with 
torches. 

Wiggle.  1.  To  bend  the  body  raj^idly  from  side  to  side;  to  wriggle,  as 
a  fish  or  tadpole. 

2.  A  twist,  crook,  irregular  line. 

A  certain  wiggle  in  my  handwriting ;  an  unusual  but  impressible  wiggle,  which 
you  will  ascribe  to  extraordinarj'  pickings  and  shovellings  in  the  trenches.  — 
Cor.  N.  Y.  Tribune,  18G1. 

Wiggle-Tail.    The  popular  name  for  the  larva  of  the  mosquito. 

Standing  by  a  shallow,  half-stagnant  pool  on  a  midsummer's  day,  the  full 
development  of  any  number  of  loiggle -tails  "  to  the  mosquito  state  can  be  wit- 
nessed, and  the  origin  of  these  disturbers  of  night's  slumbers  thus  fully  ascer- 
tained. —  Scientijic  American. 

Wigwam.  Algonkin  or  Massachusetts  weTc,  "his  houses"  or  dwell- 
ing-place; with  possessive  and  locative  affixes,  wekou-om-ut  in  his 
[or  their]  house,"  contracted  by  the  English  into  iveekwayn  and 
wigwam.  —  Webster.    An  Indian  cabin  or  hut,  usually  made  of  skins. 

Dark  as  the  frost-nipp'd  leaves  that  strew' d  the  ground, 
The  Indian  hunter  here  his  shelter  found; 
Here  cut  his  bow  and  shaped  his  arrows  true, 
Here  built  his  wigwam  and  his  bark  canoe. 

Brainard,  Connecticut  River.  » 

Wigwassing  or  Wequashing.  The  Anglicized  form  of  an  Algonkin 
word,  in  use  on  the  sea-coast  of  New  England.  "  The  Indians  when 
they  go  in  a  canoe  with  a  torch,  to  catch  eels,  in  the  night,  call  it 
Weequash,  or,  Anglicized,  Weequashing.''^  —  Hon.  N.  Freeman  of 
Sandivich,  in  1  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  Vol.  I.  p.  231. 

The  term  is  yet  in  use  in  New  London  County,  Conn.,  and  else- 
where. 

Wild-Bean.  (Phaseolus  diversif alius.)  A  plant  common  in  the  alluvial 
bottoms  of  the  West,  the  Wild  Potato  of  the  Sioux  Indians,  much 
used  as  food. 

Wild-Cat.  A  bank  in  Michigan  had  a  large  vignette  on  its  notes 
representing  a  panther,  which  animal  is  familiarly  called  there  a 
Wild-cat.    This  bank  failed,  having  a  large  amount  of  its  notes 


WIL 


759 


in  circulation,  which  notes  were  afterwards  denominated  Wild-cat 
money,  and  the  bank  issuing  them  the  Wild-cat  bank.  Other  banks 
were  compelled  to  stop  payment  soon  after,  in  consequence  of  the 
want  of  confidence  in  them;  and  the  term  became  general  in  Michi- 
gan, to  denote  banking  institutions  of  an  unsound  character.  The 
term  Blue-pup  money  had  a  similar  origin,  as  distinguished  from 
Bed  Bog,  which  see. 

We  had  to  sell  some  of  our  land  to  pay  taxes  on  the  rest,  — and  then  took  our 
l)ay  in  Wild-cat  money  that  turned  to  waste  paper  before  we  could  get  it  off  our 
hands.  —  Mrs.  Clavers's  Forest  Life,  Vol.  I.  p.  91. 

The  Leavenworth  (Kansas)  Ledger,  in  announcing  that  the  American  Bank  in 
this  city  had  suddenly  exploded,  remarks:  "There  are  thousands  of  dollars  of 
its  notes  in  the  hands  of  the  citizens  of  this  city  and  vicinity ;  how  the  notes 
obtained  a  circulation  here  is  a  mystery  to  us,  and  we  know  not  to  whom  the 
blame,  if  any,  attaches  ;  certain  it  is  that  we  are  overrun  with  a  wild-cat  currency 
from  all  God's  creation,  and  every  day  or  two  we  notice  batches  of  new  issues 
scattered  amongst  us."  —  {Bait. )  Sun,  July  8,  1858. 

Our  banks  are  always  willing  to  offer  loans  and  facilities  to  speculators  and 
wild-cat  business  men  to  operate  with,  and  it  is  through  their  assistance  that  the 
business  of  the  country  is  disarranged.  —  Cincinnati  Enquirer. 

When  the  Yankee  mind  stoops  to  criminal  pursuits,  it  is  likeh'  to  manifest 
itself  m  the  way  of  bank  forgeries,  embezzlements,  or  the  formation  of  petroleum 
bubbles  or  wild-cat  banking  institutions.  —  The  Galaxy  for  1877,  p.  632, 

Wild  Cherry.  (Cei-asus  Virginiana.)  A  large  American  tree,  bearing 
a  small  astringent  fruit  resembling  a  cherry.  The  wood  is  much 
used  for  cabinet  work,  being  of  a  light  color  and  a  compact  texture. 
Browne'' s  Sylva  Americana. 

Wild  Indigo.  (Baptisia  tinctoria.)  A  plant  found  in  the  woods,  yield- 
ing a  small  quantity  of  indigo. 

Wild  Land.  Land  which  has  never  been  settled  and  cultivated; 
forest. 

Wild  Oats.  (Arena  fatua.)  A  variety  of  oats  which  grows  wild 
upon  all  the  hills  and  higher  lands  of  California,  furnishing  the 
best  forage.    It  was  probably  introduced  by  the  Spaniards. 

Wild  Potato  Vine.    See  Mechoacan. 

Wild  Rice.  (Zizania  aquatica.)  A  tall,  tubular,  reedy  water-plant, 
found  in  abundance  on  the  marshy  margins  of  the  Northern  Lakes, 
and  in  the  plashy  waters  on  the  upper  courses  of  the  Mississippi. 
Its  leaves  and  spikes,  though  much  larger,  resemble  those  of  oats, 
whence  the  French  name,  folles  avoines.  Millions  of  migrating 
water-fowls  fatten  on  it  before  taking  their  autumnal  flight  to  the 
South;  while  it  furnishes  the  northern  savages  and  the  Canadian 
traders  and  hunters  with  their  annual  supplies  of  grain. 


760 


WIL— WIN 


At  the  time  of  our  visit,  wild  rice  was  growing  abundantly  over  almost  all  the 
whole  surface  of  Lake  Koshkonong,  giving  to  it  more  the  appearance  of  a  meadow 
than  a  lake.  —  Laphnm's  Antiquities  of  Wisconsin,  p.  35. 

Wild  Train.  A  railroad  train  not  on  the  time-tables  of  the  road,  and 
therefore  irregular,  and  "  not  entitled  to  the  track,"  as  the  rail- 
road phrase  is,  as  against  a  regular  train. 

Will.    See  Would. 

To  wilt.  1.  To  droop;  to  wither,  as  plants  or  flowers  cut  or  plucked 
off.  —  Halloway.  A  word  common  in  the  United  States,  and  pro- 
vincial in  England,  where  welk  and  welt  are  used  in  the  same  sense. 
Worcester, 

Miss  Amy  pinned  a  flower  to  her  breast ;  and,  when  she  died,  she  held  the 
wilted  fragments  close  in  her  hand.  —  Margaret,  p.  213. 

2.  To  wilt  down  is  a  figurative  expression,  used  of  a  person  who 
hangs  his  head,  looks  sheepish. 

Some  cotton  fellar  here  bid  sixty  dollars  [for  the  slave],  and  she  wilted  right 
down.  —  Robb,  Squatter  Life. 

"Doctor  Peter  Jones,"  ses  he,  "linterduce  you  to  their  Majestys  the  King 
and  Queen." 

Cousin  Pete  scraped  about  a  while,  and  then  dropt  on  one  knee  rite  afore  'em. 
"Rise,  gallant  knight!  "  ses  Bill  Byers,  —  "  rise,  we  dub  you  knight  of  the 
roj-al  bath." 

Cousin  Pete  got  up  and  bowed  and  scraped  a  few  more  times,  and  went  to  sit 
down  between  'em,  but  they  ris  up  jest  as  he  went  to  set  down;  and  the  first 
thing  he  knowed,  kerslosh  he  went,  rite  into  a  big  tub  of  cold  water,  with  noth- 
ing but  his  head  and  heels  stickin'  out.  Pete  got  out  as  quick  as  he  could,  and  I 
never  seed  a  feller  so  wilted  down  in  all  my  life.  — Major  Joneses  Courtship. 

Windfall.  1.  The  track  of  a  whirlwind  or  tornado  in  a  forest,  where 
the  trees  are  laid  prostrate. 

In  the  country  around  Angelica  were  what  were  called  windfalls.  .  .  .  These 
windfalls  were  great  places  for  rabbits  and  partridges,  and  it  was  no  great  thing 
to  boast  of  to  kill  a  dozen  or  two  of  these  birds  of  an  afternoon.  — Hammond, 
Wild  Northern  Scenes,  p.  220. 

2.  Fruit  blown  off  by  wind. 

To  wind  up.  1.  To  close  up;  to  give  a  quietus  to  an  antagonist  in 
debate.    Also,  intransitively,  to  shut  up;  to  stop  business. 

John  Bell  of  Tennessee,  that  unmistakable  Whig,  has  rung  out  a  clear  and  far- 
sounding  note  of  alarm  concerning  this  Mexican  war.  He  is  as  serious  as  a 
preacher,  and  as  downright  as  a  sailor  in  the  delivery  of  his  sentiments.  A 
lively  dialogue,  constituting  a  kind  of  interlude  to  his  speech,  sprang  up  between 
him  and  Mr.  Cass,  in  which  he  pretty  effectualh'  "  wound  up'"  the  senator  from 
Michigan.  —  N.  Y.  Com.  Adv. 

2.  To  "  icind  up  his  ivorsted  "  is  to  give  the  very  last  turn  of  which 
an  undertaking  is  capable. 


WIN— WIP 


761 


Several  of  the  Western  banks  will  be  compelled  to  wind  up  in  consequence  of 
their  losses  and  the  severe  pressure.  — iV.  Y.  Herald,  Sept.,  1857. 

Wing  Dam.  A  dam  extending  but  partly  across  a  stream.  Such 
dams  are  constructed  in  California  to  facilitate  the  operations  of 
miners. 

Winkle-Hawk.  (Dutch,  winkle-haak.)  An  angular  rent  made  in 
cloth,  &c.    It  is  also  called  a  winkle-hole.    A  New  York  term. 

Winrow.     The  common  pronunciation  of  idndrow.    Grass  laid  in 

rows  after  it  has  been  cut,  before  it  is  gathered  into  cocks. 
Winter-Berry.    See  Alder. 
Winter-Cherry.    See  Ground-Cherry. 

Wintergreen.  (Gualtheria.)  The  common  name  of  several  species 
of  plants  of  the  Heath  family;  as,  False  Wintergreen  of  the  genus 
Pyrola ;  Spotted  W.  of  the  genus  Chitnaphila  maculata. 

Winter-killed.    Killed  by  the  cold  of  winter,  as  wheat,  clover,  &c. 

Winter-Privilege.  Separate  meetings  from  those  in  the  central  paro- 
chial church,  allowed  to  be  held  by  the  people  in  out-districts. 
Former  usage  in  Connecticut. 

To  wipe  out.  A  phrase  employed  by  the  Indians  and  hunters  of  the 
West,  meaning  to  exterminate,  annihilate  a  person  or  tribe. 

They  [the  Camanches,  Apaches,  and  others]  had  met  for  the  purpose  of  form- 
ing their  own  party,  in  order,  as  they  in  their  strong  language  said,  to  wipe  out 
all  frontier  Indians  they  could  find  on  the  plains.  — Report  of  Com.  of  Indian 
Affairs  for  1854,  p.  90. 

The  Pima  Indians  have  got  up  another  quarrel  with  the  Apaches,  and  have 
mustered  upwards  of  a  thousand  warriors  to  give  them  battle.  It  is  their  deter- 
mination to  "  wipe  out  the  Apaches,"  or,  as  they  express  it,  to  eat  tliem  up 
entirely,  which  is  a  consummation  devoutly  to  be  wished.  —  AUa  Californian, 
July,  1858. 

"  We  are  coming  to  Lawrence,"  said  the  Missourians,  "  in  a  few  days,  to  wipe 
out  the  damned  abolition  city,  and  to  kill  and  drive  off  every  one  of  the  inhab- 
itants." —  Mrs.  Robinson's  Kansas,  p.  222. 

The  Mormon  militia  under  Brigham  Young  intend  to  take  a  stand  at  the  pass 
in  the  mountains  near  Bear  River,  with  the  certainty  of  wiping  out  the  U.  S. 
forces  sent  against  them.  —  Letter  from  Utah,  N.  Y.  Times,  Nov.,  1857. 

The  "  Boston  Pilot,"  in  speaking  of  the  "  fight  in  the  New  York 
Democratic  Convention  between  Tammany  and  anti-Tammany," 
says : — 

The  existence  of  a  party  within  a  party,  and  the  inner  one  a  close  corporation 
controlling  the  other,  is  a  dangerous  principle,  and  one  that  should  be  wiped  out. 

To  wipe  out  a  stock  operator  is  a  Wall  Street  phrase,  and  means  to 
entangle  him  in  a  stock  transaction  until  he  loses  his  footing  and 


762 


WIR 


fails  utterly.    It  is  one  of  the  malignancies  and  cruelties  of  the 
street.  — Medhery,  Men  and  Mysteries  of  Wall  Street,  p.  138. 

Wire,  Wires.  The  electric  telegraph;  conveyance  by  means  of  the 
wires. 

For  a  week  past  we  have  had  no  wire  communication  further  East  than  .  .  , 
N.  Y.  Tribune. 

To  wire.    To  send  a  message  over  the  telegraph  wires. 
Wired  up.    Irritated ;  provoked. 

Wire-Edge.    The  wire-edge  of  a  tool  is  that  stage  in  the  process  of 

sharpening  it,  when  a  delicate  roll  or  strip  of  metal  resembling  a 
fine  wire  still  adheres  to  the  edge,  and  which  of  course  must  be 
removed  before  the  implement  can  be  in  proper  order  to  cut.  Some 
persons,  however,  seem  to  imagine  that  a  wire-edge  is  a  fine  edge, 
and  hence  absurdly  use  the  term  in  such  phrases  as  to  take  off  the 
wire-edge  of  one's  appetite,  of  a  horse's  spirit,  &c. 

He  trotted  the  first  mile  in  2.55,  and  the  second  in  2.45,  and  was  then 
stopped.  On  commencing  again,  he  had,  of  course,  lost  the  wire-edye  "  of  his 
speed,  yet  he  trotted  nineteen  miles  in  57.43.  —  N.  Y.  Spirit  of  the  Times. 

Wire-PuUers  or  Wire- Workers.  A  term  denoting  those  who,  by 
their  secret  plots  and  intrigues,  control  the  movements  of  the  pup- 
pets on  the  political  stage. 

The  coming  contest  is  to  decide  whether  the  people  have  the  privilege  of  elect- 
ing a  chief  magistrate  of  their  own  selection,  or  only  the  privilege  of  electing  one 
of  two  candidates  whom  self-elected  cliques  of  nominators  choose  to  designate. 
The  Philadelphia  Convention  will  assemble  on  Wednesday.  Already  that  city 
is  filled  with  wire-pullers,  public  opinion  manufacturers,  embryo  cabinet  officers, 
future  ambassadors,  and  the  whole  brood  of  political  make-shifts,  who  contrive 
to  live  out  of  the  public  purse  by  abusing  public  credulity.  —  N.  Y.  Mirror, 
June  5,  1848. 

In  another  case,  at  a  nominating  convention,  a  "surprise  candidate,"  youthful 
in  age,  and  in  all  other  qualifications  far  inferior  to  his  competitors,  obtained  the 
nomination.  There  was  no  longer  any  surprise  about  the  matter,  when  it  was 
subsequently  ascertained  that  the  wire-workers  in  convention  had  a  deep  interest  C 
in  a  particular  suit  at  law,  to  which  their  candidate  was  pledged  to  give  a  judg- 
ment in  their  favor,  in  case  of  being  the  judge.  —  Nat.  Intelligencer,  Sept.  20, 
1858. 

Wire-pulling  or  Wire-working.    Political  managing. 

Those  who  were  candidates  for  office  in  either  house  [of  the  legislative  assem- 
bly of  N.  Mexico]  and  their  friends  began  the  system  of  electioneering,  so  preva- 
lent in  other  sections  of  the  Union ;  and  the  few  days  that  intervened  between 
the  arrival  of  the  members  and  the  meeting  of  the  assembly  were  spent  in  wire~ 
pulliny,  log-rolling,  and  all  the  other  strategic  movements  known  in  modern 
politics.  —  Davis,  El  Gringo,  p.  251. 


WIR— WOM 


763 


Wire- Worm.  (Elater  lineatus.)  The  name  Wire- worm  is  given 
by  farmers  to  the  lai^vae  of  various  species  of  beetles  belonging  to 
the  genus  Elater,  of  which  a  large  number  are  known  both  in 
Britain  and  in  this  country.  These  laiw?e  are  exceedingly  destruc- 
tive, feeding  upon  the  roots  and  the  underground  stems  of  wheat, 
Indian-corn,  grape-vines,  and  most  varieties  of  cultivated  vegetables. 

Wisdom  Tooth.  A  large,  back  double-tooth;  familiarly  so  called 
because  appearing  comparatively  late,  as  it  were  after  the  person 
has  arrived  at  the  age  of  wisdom.  —  Webster. 

To  wise.  A  spinning  top  is  said  to  wise^  when  it  inclines  from  the 
perpendicular. 

Wish-Bone  or  Wishing-Bone.  The  breastbone  of  a  fowl  is  so  famil- 
iarly called,  especially  by  children,  from  a  custom  connected  with  it. 
The  bone,  after  being  dried,  is  taken  by  two  persons,  who  hold 
each  shank  between  their  fore-finger  and  thumb,  and  then  pull 
until  it  breaks,  at  the  same  time  laishing  for  something  The  one 
in  whose  fingers  the  larger  portion  remains,  it  is  said,  will  have  his 
ivish.    See  Pulling- Bone. 

Wishy-washy.  Weak;  insipid;  trashy. —  Carres  Craven  Glossary. 
The  term  is  often  applied  to  poor  literature;  as,  "  This  novel  is  a 
wishy-washy  affair."    Poor  liquor  is  called  by  the  same  term. 

Witness-Trees.  In  newly  settled  countries  at  the  West,  every  mile 
square  is  marked  by  "  blazed  "  trees,  and  the  corners  especially  dis- 
tinguished by  stakes,  whose  place  is  pointed  out  by  trees  called 
witness-trees.  —  Mrs.  Clavers,  Western  Clearings,  p.  3. 

To  wizzle.    To  shrink  up;  to  wrinkle;  to  be  shrunk;  to  be  wrinkled. 

New  England. 
Wolfish.    Savage.    A  Western  word. 

You  must  fight  or  play ;  so  take  your  choice,  for  I  feel  most  wolfish  and  savage- 
rous.  —  Sam  Slick,  3d  Ser.,  p.  117. 

They 'd  been  fij^htin'  the  barrel  of  whiskey  mightily  comin'  up,  and  were 
perfectly  wolfish  arter  some  har  of  the  dog.  —  Porter's  Tales  of  the  South-west, 
p.  121. 

Wolverines.  The  people  of  the  State  of  Michigan;  who  are  said 
to  be  so  called  from  the  large  number  of  the  mischievous  j^rairie 
wolves  found  there. 

Woman's  Rights.  A  question  involving  the  political,  industrial, 
educational,  and  general  social  status  of  women,  and  their  legal 
rights  and  disabilities.  This  movement  began  in  the  United  States 
in  the  middle  of  the  present  century,  in  connection  with  the  anti- 


764 


WOM— WOO 


slavery  agitation,  with  which  it  at  first  identified  itself.    For  a  clear 
statement  of  the  question,  see  Appleton^s  American  Cyclopedia. 

Wimmen's  riyhts,  wimmen''s  riyhts,  I  wonder  how  many  more  fools  are  goia'  a 
caperiu'  round  the  counUy  preachin'  'em  up.  I'm  sick  of  wimratn's  riyhts,  I 
don't  believe  in  'em.  —  Betsy  Bobbet,  p.  85. 

Woman's  Rights'  Convention.  An  assemblage  of  persons  who  en- 
deavor by  public  discussions  to  improve  the  social  and  political 
condition  of  women. 

Thousands  of  parrots  passed  over,  with  their  peculiar  short  and  querulous  note. 
In  the  morning  and  towards  night,  they  kept  up  the  most  vehement  chattering,  all 
talking  and  none  listening,  after  the  manner  of  a  Woman's  Riyhts''  Convention.  — 
E.  G.  Squier,  Waikna,  p.  89. 

Women-Folks.  Women,  especially  the  female  members  of  a  house- 
hold. "  The  women-folks  will  be  impatient  till  you  come."  This 
redundant  expression  is  common  in  rural  districts,  and  equally  so  is 
its  counterpart,  "men-folks." 

Wonders.    In  Nantucket,  a  kind  of  cake. 

Wood-Beetle.  A  large,  coleopterous  insect.  A  correspondent  of  the 
"  N.  Y.  Tribune,"  writing  from  Cairo,  Illinois,  says:  — 

Its  dank,  deep  forests  generate  wood-beetles,  snakes,  and  all  manner  of  creeping 
things :  if  in  your  bliss  of  ignorance  you  don't  know  what  a  wood-beetle  is,  picture 
an  enormously  exaggerated  black  bug,  with  shining  shell  and  body  long  as  the 
width  of  this  "Tribune"  column,  who,  uninvited,  sails  in  at  your  evening 
window,  and  anchors  himself  by  multitudinous  legs  to  your  arm. 

Woodbine.    See  Virginia  Creeper. 

Woodchuck.  {Arctomys  monax.)  The  ground-hog,  a  rodent  mam- 
mal of  the  marmot  tribe.    It  burrows,  and  is  dormant  in  winter. 

Webster's  Dictionary  gives  Woodshock  as  a  name  of  the  Pecan  or 
Fisher  (Martes  Canadensis),  and  Woodchuck  for  the  {Arctomys 
monax),  with  a  reference  to  "  chuck, as  if  the  name  was  com- 
pounded from  "  wood  "  and  "  chuck."  It  is,  in  fact,  a  corruption 
(like  woodshock)  of  the  vulg.  name  of  the  Fisher,  —  misapplied  to  C 
the  Ground-hog.  This  name  was  formerly  written  woodshaw,^^ 
"  woodschock,^^  and  ^^ioejack.^^  See  N.  E.  General  Reg.,  Vol.  XI. 
p.  219.    Modern  Chippewa,  o-jeeg  or  o-cheek  ;  Shawnee,  dchaikah. 

Yea,  verily,  this  is  like  a  tvoodchuck  in  clover.  — Maryaret,  p.  48. 

My  dear  hearers,  I  've  been  trying  to  beat  [certain  truths]  into  you  with  a  ser- 
monizing sledge-hammer ;  and  you  appear  to  be  as  stupid  as  woodchucks  in  winter. 
Dow's  Sermons,  Vol.  III.  p.  155. 

Wooding-Place.    A  station  on  the  banks  of  a  river  where  the  steam- 
boats stop  to  take  in  supplies  of  wood. 
Wood-Lot.    A  piece  of  land  where  wood  for  fuel,  &c. ,  grows. 


WOO— WOR 


765 


Wood-Meeting.  The  name  given  by  the  Mormons  to  a  Camp- 
meeting. 

Wood-Rick.    A  pile  of  wood. 

From  wood-ricks  and  stone  walls  the  soldiers  did  good  execution  with  theii 
guns.  —  St.  Louis  Democrat. 

To  wood  up.  1.  To  lay  in  a  supply  of  wood,  as  a  steamboat  at  a 
landing-place.  The  boats  on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  in 
their  long  voyages,  are  obliged  to  make  frequent  stops  for  this 
purpose. 

The  process  of  wooding-up  is  one  of  the  first  the  passenger  is  made  acquainted 
with.  The  steamer  approaches  a  dreary  shore,  without  any  thing  to  indicate  that 
civilized  man  has  ever  set  his  foot  upon  it  for  many  miles  above  or  below,  save 
the  wood-pile  and  a  small  cabin  of  the  rudest  description.  The  terms  are  usually 
agreed  upon  before  the  boat  touches  the  bank  ;  and,  when  it  does,  fifteen  or  twenty 
hands  throw  on  board  from  twenty  to  fifty  cords,  at  a  price  varying  from  two  to 
three  dollars,  for  which  the  woodman  pockets  his  money  and  seems  a  happy  man 
although  cut  off  from  the  world.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune,  1848. 

2.  To  take  a  dram.  Western. 

The  same  term  is  used  on  railways  where  wood  is  still  used  for 
locomotives,  but  never  when  coal  is  used. 

The  "N"ew  London  Northern  Railroad  will  return  to  coal  burning  in  its  passenger 
locomotives,  and  a  saving  of  ten  minutes  will  be  gained  by  not  having  to  stop  to 
wood  up.  —  Norwich  Courier. 

Wool  over  the  Eyes.  To  draw  the  wool  over  one's  eyes  is  to  impose 
upon  one,  take  one  in. 

Elder  Sniffles  ain't  so  big  a  fool  as  to  have  the  wool  drawed  over  his  eyes  by  such 
trash  as  Sail  Hugle.  —  Widow  Bedott  Papers. 

Woolly-Heads.  A  term  applied  in  the  first  place  to  Negi'oes,  and 
then  to  anti-slavery  politicians. 

The  law,  it  seems,  it  didn't  work  exactly  as  it  ought. 
Though  Greeley  kept  a  savin'  so,  and  so  his  readers  thought. 
They're  mighty  bright,  them  wooUy-head.<< ;  they  think  they  find  a  prize. 
If  they  can  onh"  pull  their  wool  o'er  other  people's  eyes. 

New  York  paper. 

Worm  Fence.  A  rail  fence  laid  up  in  a  zig-zag  manner;  also  called 
a  Virginia  fence.    See  Stake  and  Rider. 

Mr.  Haskell,  one  of  the  delegates  from  Tennessee,  told  a  story  about  a  man  in 
his  "diggins,"  who  was  once  struck  by  "Joe  Larkins,"  by  which  he  was  knocked 
at  least  forty  rods.  He  fell  against  a  worm  fence,  and  carried  away  about  forty 
panels,  rail-riders  and  all.  —  N.  Y.  Mirror. 

We  drove  Master  Jack  about  the  common,  until  we  had  hemmed  him  in  au 
angle  of  a  worm  fence.  —  W.  Irviny,  WolferVs  Roost,  p.  251 


766 


WOR— WUN 


Worriment.    Trouble,  anxiety. 

The  worriment  we  have  lately  had  about  monej'  has  set  ^''ou  a  dreaming.  — 

Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature. 

Worrisome.    In  the  condition  to  be  worried. 

In  her  discussion  with  Mrs.  Victoria  W  on  the  subject  of  free 

love  and  marriage,  Miss  Betsy  Bobbet  says:  — 

When  a  man  realizes  that  he  can,  if  he  wants  to,  start  up  and  marr}'  a  woman 
before  breakfast,  and  get  divorced  before  dinner,  and  have  a  new  one  before 
supper,  it  has  a  tendency  to  make  him  onstiddy  and  worrisome.  — Betsy  Bobbet, 
p.  326. 

Worst  Kind.  Used  in  such  phrases  as,  "I  gave  him  the  worst  kind  of 
a  licking."  Also  adverbially;  as,  "I  licked  him  the  worst  kind,^^ 
i.  e.  in  the  worst  manner  possible,  most  severely. 

Would.  "  Will  "  and  "  Would  "  employed  instead  of  "  shall  "  and 
"  should;  "  and  conversely.    See  Shall  and  Should. 

Wrapper.    1.    A  loose  dress  or  gown. 

Her  dress  was  a  blue-striped  linen  short-gown,  wrapjjer,  or  long-short,  a  coarse 
petticoat,  checked  apron,  &c.  —  Margaret,  p.  14. 

2.  An  under-shirt. 
Wrappers.    See  Leggings. 

Wrath.  Like  all  wrath  is  a  Southern  phrase,  meaning  violently, 
vehemently,  angrily. 

There  ain't  much  to  interest  the  traveller  on  the  railroad  from  Hamburg  to 
Charleston.  Most  of  the  passengers  in  the  car  were  preachers  what  had  been  up 
to  Augusta  to  attend  the  convention.  They  was  the  dryest  set  of  old  codgers  I 
ever  met  with,  till  the  jolting  of  the  cars  shook  up  their  ideas  a  little,  and  then 
they  fell  to  disputin'  like  all  wrath.  —  Major  Jones's  Travels. 

Wrathy.    Very  angry.    A  colloquial  word  — Webster. 

"Oh!  you're  wrathy,  ain't  ye  V  Why,  I  didn't  mean  nothin'  but  what  was 
civil !  —  Mrs.  Clavers's  Forest  Life,  Vol.  I.  p.  103. 

The  general  was  as  wrathy  as  thunder ;  and,  when  he  gets  his  dander  up,  it 's 
no  joke.  — Major  Downing'' s  Letters,  p.  34. 

Wreckers.  A  gang  of  Baltimore  rowdies.  They  call  themselves 
Canton  Rackers,  perhaps  from  their  propensity  of  racking  out  a 
neighborhood. 

Wunst,  for  once.    To  ivunst,  for  at  once.  Vulgar. 

If  you  acknowledge  the  usurper  Hayes,  you  leave  me  stranded  and  helpless, 
and  I  might  as  well  leave  the  corners  at  wunst.  —  Petroleum  V.  Nasby,  April, 
1877. 


YAH— YAN 


767 


Y. 

Yahoos.    Greenhorns ;  back  country  louts.  South-western. 
Yaller.    A  vulgar  pronunciation  of  yellow. 

Yam.  (Genus  Dioscorea.)  A  large  esculent  tuber  or  root  of  various 
climbing  plants  growing  in  tropical  America,  which  forms  a  whole- 
some and  palatable  food.  English  people  often  confound  this  with 
sweet  potatoes. 

Yank.    1.  A  jerk.    New  England. 

In  some  verses  prefixed  to  the  New- Year's  Address  of  the  carrier 
of  "  The  Age,"  a  weekly  journal  published  in  Maine,  the  Carrier 
Boy  asks  the  spirit  of  Edgar  A.  Poe  to  write  him  a  few  lines:, — 

The  poet  looks  wild  at  the  blue-eyed  child, 

Then  clutches  him  by  the  hair, 
And  makes  him  abide  by  the  chimney-side, 

As  he  sinks  back  in  his  chair,  — 

Pulls  up  the  machine,  and  with  dreadful  mien 

He  oils  each  rusty  wheel. 
Then  seizes  the  crank,  and  with  many  a  yanh 
Brings  out  a  poetic  squeal. 
The  Austin  (Texas)  "  Leader"  says  that  the  grasshopper  country  would  make 
a  good  poultry  region,  which  reminds  us  of  the  old  verse:  — 
A  grasshopper  sat  on  a  sweet  potato  vine, 
When  up  came  a  turkey  gobbler  and  yanked  him  off  behind. 

2.  An  abbreviation  of  Yankee ;  a  term  universally  applied  by  the 
Confederates  to  the  soldiers  of  the  Union  armies. 

To  yank.    1.  To  twitch  or  jerk  powerfully.    New  England. 
2.  To  snatch  away  unexpectedly. 

Yankee.  1.  The  popular  name  for  the  citizens  of  New  England,  but 
applied  by  foreigners  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States. 
The  name  {_Yengees  or  Yenkees]  was  originally  given  by  the  Massa- 
chusetts Indians  to  the  English  colonists,  being  the  nearest  sound 
they  could  give  for  "  English."  It  was  afterwards  adopted  by  the 
Dutch  on  the  Hudson,  who  applied  the  term  in  contempt  to  all  the 
people  of  New  England.  During  the  American  Revolution,  it  was 
eagerly  caught  at  by  the  British  soldiers.  —  Note  to  the  Poetical 
Works  of  J.  Trumbull. 

Mr.  Heckewelder,  a  high  authority  on  Indian  subjects,  has  no 
doubt  that  the  word  was  the  first  effort  of  the  Indians  "  to  imitate 
the  sound  of  the  national  name  of  the  English,  which  they  pro- 


768 


YAN 


nounced  Yengees.^^  Fiirtliermore,  he  says,  the  Indians  "say  they 
know  the  Yem/ees  [i.  e.  the  New  Englanders],  and  can  distinguish 
them  by  their  dress  and  personal  appearance,  and  that  they  were 
considered  as  less  cruel  than  the  Virginians,  or  Long  Knives.  The 
English  proper  they  call  Saggenash."  —  Indian  Nations,  p.  132. 

Judge  Durfee,  in  his  poem  failed  "  Whatcheer,  or  Roger  Williams 
iu  Banishment,"  thus  mentions  the  English  under  this  name:  — 

"  Ha!  Fe?i</ee,"  said  the  Sachem,  "  wouldst  thou  go 

To  soothe  the  hungry  panther  scenting  blood  ?  "  —  Canto  III.  32. 

Base  Wampanoag!  we  '11  devour  that  clan, 

And  drive  the  Yen<jees  back-  o'er  ocean  blue.  —  Canto  IV.  38. 

An  interesting  article  on  this  word  in  "Notes  and  Queries" 
(1852,  p.  57),  by  Mr.  T.  Westcott,  of  Philadelphia,  contains  a 
letter  from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gordon,  giving  an  account  of  the  skirmishes 
at  Concord  and  Lexington,  in  which  he  says:  — 

They  [the  British  troops]  were  roughly  handled  by  the  Yankees,  a  term  of 
reproach  for  the  New  Englanders,  when  applied  by  the  regulars. 

2.  In  New  England,  a  glass  of  whiskey  sweetened  with  molasses ; 
a  common  beverage  in  the  country. 

You  fine  Miss  Boston  lady  gay, 

For  this  your  speech  I  thank  ye, 
Call  on  me  when  you  come  this  way, 

And  take  a  dram  of  Yankee. 

Fessenden,  Yankee  Doodle  Song. 

Yankeedom.  A  term,  like  the  foregoing,  applied  at  the  South  to 
New  England. 

At  the  celebration  of  the  Mecklenburg  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence, at  Charlotte,  North  Carolina,  in  May,  1876,  the  Rev.  S.  S. 
Martin,  D.D.,  delivered  the  oration,  in  which  he  made  the  follow- 
ing remarks:  — 

It  is  with  mingled  feelings  of  sorrow  and  satisfaction  that  I  to-day  recall  the 
issues  of  18G0  and  1861.  We  all  mourn  the  loss  of  our  glorious  dead  and  heroic 
fallen.  The  South  is  to-day  ruled  over  by  the  miserable  thrall  of  Yankeedom ; 
but  they  cannot  muzzle  our  chivalry  and  patriotic  devotion  to  the  lost  cause.  — 
Cor.  ofN.  Y.  Times,  May  11,  1876. 

Yankeedom  region  and  rule  of  Yankees.  Located  as  it  is  on  the  confines  of 
Egypt  and  of  Yankeedom  in  this  State  [Illinois],  it  has  done  a  good  work  in  both 
sections.  —  CMcayo  Cor.  of  The  Independent. 

Yankee  Doodle.  There  has  been  much  discussion  as  to  the  origin 
of  the  term  Yanlee  Doodle,  and  of  the  well-known  tune  which  bears 
this  name,  without  coming  as  yet  to  any  very  satisfactory  conclu- 
sion. In  England,  the  air  has  been  traced  back  to  the  time  of 
Charles  I. ;  and  it  appears  that  the  doggerel  verses  that  are  sung 


YAN—YEL 


769 


to  it  can  claim  nearly  as  respectable  an  antiquity.  This,  however, 
is  not  all.  The  song  is  said  to  be  identical  with  one  sung  by  the 
agricultural  laborers  in  the  Netherlands.  Kossuth  and  his  fellow 
Hungarians,  when  in  this  country,  are  said  to  have  recognized  it  as 
one  of  the  old  national  airs  of  their  native  land.  And  recently  Mr. 
Buckingham  Smith,  our  then  Secretary  of  Legation  at  Madrid,  has 
asserted  that  it  is  the  ancient  Sword  Dance  of  the  Biscayans. 

You  may  talk  about  your  "  Dixie's  Land," 
And  sing  it  like  a  noodle : 

The  good  old  tune  for  North  and  Souti 
Is  famous  Yankee  Doodle  !  —  Song  from  the  Rebellion  Record. 

Tankee  Doodledom.  A  term  applied  at  the  South  to  New  England. 
The  following  is  from  a  poem  on  the  "  Death  of  Lincoln  Despotism,' 
which  appeared  in  1861 :  — 

The  Evans  and  his  cavalry  will  follow  in  their  track, 
And  drive  them  in  the  Atlantic,  or  safely  bring  them  back, 
And  hold  them  till  Abe  Lincoln,  and  all  his  Northern  scum, 
Shall  own  our  independence  of  Yankee  Doodledom. 

Richmond  Despatch. 

ITankeefied.    After  the  Yankee  fashion;  like  a  Yankee. 

The  Colonel  whittled  away  at  a  bit  of  stick  in  the  most  Yankeefied  way  possi- 
ble. —  A  Stray  Yankee  in  Texas,  p.  113. 

Tankeeland.   .1.  New  England.    2.  The  United  States. 
Tardsman.    A  man  employed  in  the  yard  of  a  railroad  station. 
Yeath,  for  earth.    A  vulgar  pronunciation  among  the  illiterate  at  the 
South. 

Why,  you  don't  look  like  the  same  man.  I  never  should  have  know'd  you. 
What  upon  yeath  has  brung  you  out  soV  "  —  Major  Jones's  Sketches. 

ITeathquake,  for  earthquake.  A  Southern  vulgarism,  like  the  previous 
word. 

The  Girard  College  is  all  solid  brick  and  marble.  Fire  can't  get  hold  of  wood 
enough  to  raise  a  blaze,  and  the  walls  are  so  thick  and  strong  that  nothin'  short 
of  Florida  lightnin'  or  a  South  American  yeathquake  couldn't  knock  it  down. — 
Major  Jones's  Sketches. 

Yellow.  A  term  applied  to  colored  boys  and  girls  whose  complexion 
tends  towards  white;  those  of  a  darker  hue  are  called  "  brown." 

Law  sakes,  Miss  Phillis,  does  you  tink  I  has  no  sense  ?  I  hate  a  yaller  gal  aa 
I  do  pizen.  —  Sam  Slick,  Human  Nature. 

Yellow-Bird.  A  small  incessorial  bird  of  the  family  of  Fringillidae, 
or  finches  {Carduelis  Americana  of  Brisson).  The  summer  plum- 
age of  the  male  is  a  rich  lemon-yellow,  with  black  wings  and  tail, 
the  former  tipped  and  edged  with  white.  In  winter,  the  yellow  is 
changed  to  a  brown  olive.  —  Wilson,  Ornithology. 

49 


YEL— YOP 


Yellow  Boy.    Gold  coin  of  any  denomination. 

Yellow  Cover.  (Pron.  yaller  kiver.)  A  notice  of  dismissal  from 
government  employment.  So  called  from  its  being  usually  enclosed 
in  a  yellow  envelope. 

Yellow-covered  Literature.  The  cheap  sensation-novels  and  trashy 
magazines  hawked  by  newsboys  and  abounding  at  railway  stations ; 
so  called  from  the  color  of  tlieir  covers,  in  which  their  publishers 
most  delight  to  send  them  forth. 

Yellow-Hammer.  (Picus  auratus.)  The  popular  name  of  the  Golden- 
winged  Woodpecker,  the  most  beautiful  of  the  genus.  It  is  known 
by  other  names  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  as  High-hole, 
Yacker,  Clape,  &c.    See  Clape. 

Yellow  Jack.  A  term  for  the  yellow  fever,  which  probably  originated 
among  seamen;  a  yellow  flag  (a  flag  being  called  a,  Jack)  being 
generally  displayed  at  naval  hospitals,  or  from  vessels  at  quarantine, 
to  denote  the  existence  of  contagious  disease. 

Yellow  Jacket.    A  small  wasp,  well  known  for  its  terrible  sting. 

Yellow  Root.  (Zanthorhiza  apiifoUa.)  A  plant  whose  roots  are 
used  as  a  dye  by  the  Indians,  and  for  medical  purposes.  Also, 
Hydrastis  Canadensis,  Yellow  Puccoon. 

Yellow-Throat.    A  small  singing  bird  of  the  warbler  species. 

Yellow-Wood.  (Cladrastis  tinctoria.)  One  of  the  handsomest 
flowering  trees  of  the  locust  family,  growing  in  mountainous  regions 
of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  The  wood  is  yellow,  and  is  used  for 
dyeing. 

Yengee.  The  Indian  form  of  "Yankee,"  being  the  nearest  ap- 
proach to  the  pronunciation  of  that  word.    See  Yankee. 

Yerb.    Herb.    Southern  States.    (Cf.  Sp.  yerba.} 

Yere.  A  Southern  pronunciation  for  hei^e.  The  lower  classes  in 
England  say  "  this  'ere  thing." 

"  Why  is  it,  my  son,  that  when  you  drop  your  bread  and  butter,  it  is  always 
butter  side  down  ?  " 

"I  don't  know.  It  hadn't  oughter,  had  it.  The  strongest  side  ought  to  be 
uppermost,  hadn't  it,  ma?  And  this  yere  is  the  strongest  butter  I  ever  seed."  — 
Cairo  {Illinois)  Times,  Feb.  28,  1855. 

Yopon.  (Ilex  vomitoria.)  North  Carolina  tea.  A  plant  indigenous 
to  North  Carolina;  and  when  the  leaves  are  dried  by  slow  heat,  and 
infused  in  water,  it  is  used  as  a  beverage.  It  is  slightly  intoxicat- 
ing. It  belongs  to  the  same  genus  of  plants  as  the  celebrated  Mate 
(Ilex  Paraguayensis)  of  South  America. 


YOU— ZAN 


771 


Tou  bet !  The  most  positive  manner  of  affirmation.  Be  assured ;  cer- 
tainly.   The  expression  originated  in  California. 

To  little  Harry,  yesterday,  — 

My  grandchild,  aged  two,  — 
I  said,  "You  love  Grandpa  V  "  said  he, 

"  You  bet  your  boots  I  do."  —  Grandpa* s  Soliloquy. 
"  'Friend,'  said  I  to  a  Jehu,  whose  breath  suggested  gin, 
'  Can  thee  convey  me  straightway  to  a  reputable  innV  ' 
His  answer's  gross  irrelevance  I  shall  not  soon  forget. 
Instead  of  simply  yea.  or  nay,  he  gruffly  said,  "  You  bet.''* 

Buffalo  Courier,  A  Mystified  QuaJcer. 

Do  you  reckon  a  man  has  got  as  many  lives  as  a  cat  ?  But  you  bet  he 's  awful 
dead  now.  —  Mark  Twain,  Eouyhing  It,  p.  333. 

We  find  the  following  anecdote  relating  to  the  policy  or  measures 
of  the  new  administration :  — 

"What  we  want  is  new  men  and  new  measures,"  said  a  politician  to  an  old 
darkey.  "Yes,  dat 's  so,  boss,"  said  the  ancient  African:  "de  grocery  man 
doesn't  give  us  but  bout  nine  quarts  to  de  peck,  and  I  goes  in  for  de  new  meas- 
ures, you  bet.*' 

You  don't!  For  you  don^t  say  so!  i.  e.  really!  indeed!  An  exclama- 
tion of  surprise.  "  Mr.  Grimaldi  threw  a  back  somerset  out  of  a 
three-story  window."    "  Now,  you  donH!  "  or  "  You  don't  say." 

You'uns  and  We'uns.  For  you  and  we.  Developed  during  the  late 
civil  war. 

We  repeat  the  remark. 

And  our  language  is  square. 
That  a  msm  who  is  dark. 

And  has  kmks  in  his  hair, 
Isn't  coming  to  college  with  we'uns, 

And  we  'uns  consent  to  be  there. 

Princeton,  of  Princeton  Coll.,  New  Jersey. 

Yuca.  The  American  name  of  the  Mandioca  or  tapioca  root;  not  to 
be  confounded  with  the  botanical  genus  yucca  or  Spanish  bayonet 
(which  see).  A  late  book  of  travels  in  Mexico  calls  this  plant 
' '  eucre  I ' ' 

Yucker.    See  Clape. 

Z. 

Zanja.    (Span.,  pron.  than'-ha.)    A  ditch  or  trench;  sometimes  used 

like  the  acequias  for  irrigating  lands. 
Zanjero.  (Span.,  pron.  than-ht-ro.)  One  whose  duty  it  is  to  take  charge 

of  ditches,  when  used  for  purposes  of  irrigation. 
Zapote.    See  Sapote. 
Zeewan.    See  Seawan. 


772 


zuz 


Zu-zu.    A  common  name  in  the  Union  army  for  the  Zouaves,  during 
the  late  rebellion. 

My  love  is  a  Zu-zu  so  gallant  and  bold ; 

He 's  rough,  and  he 's  handsome,  scarce  nineteen  years  old. 

Comic  Song. 

Once  again !  —  the  hours  are  fleeting ; 

Drinking  is  the  soldier's  trick  : 
Hark!  the  drum  the  roll-call 's  beating,  — 

Scatter,  Zoo-zoos,  "double  quick!  " 

Song,  The  Zoo-zoo^s  Toast. 


ADDENDA. 


ADDENDA. 


A. 

Aboriginal.  A  word  often  applied  to  an  American  Indian;  and 
"  aboriginals  "  for  "  aborigines."    Comp.  Abergoins. 

Ahead.  To  "  get  ahead  of,"  to  outwit  or  outdo,  by  superior  sagacity 
or  activity. 

Air-Hole.    Unfrozen  spots  in  the  ice  in  the  main  current  of  the  St. 

Lawrence,  which  do  not  freeze.    These  openings  left  by  nature 

enable  the. great  ice-bridge  at  Montreal  to  hold. 
All-standing.    "He  was  brought  up  all-standing,^^  i.  e.  was  stopped 

suddenly  and  completely,  when  in  full  movement,  after  the  manner 

of  a  ship  running  aground  when  under  full  sail. 
Anthracite.    See  Hard  Coal,  in  body  of  book. 

Apple-Sauce.  A  sauce  made  of  stewed  apples.  See  Apple-Butter, 
in  body  of  book. 

Astern  of  the  Lighter,  An  expression  sometimes  used  to  signify 
one's  failui-e  in  an  undertaking. 

B. 

Back  Seat.  A  position  of  inferior  order.  He  will  have  to  take  a 
back  seat,^^  said  of  a  politician  who  has  lost  caste  with  his  party. 

Backset.  Pressed  upon  from  behind.  — Johnson.  A  check  to  the  prog- 
ress of  any  thing.  This  obsolete  word  is  coming  into  use  again. 
Rev.  Dr.  Hopkins,  in  his  letter  to  the  "  N.  Y.  Tribune,"  Nov.  24, 
1877,  on  the  advance  of  Ritualism,  says  :  — 

'llie  popular  view  of  the  case  is  that  the  defeat  of  Dr.  Seymour,  and  shortly 
after  Dr.  DeKoven,  when  successively  elected  to  the  Episcopate  of  Illinois,  gave 
the  whole  Ritualistic  movenfient  such  a  backset  that  it  is  no  longer  dangerous. 

He  suffered  the  Israelites  to  be  driven  to  the  brink  of  the  seas,  backset  with 
Pharaoh's  whole  power.  —  Anderson,  Exposition  upon  Benedictus,  fol.  71,  1573. 


776  BAD— BLO 


Bad  Egg.  An  inveterate  rascal;  a  hopelessly  ill-disposed  fellow;  an 
irredeemably  unfortunate  speculation;  in  short,  any  person,  animal, 
thing,  or  proceeding,  devoid  of  any  good  feature. 

Bag  of  Wind.    A  boastful,  conceited  fellow. 

Baker.    A  small  portable  tin  oven  in  which  bread  is  baked.  Mr. 

Webster  calls  this  an  Americanism. 
Bakes.    One's  original  stake  in  a  game,  a  juvenile  term;  as,  "  I  will 

stop  when  I  get  my  bakes, said  by  a  boy  playing  marbles. 

Basilar.  Lower.  Basilar  instincts;"  "  &asi/ar  powers."  This  is 
a  great  word  with  the  Rev.  H.  W.  Beecher.  Originally  with  a  phy- 
siological meaning. 

Bealmy.  A  swelling.  Pennsylvania.  (Ang.-Sax.)  A  boil,  or  a  hot, 
inflamed  tumor. — Wright,  Prov.  Die. 

Begin.  This  fruit  doesn't  begin  to  compare  with  the  other."  "  This 
novel  doesn't  begin  to  be  as  good,"  &c.  These  and  similar  expres- 
sions are  very  common. 

No  "breathing-ships  "  e'er  will  begin  to  supplant 
The  ships  rushed  along  by  omnipotent  steam. 

Wm.  Boyd  on  Steam  v.  Hot  Air,  Boston  Traveller,  May  23,  1855. 

Bell-Punch.    See  Gong-Punch,  in  body  of  book. 

Bendolers.  "  Running  ftent/oZers  "  is  a  phrase  given  by  boys  to  the 
pastime  of  jumping  from  cake  to  cake  of  broken  ice.  See  Tiddlies, 
in  body  of  book. 

Better-best.  Any  thing  better  than  good,  something  better  than  the 
best.  —  Rev.  W.  H.  Channing.  This  divine,  in  an  address  at  the 
annual  meeting,  1877,  of  the  Boston  Children's  Mission  to  the 
Children  of  the  Destitute,  said:  — 

You  know,  Brother  Collier  put  us  second-best.  I  never  like  to  be  second-best. 
.  .  .  Did  you  ever  hear  the  word,  "  the  better-best  "  .  .  .  And  did  not  the  ques- 
tion come  to  you,  What  was  the  better  best  f  There  is  something  better  than 
good,  something  better  than  the  best:  it  is  the  better  best. 

Big  Thing.    A  grand  speculation  or  profitable  acquisition;  an  affair 

of  special  advantage. 
Black  Diamonds.    Lumps,  small  or  large,  of  anthracite  coal. 

Blanket-waisted.  Cattle  distinguished  by  a  broad  band  of  white 
hair  completely  encircling  the  body. 

Bloody  Shirt.    (Omitted  in  its  place.)    See  Shirt,  in  body  of  book. 

Blow-Bladder.  "A  blow-bladder  figure  for  it,"  a  price  inflated 
beyond  all  reason. 


BOB— CAD 


77T 


Bob.  The  carcass  of  a  calf  prematurely  born ;  veal  so  immature  that 
its  sale  is  prohibited  by  law. 

Boston  Crackers.  A  favorite  kind  of  cracker  or  biscuit  made  in 
Boston,  which  has  a  high  reputation.  See  Cracker  2,  in  body  of 
book. 

Bottle-Head.  (5.  Helootica.)  The  black-bellied  plover;  also  called 
"  beetle-head  "  and  "  green  head." 

Bounce.  To  get  the  grand  bounce  is  to  be  dismissed  from  service; 
particularly  from  an  office  under  government. 

To  break  for  Taller  Timber.  To  leave  one  hiding-place  for  another 
more  secure,  as  a  wild  animal  or  a  criminal  runs  from  a  lesser  covert 
to  the  woods. 

Brick-Top.    Same  as  Sorrel-Top,  which  see. 

Bullgine.    A  cant  term  for  a  locomotive  engine. 

Bull- Whacking.    Driving  an  ox-team. 

You  will  find  some  graduate  of  Yale  College  bull-whacking  his  own  team  from 
the  river  to  his  niiues,  looking  as  if  he  had  never  seen  soap  and  water.  — 
McClttre,  Rocky  Mountains,  p.  102. 

Bureau.  (Fr.,  a  writing-table.)  A  chest  of  drawers  for  clothes,  &c., 
especially  made  an  ornamental  piece  of  furniture.  This  sense 
comes  naturally  from  the  original  French  word.  — Webster.  In 
England,  the  article  is  invariably  called  a  "  chest  of  drawers." 

To  bushel.    (Germ,  biuszen,  to  mend.)    To  repair  garments. 

Busheler,  Bushelman.  From  the  verb  bushel.  A  tailor's  assistant, 
whose  business  it  is  to  repair  garments. 

Butter-Pingers.  A  derisive  term  for  a  person  awkward  with  the 
hands,  as  a  lad  unskilful  in  catching  a  ball. 

Butterfly.  A  small  bow  of  silk,  satin,  or  other  material,  made  for 
attachment  to  the  collar-button,  so  as  to  serve  the  purpose  of  a 
cravat,  without  passing  around  the  neck. 

c. 

To  cadgel.  To  cross-stitch.  A  familiar  word  in  every  household. 
Every  woman  who  uses  her  needle  knows  what  cadgeUing  is. 

This  very  old  English  word  is  not  found  in  any  of  the  Dictionaries 
or  Provincial  Glossaries,  except  in  those  of  riallivvell  and  AVright, 
who  have  Cadge,  "to  bind  or  to  tie,"  a  term  in  making  bone- 


778 


CAN— CEN 


lace.  Both  quote  from  Palsgrave:  "  I  cadge  a  garment,  I  set  lystes 
in  the  Ijmyng  to  keep  the  plyghtes  in  order." 

Canada  Thistle.  (Cirsium  (Carduus)  arveme.)  A  plant  well  known 
in  Canada  and  in  the  United  States.  It  first  appeared  in  Canada, 
where  it  was  probably  introduced  from  France,  as  it  is  common  in 
Normandy,  and  also  in  England. 

Cannuck  or  Canuck.  The  following  has  been  submitted  as  the 
meaning  and  origin  of  this  word,  as  applied  to  Canadians:  — 

In  the  United  States,  the  word  "  Yankee  "  means  a  New  Eng- 
lander;  but,  outside  the  Union,  all  the  natives  of  the  United  States 
are  so  termed.  So,  in  Canada,  a  "  Cannuck  "  means  a  French  Cana- 
dian, but,  outside  the  Dominion,  all  the  people  of  Canada.  An 
intelligent  French  Canadian,  on  being  asked,  said:  "The  word 
'Cannuck'  is  a  corruption  of  '  Connaught.'  '  Connaughts  '  are 
what  we  [the  French  Canadians]  call  the  Irish." 

Carpet-Sweeper.  A  roller  to  which  hog's  bristles  are  affixed  for 
sweeping  carpets. 

Carry  me  back.  Humorous  way  of  saying,  "Take  me  hence.'' 
At  first  from  a  negro  song,  which  has  this  couplet,  — 

Oh,  carry  me  back  to  Ole  Virgin ny, 
To  Ole  Virginnia's  shore. 

Catch-Basin.  The  receptacle  beneath  the  gi'ating  of  a  sewer,  to 
catch  the  dirt  that  is  washed  in. 

Cat's  Foot!    An  exclamation  of  disbelief.    New  England. 

Cattle-Ranch.  A  plantation  or  farm  where  cattle  are  raised  on  a 
large  scale,  as  in  Texas  and  Colorado. 

Cavallada.  (Span.)  The  name  universally  given  in  Texas  and  along 
the  Mexican  frontier  to  a  drove  of  horses  or  mules.  Pron.  camyard. 
See  Cavallard,  in  body  of  book. 

Cedar-Brake.  A  dense  thicket  or  M'et  place  overgi'own  with  cedar; 
also  called  a  Cedar  Swamp.    Comp.  Cane-Brake. 

Celestial.  A  common  term  for  the  Chinese;  China  being  called 
"  The  Celestial  Empire." 

Cens  et  Rentes.  (Fr.)  The  annual  rent  or  tax  paid  per  agreement 
by  the  owner  of  land  in  a  feudal  district  to  the  seigneur.  Prov- 
ince of  Quebec.    See  Censitaire  and  Lods  et  Ventes. 

(The  feudal  owner  can  now,  if  he  chooses,  compel  the  seigneur 
(q.  v.,  in  body  of  book)  to  allow  the  property  to  be  commuted,  i.  e. 
bought  out  and  out,  by  the  payment  at  time  of  sale  of  a  certain 


CEN— COR 


779 


number  of  annual  rents ;  the  number,  if  the  parties  cannot  agree, 
being  settled  by  arbitrators.) 

Censitaire.  (Fr.)  The  owner  of  land  which  is  subject  to  seigniorial 
or  feudal  tax.  Province  of  Quebec.  See  Cens  et  Rentes  and  Lods 
et  Ventes. 

Cheese  it.  What  bad  boys  exclaim  to  one  another  when  a  policeman 
is  seen  coming,  i.  e.  run,  scamper.  It  is  an  English  slang  expres- 
sion, which  Mr.  Hotten  thinks  is  a  corruption  of  cease ^  "  leave  off 
or  have  done." 

Chin,  Chinning.    Back-talk,  impudence. 

Chin-Music.    Impudent  talk ;  flippant  garrulity. 

Clatty.  Untidy.  Pennsylvania.   C/a^^/e,  nasty,  dirty,  defiled. — Jamie- 

sori's  Scottish  Die. 

Cocky.  "He's  cocky,^^  i.  e.  he  is  aware  of  his  importance.  A 
college  word. 

To  coge  or  coag  it.  One  of  the  many  phrases  signifying  the  habitual 
and  excessive  use  of  ardent  spirits. 

Cold  Scald.  A  double  misfortune,  as  of  a  person  who  should  be  at 
once  frozen  and  scalded. 

Colorado  Beetle.  A  bug,  about  half  an  inch  in  length,  yellow 
striped  with  black.    Usually  called  Potato  Bug. 

Comb.  "  To  have  one's  comb  cut  "  is  to  undergo  mortification  as  a 
sequel  to  excessive  pride. 

Come-as-you-come.  The  name  of  a  popular  fireside  amusement, 
wherein  one  person  gives  the  others  present  the  initial  letter  or 
letters  of  some  object  there  visible,  by  which  to  guess  to  what  object 
he  refers. 

To  come  down.  To  furnish  money;  e.  g.,  "I  would  make  the  old 
man  come  down  handsomely,  if  I  was  in  Enoch's  place." 

"To  come  down  a  peg,"  to  become  less  proud  or  less  exacting. 
"  A  great  com,e  down,^^  a  remarkable  fall  of  pride. 

Coming  to  Grief.    A  sarcastic  phrase  significant  of  signal  failure. 

Cord-Wood.  Wood  cut  and  piled  for  sale  by  the  cord,  in  distinction 
from  long  wood;  especially  wood  cut  to  the  length  of  four  feet.  — 
Webster. 

Corn-Balls.  Balls  made  of  pop-corn  and  molasses,  of  which  children 
are  very  fond. 


780 


COR— DEM 


Corn-Crake.  (Crex  pratensis.)  A  bird  of  the  rail  species,  which  fre- 
quents corn-fields;  the  Land-rail. 

Corn-Cutter.  A  machine  for  cutting  np  the  stalks  of  Indian  corn  for 
the  food  of  cattle. 

Corn-House.  A  wooden  house,  elevated  about  five  feet  above  the 
ground,  in  order  to  keep  out  rats  and  squirrels,  in  which  Indian 
corn  is  kept  before  it  is  shelled  or  taken  from  the  cobs. 

Corn-Mill.    A  mill  for  grinding  Indian  com ;  a  grist-mill. 

Corn-Popper.  An  instrument  the  top  of  which  is  like  a  sieve,  in 
which  corn  is  held  over  a  fire  to  roast  or  "  pop."  See  Pop-Corn, 
in  body  of  book. 

Cotton-Gin.  A  machine  invented  by  Eli  Whitney,  of  New  Haven, 
Conn.,  in  1792-93,  for  the  separation  of  cotton  from  the  seed. 

To  crack.  To  defraud  by  forging  and  by  negotiating  worthless 
checks  and  drafts. 

It  is  said  that  certain  New  York  rascals  intend  to  crack  the  Quebec  merchants 
this  winter.  —  Boston  Journal. 

Cracksman.  A  man  engaged  in  forging  notes,  bills  of  exchange, 
bank-checks,  &c. 

Crawl  through.    "  To  crawl  through  a  knot-hole  "  is  to  get  out  of  a 

difficulty  in  a  mean  way. 

Creep.    A  stool.    Pennsylvania.    Creepie,  creepy,  a  low  stool.  — 

Jamieson^s  Scottish  Die. 

It 's  a  wise  wife  that  kens  her  weird, 
What  tho'  ye  mount  the  creepy. 

Ramsay's  Poems,  I.  273. 

Cut  and  Dried.  Contrived  beforehand,  in  a  secret  or  unfair  manner. 
A  phrase  often  used  in  reference  to  caucuses,  and  the  like. 

D. 

Darn  burn  it.    A  toned-down  form  of  swearing  in  Texas.  Comp. 

Dod  rot  it. 

Dead  Loads  (of  a  thing).    Great  quantities  or  numbers  of  any  thing. 
Demi-Meamelouc.    The  variety  of  Negro  which  springs  from  a  white 
and  a  meamelouc.    See  Negro,  in  body  of  book. 

To  demonetize.  The  act  of  rendering  any  description  of  money 
which  by  law  had  been  a  legal  tender  to  be  no  longer  so.  Thus, 


DIS— DOL 


781 


in  June,  1874,  Congress  passed  an  act  of  which  the  following  is  a 
section :  — 

The  silver  coins  of  the  United  States  shall  be  a  legal  tender  at  their  nominal 
value,  for  any  amount  not  exceeding  five  dollars,  in  any  one  payment. 

This  has  been  called  the  demonetization  of  silver.    See  Remonetize. 

It  is  urged  by  many  that  silver  was  practically  demonetized  by  the  act  of  1854, 
M'hich  undervalued  it;  by  others,  that  it  was  practically  demonetized  by  the  act 
of  1853,  authorizing  subsidiary  silver  coins.  ...  If  silver  was  then  already 
demonetized^  the  persistency  of  the  efforts  to  secure  the  passage  of  a  law  to 
demonetize  it  appears  remarkable.  —  Rejjort  of  Monetary  Commission  to  Senate 
of  U.  S.,  March  2,  1877,  p.  91. 

As  money,  the  silver  dollar  had  become  obsolete  years  before  the  ^^demonetiza- 
tion,''^ of  which  we  hear  so  much.  But  we  do  not  need  statistics  to  prove  that  so 
inconvenient  a  coin  could  never  be  used  in  large  amounts  as  currency.  —  Phila- 
delphia Times,  Nov.  17,  1877. 

Discount.  Disparity  between  the  reality  and  the  representation 
made,  for  the  most  part  used  in  connection  with  a  negative;  as, 
' '  There  is  no  discount  on  that  statement. ' ' 

Doe-Bird.  (^Numenius  borealis.)  The  Esquimaux  Curlew.  New 
England. 

Dollar  of  the  Fathers.  A  cant  expression  used  in  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States  (N"ov.,  1877)  by  the  advocates  for  the  "  remoneti- 
zation  "  of  the  silver  dollar  and  making  it  a  legal  tender.  This 
sentimental  catch-phrase,  which  has  been  the  battle-cry  of  the 
movement,  expresses  its  absurdity. 

Of  all  the  unreasoning  agitations  of  recent  years,  the  demand  for  the  dollar  of 
the  fathers  has  been  the  most  unreasoning  and  absurd.  .  .  .  There  are  people 
who  must  have  "cheap  money"  of  some  kind,  and,  when  they  could  not  get 
cheap  greenbacks,  they  hit  upon  silver  as  a  cheaper  thing ;  and  the  "  dollar  of  the 
fathers''^  is  to  be  put  through  [Congressl  with  a  shout. — Philadelphia  Times, 
Nov.  10,  1877. 

The  cry  of  the  "  Dollar  of  the  Daddies  "  has  not  been  a  fortunate  one  for  those 
who  reiterated  it.  The  case  is  far  too  serious  for  ridicule.  —  N.  Y.  Tribune, 
Nov.  9,  1877. 

Three-fourths  of  the  people  of  the  South  and  West  are  in  favor  of  silver 
money,  and  they  clamor  for  the    dollar  of  our  fathers.^''  —  N.  Y.  Herald. 

The  "  Philadelphia  Times  "  (Nov.  17)  in  an  article  on  what  they 
call  the  "  Silver  Swindle  "  says:  — 

It  is  commonly  assumed  in  the  discussion  of  the  silver  question  that  the  old 
silver  dollar,  the  dollar  of  the  fathers,  was  a  verj'  popular  coin;  that  the  people 
have  been  unjustly  deprived  of  its  use,  and  that  it  ought  to  be  restored  to  them. 
The  truth  is,  that  there  never  was  any  real  demand  for  silver  dollars  as  currency ; 
and  it  is  not  possible  that  there  ever  can  be,  except  in  semi-barbarous  countries, 
where  the  value  of  money  is  estimated  by  its  bulk. 


782 


DRY— GAN 


Dry  up!  An  admonitory  exclamation,  sometimes  uttered  by  the  au- 
dience, especially  at  public  gatherings,  when  a  speaker  is  tedious 
or  otherwise  offensive,  which  thus  abruptly  requires  him  to  cease 
speaking. 

Dunky.  Ill  proportioned;  of  clumsy  shape,  in  the  special  sense  of 
over-thickness. 

Dust.  Money.  Used  in  the  phrase,  "  Down  with  your  dust !  "  Com- 
mon in  England,  and  a  very  old  expression. 

Dean  Swift  once  took  for  his  text,  "  He  who  giveth  to  the  poor 
lendetli  to  the  Lord."  His  sermon  was  short.  "  Now,  my  brethren," 
said  he,  "if  you  are  satisfied  with  the  security,  down  with  the 
dust.'' 

To  dust.  The  equivalent  of  "to  make  tracks."  "  Dust  out  of  this!  " 
i.  e.,  go  off  !    In  England,  they  say  "  to  raise  a  dust.*' 

E. 

Easy-going.  Said  of  a  person  who  is  careless  of  contingencies,  slow 
to  take  offence,  and  in  his  habits  carries  to  an  extreme  the  proverb 
that  "  Sufficient  for  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof." 

Ebony.    A  common  term  for  a  Negro. 

Emptyings.  "  To  run  emptyings'''  is  w^here  a  speaker  or  a  writer 
continues  to  speak  or  write  after  he  has  delivered  himself  of  every 
thing  of  any  consequence.    See  this  word  in  body  of  book. 

F. 

Pat.    Any  thing  desirable,  as  a  fat  office  under  the  government. 
Feel  pale.    To  feel  pale  is  a  humorous  way  of  saying  that  one  is  sick. 
To  flint  in.    To  begin  doing  something,  as  to  work  or  to  eat,  ener- 
getically and  without  ceremony. 

G. 

Gang-Saw.  A  collection  of  large  saws  hung  together  in  a  frame  or 
sash,  and  set  at  fixed  distances  apart  corresponding  with  the  thick- 
ness of  the  log  to  be  cut.  They  are  now  used  at  all  large  saw-mills 
in  Maine,  Canada,  and  the  AVest,  and  do  great  execution.  The  logs 
pass  in  endless  procession  from  out  the  water,  through  the  gangs ; 
and  thence  forward  as  lumber,  from  the  mill  to  the  dock,  ready  for 
shipment. 


GAR— GRA 


783 


Garden  Truck.  Vegetables  raised  for  market.  See  Truck,  in  body 
of  book. 

Gas-Bag.  A  person  who  habitually  parades  and  prates  of  his  own 
importance  or  cognate  topics. 

Gear  up.  To  harness.  Pennsyh^ania.  Gears,  horse-trappings. — 
Wright,  Prov.  Die. 

Get  off.  To  utter,  to  deliver.  "  He  got  off  a  great  speech  in  Con- 
gress." 

Ghost  of  a  Chance.  Not  the  least  probability.  "  Mr.  Hayes  has  not 
the  ghost  of  a  chance  of  being  our  next  President;  "  i.  e.,  he  has  no 
chance  at  all.    A  common  expression  of  the  President's  opponents. 

Glakid.  Dull,  stupid.  Pennsylvania.  Glaikit,  unsteady,  giddy, 
stupid.  —  Jainieson,  Scottish  Die. 

Quhattane  ane  glnihit  fule  am  I, 
To  slay  myself  with  melancholy, 
Sen  Aveill  I  ken  I  may  nocht  get  hir? 

Scott,  Chron.  S.  P.  iii.  170. 

Hear  me,  ye  venerable  core, 

As  counsel  for  poor  mortals, 
That  frequent  pass  douce  Wisdom's  door 

For  glaikit  Folly's  portals! 

Barns' s  Address  to  the  Unco  Guld. 

Gone  where  the  Woodbine  twinetli.  "  Up  the  spout."  Pawned; 
hypothecated.  A  noted  character,  the  late  James  Fisk,  Jr.,  is 
credited  with  the  authorship  of  tliis  oft-quoted  expression. 

Granger.  The  origin  and  use  of  this  word,  now  so  frequently  met 
with,  are  substantially  as  follows:  A  few  years  since,  througliout 
the  "grain-growing  States,"  a  movement  was  initiated  for  the 
organization  of  the  agricultural  interests,  with  the  professed  object 
of  benefiting  them  both  directly  and  indirectly.  This  was  proposed 
to  be  effected  by  so  purchasing  various  needful  supplies  as  to  dis- 
pense with  "middlemen;"  by  taking  measures  to  enhance,  by 
friendly  legislation  and  otherwise,  the  net  avails  of  his  products  to 
the  producer;  and  in  other  ways  to  lessen  his  burdens  and  increase 
his  revenues.  The  associations  formed  on  this  basis  were  called 
"  Granges"  (from  grange,  a  granary,  &c.),  and  the  mem!)ers  were 
termed  "Grangers." 

These  societies  multiplied,  and  their  membershi[)  was  very  exten- 
sive. They  became  "a  power  in  the  land,"  often  nominating 
distinctive  candidates,  and  frequently  electing  them;  while  on  some 
occasions  they  favored  nominees  put  foi-ward  by  the  political  [larties 
of  the  day,  whose  success  was  not  seldom  due  to  the  suppcu't  thus 


784 


GRE— IIIG 


derived.  At  the  present  time  (close  of  1877),  the  political  impor- 
tance of  the  "  Grangers  "  has  become  largely  diminished. 

With  their  accustomed  aptitude  for  giving  a  flippant  term  to  a 
new  word,  the  newspapers  of  the  cities  soon  began  to  use  this  one 
to  signify  a  countryman  ;  and  it  is  now  often  employed  instead  of 
the  familiar  paraphrase,  "  a  gentleman  from  the  rural  districts." 

Great  Plenty.  Well  supplied;  enough.  "  Shall  I  help  you  to  another 
cup  of  tea?  "    "  No,  thank  you  :  I  have  had  great  plenty.''^ 

Griffe.    See  Negro,  in  body  of  book. 

G.  T.  T.  More  than  a  generation  ago,  a  common  joke — one  of  the 
commonest  —  represented  that  when  an  insolvent  debtor,  or  a  rough 
who  had  been  engaged  in  an  "  mi  pleasantness,"  or  any  other  loafer 
who  had  changed  his  home,  wished  to  leave  warning  behind  him 
where  he  had  gone,  he"  chalked  upon  his  door  the  letters  G.  T.  T. 
These  letters  were  in  no  sort  mysterious:  they  meant,  and  were 
understood  to  mean,  "  Gone  to  Texas."  —  E.  E.  Hale,  Wonderful 
Adv.  of  a  Pullman,  p.  v. 

Gums.    See  Rubbers,  in  body  of  book. 

H. 

Handle.    To  slip  off  the  handle  is  to  die. 

If  Old  Cranberry  was  to  slij)  off  the  handle,  I  think  I  should  make  up  to  [his 
daughter],  for  she  is  a  most  heavenly  spice.  —  Sam  Slick,  Attache  in  England, 
p.  177. 

To  fly  off  at  the  handle  is  to  lose  one's  temper  on  a  slight  provo- 
cation. 

The  Hardest  fends  off.  A  phrase  signifying  that,  if  a  conflict  m.ust 
take  place,  he  who  has  most  endurance  will  fare  the  best. 

Hard  Names.    Calling  people  hard  names  is  abusing  them  in  words. 

Hay-Tedder.    A  machine  for  spreading  grass  after  it  is  cut. 

Hellion.  A  rascal  so  thoroughly  and  inveterately  bad  that  he  ought 
never  to  be  out  of  confinement. 

Hen-Clam.  The  Broad  Sea-clam.  (Mac! a  gigantea.)  Common  on 
the  shores  of  New  England. 

Highbinder.  In  California,  a  fipy,  a  detective.  "  What  do  you  mean 
by  highbinders  f  "  said  Senator  Sargent  to  a  witness  before  the  com- 
mittee on  Chinese  emigration.  Ans.  "I  mean  men  who  are  em- 
ployed by  the  China  companies  here  to  hound  and  spy  upon  the 
Chinese,  and  pursue  them.    I  have  often  heard  it  applied  to  bad 


HOG— HOO 


785 


men.  Sometimes  they  are  employed  to  assassinate  Chinese."  — 
Report  on  Chinese  Immigration.  See  also  this  word  in  the  body  of 
the  book. 

If  a  Chinaman  has  broken  his  contract,  and  attempts  to  leave  San  Francisco, 
...  he  will  be  forcibly  stopped  at  the  steamer  on  the  day  of  sailing  hy  the 
large  force  of  the  company's  highbinders,  who  can  be  always  seen  guarding 
them.  — Report  of  Committee  on  Chinese  Immigration,  1877,  p.  94. 

Hog-Ranch.  A  ranch  or  farm  where  particular  attention  is  given  to 
the  raising  of  hogs.    Texas.    Comp.  Caltle-Ranch. 

Homely.  Of  plain  features ;  not  handsome.  —  Webster.  In  England, 
it  means  that  which  appertains  to  home;  also  plain,  unpretending, 
rude  in  appearance,  as  a  homely  garment.  Yet  we  have  an  example 
of  English  use  precisely  like  our  own. 

It  is  observed  by  some  that  there  are  none  so  homely  but  loves  a  looking-glass. 
Swift. 

Hoodlum.  Since  the  article  on  the  Hoodlums  of  San  Francisco, 
which  appears  in  the  body  of  this  work,  was  written,  the  following 
accounts  of  the  origin  of  the  term  have  appeared :  — 

The  Los  Angeles  (California)  "  Express  "  (of  Aug.  25,  1877),  on 
the  authority  of  a  reporter  of  a  San  Francisco  paper,  says:  "  A  gang 
of  bad  boys  from  14  to  19  years  of  age  was  associated  for  the  pur- 
pose of  stealing.  These  boys  had  a  place  of  rendezvous;  and,  when 
danger  threatened  them,  their  words  of  warning  were,  "  Huddle 
'em,  Huddle  'em"!  An  article  headed  "  Huddle  'em,"  describing 
the  gang  and  their  plan  of  operations,  was  published  in  the  San 
Francisco  "Times."  The  name  applied  to  them  was  soon  con- 
tracted into  "  Hoodlum.'''' 

The  San  Francisco  "  Morning  Call,"  of  Oct.  27,  1877,  has  a 
communication  from  a  "  Pioneer,"  who  thus  describes  the  origin  of 
the  word :  — 

Before  the  late  war,  there  appeared  in  San  Francisco  a  man  whose 
dress  was  very  peculiar.  The  boys  took  a  fancy  to  it,  and,  organiz- 
ing themselves  into  a  military  company,  adopted  in  part  the  dress 
of  this  man.  The  head-dress  resembled  the  fez,  from  which  was 
suspended  a  long  tassel.  The  gamins  called  it  a  "  hood,"  and  the 
company  became  known  as  the  "hoods."  The  rowdy  element  in 
the  city  adopted  much  of  the  dress  of  the  company  referred  to,  who 
were  soon  after  designated  as  "  hoodlums." 

Another  writer  in  the  same  paper  says  the  term  was  first  applied 
to  certain  girls  who  always  wore  a  covering  for  their  heads  which 
resembled  a  hood,  from  which  they  were  called  the  "  hoodlum 
girls." 

50 


786 


HOP— IVO 


Hope  I  see  you.    I  am  glad  to  see  you. 

Hornswoggle.  Foolery,  deception.  Western.  The  "  Philadelpliia 
Times"  (Nov.  5,  1877),  in  defining  the  word  skullduggery,  says, 
"  Its  best  Eastern  equivalent  is  .s^e?ifm/^an,  although  the  less  com- 
plicated word  hornswoggling  rather  directly  translates  it,"  See 
Shenanigan. 

Horse-Rake.  A  rake  worked  by  hoi'se-power,  now  in  general  use, 
especially  where  mowing-machines  are  used. 

House-Raising.  The  operation  of  setting  up  the  frame  of  a  wooden 
building.    See  Raising  Bee,  in  body  of  book. 

Humility.  (Limosa.)  The  marbled  God  wit,  a  bird  that  frequents 
fens  and  the  banks  of  rivers.    New  England. 

Hung  on  Wires.    Said  of  a  nervous  or  fidgety  person. 

Hypantol.    An  imaginary  ailment ;  hypochondria. 

I. 

Inflationist.  A  term  applied  to  those  who  favor  increased  issues  of 
paper  money;  who  are  opposed  to  the  resumption  of  specie  payment 
in  1879,  as  provided  by  law  ;  and  of  those  who  advocate  the  remone- 
tization  of  silver,  in  order  to  make  it  a  legal  tender.  See  Remone- 
tization. 

The  New  York  "  Tribune  "  of  Nov.  20,  1877,  says:  — 

Publish  the  names  of  the  inflationists.  .  .  .  Let  a  list  be  printed  of  all  those 
Senators  and  Representatives  who  have  voted  and  will  vote  in  favor  of  inflation 
and  repudiation  in  any  form,  all  opponents  of  the  Resumption  Act,  all  advocates 
of  Bland's  Silver  Bill,  and  so  on.  ...  I  would  have  them  placed  in  this  public 
pillory  as  men  who  have  betrayed  their  trust  and  their  country. 

Ink-Slinger.    One  who  habitually  writes  for  publication;  particularly 

an  editor  or  reporter  of  a  new^spaper. 

Inside  Track.  Some  advantage  peculiar  to  the  person  in  connection 
with  whom  the  expression  is  used;  as,  "Robinson  had  the  inside 
track  in  the  whole  speculation." 

Ivory  Nut,  A  species  of  palm,  the  Phyteleplias  macrocarpa.  When 
young,  the  seed  contains  a  fluid  which  gradually  hardens  into  a 
whitish,  close-grained,  albuminous  substance,  resembling  the  finest 
ivory  in  texture  and  color,  and  is  often  wrought  into  ornamental 
work.   The  nuts  are  known  in  commerce  as  Corosso  nuts.  —  Webster. 


JAC— LIV 


787 


J. 

Jack-Stone.  A  metal  toy,  consisting  of  several  arms  with  globular 
termini.  It  is  so  tossed  and  caught  that  the  player  may  keep  as 
many  of  the  toys  as  possible  in  motion  at  the  same  time. 

Jack-Straws.  Slender  bits  of  wood,  bone,  or  ivory,  fashioned  into 
various  shapes,  for  playing  a  game  of  the  same  name.  They  are 
marked  with  different  numbers,  and  are  dropped  in  a  promiscuous 
heap,  from  which  each  player  draws  in  turn,  until  he  moves  some 
other  "jack-straw"  than  that  which  he  attempts  to  extricate. 
The  winner  is  he  whose  aggregate  of  numbers  is  the  highest. 
"  Spellikins  "  or  "  Spellicans  "  is  another  term  for  this  anmse- 
ment. 

Jeff.  Among  printers  in  their  workshops,  to  throw  "quads,"  — 
a  certain  kind  of  type  which  they  use  as  dice.  See  Shake ^  in  body 
of  book. 

Jump.  "  On  the  jump  "  is  to  be  occupied  in  a  manner  requiring 
constant  activity. 

K. 

Kingdom  Come.    "  He 's  gone  to  kingdom  come,^^  i.  e.  he  is  dead. 

Knight  of  the  Yard-Stick.  A  retail  dry-goods  clerk  ;  a  "counter- 
jumper." 

Knowledgeable.  Educated,  intelligent.  —  H.  W.  Beecher.  Common 
among  the  uneducated  of  Ireland. 

L. 

Labor.    (Span.)     One  of  the  land-measures  of  Texas,  where  the 
Spanish  measures  of  leagues,  labors,  and  varas  are  universal. 
A  labor  is  equal  to  177^  acres,  or  one  million  square  varas. 

Leaky  Vessel.    A  person  who  does  not  keep  secrets. 

To  lie  low.  To  keep  quiet  and  reticent  till  all  occasion  for  so  doing 
has  passed. 

Light  here  !  Come  here !  A  phrase  particularly  in  use  on  the  Western 
rivers. 

Live  Man.  One  who  is  remarkably  active  and  energetic.  "  We 
want  a  live  vian  for  the  place,  —  none  of  your  moping,  indolent  sort." 


788 


LIV— MES 


Live  Oak.  {Quercus  vivem.)  A  variety  of  oak  gi'owing  in  the  South- 
ern States,  of  great  durability  and  much  used  in  ship-building. 

Live  Paper.  A  term  applied  to  business  notes-of-hand.  The  banks, 
in  discounting,  prefer  "  live  paper  meaning  notes  that  will  be  paid 
at  maturity,  and  not  such  as  will  be  renewed,  or  their  payment  pro- 
longed. 

Lods  et  Ventes.  (Fr.)  When  an  owner  of  land  which  is  held 
under  feudal  tenure  sells  the  same,  one-twelfth  of  the  proceeds 
goes,  by  old  French  law,  to  the  seigneur.  This  is  called  lods  et 
ventes.    Province  of  Quebec.    See  Ce?isitaire  and  Cens  et  Rentes. 

Low-Gear.  A  vehicle  of  which  the  portion  to  receive  the  load  is 
placed  below  the  axles,  in  order  that  heavy  articles  may  be  put  on 
and  off  with  greater  facility. 

M. 

Magnolia.  So  called  after  Pierre  Magnol,  Professor  of  Botany  at 
Montpellier,  France.  A  tree  bearing  large,  fragi-ant,  white  flowers, 
growing  in  the  Southern  States.  Michaux  mentions  thirteen 
varieties  of  the  tree,  of  which  eight  belong  to  North  America  and 
five  to  China  and  Japan.  In  China,  it  figures  as  the  symbol  of 
candor  and  of  beauty.  — North  Am.  Sylva. 

Make-up.  The  whole  as  distinguished  from  the  several  parts  com- 
posing it;  the  equivalent  of  the  French  tout  ensemble. 

An  actor's  make-up  means  the  artificial  manner  in  which  he  is 
is  apparelled,  painted,  &c.,  for  the  stage. 

Man-Fashion.    In  a  manly,  straightforward  manner. 

Also,  riding  astraddle,  in  distinction  from  the  feminine  use  of  a 
side-saddle. 

May-Flower.  A  flower  that  blooms  in  May.  In  England,  it  is  the 
hawthorn;  in  New  England,  it  is  the  trailing  arbutus  {Epigcea 
repens) . 

Meamelouc.    The  offspring  of  a  white  and  metis  or  octoroon,  being 
black.    See  Negro,  in  body  of  book. 

Mesquit-Grass.  Barbed  Mesquit.  A  species  of  grass,  from  two  to 
three  feet  in  height,  found  in  Western  Texas.  It  is  a  favorite 
winter  grass,  and  is  much  sought  for  by  stock  of  all  kinds. 

Hog-Wallow  Mesquit.    A  species  of  grass,  used  only  to  be  found 
in  the  hog-wallows  of  Texas,  but  which  is  now  rapidly  spreading 


MET— NEW 


789 


itself  along  the  road-sides,  and  carpeting  all  the  old  roads  and  other 
spots  and  places  of  ground  which  have  been  denuded  of  other 
grasses,  with  a  thickly  crowded  coat  of  extremely  fine,  nutritious 
pasturage  for  every  type  of  graminivorous  animals.  In  appearance, 
it  closely  resembles  the  Bermuda  grass  (Cynodon  dactylon).  Ex- 
cept on  suitably  moist  grounds,  it  is  not  large  enough  to  make  hay 
of;  as  it  does  not,  on  ordinary  soil,  exceed  three  to  six  inches  in 
height.  —  Emigrant'' s  Guide  to  Western  Texas ^  p.  44. 
See  this  term  in  body  of  book. 

Metice  or  Metif.    See  under  "  Mestee  or  Mustee,^^  in  body  of  book. 

Minute-Man.  A  man  enlisted  for  service  wherever  requii'ed,  and 
ready  to  march  at  a  moment's  notice,  —  a  term  used  in  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution.  —  Webster. 

Miss.  To  miss  a  figure  is  to  commit  a  serious  blunder.  The  news- 
papers, in  speaking  of  Mr.  Ewing's  plans  to  get  through  his  bill  for 
the  repeal  of  the  "  resumption  act,"  said,  "  He  missed  a  figure  that 
time,"  i.  e.  he  failed  to  carry  his  point. 

Moons.  Moon  of  Bright  Nights,  April;  Moon  of  Leaves,  May;  Moon 
of  Strawberries,  June;  Moon  of  the  Falling  Leaves,  September;  Moon 
of  Snow-shoes,  November.  —  H.  W.  Longfellow,  in  Hiawatha. 

Mournsome.    Sad,  dejected,  mournful. 

As  we  were  shoving  off,  the  old  man  came  down  the  hill  and  stopped  us,  — 
*•  guessed"  as  we  were  doctors  we  ought  to  be  paid.  "Well,"  said  he,  "you 
done  us  a  heap  of  good,  and  we  was  kind  of  mournsome  before  you  come."  I 
felt  that  the  new  word  mournsome  was  worth  many  fees,  so  guessed,  in  reply,  that 
we  wouldn't  take  any  thing.  —  *S'.  W.  MitcheWs  Nurse  and  Patient,  p.  52. 

Mud-Hook.    An  anchor.    "Drap  mud-hook,^''  i.  e.  cast  anchor. 

Mustafina.  Same  as  Meamelouc,  which  see.  See  also  Mulatto,  in 
body  of  book. 

My !  or  Oh,  My !    An  exclamation  used  chiefly  by  women. 

N. 

New  Orleans  Moss.  (Tillandsia  usneoides.)  A  moss  which  hangs 
from  the  boughs  of  trees  in  Louisiana,  giving  to  the  landscape  a 
weird-like  appearance.  The  fibre,  which  it  yields  in  abundance,  is 
an  excellent  substitute  for  curled  hair,  and  is  used  in  the  South 
almost  exclusively  for  mattresses,  cushions,  &c.  After  being  rotted, 
a  process  which  requires  five  or  six  months,  it  is  cleaned,  dried,  and 


790 


NOT— PAT 


baled  for  market.    Cattle  eat  the  moss  with  avidity,  and  thrive 
upon  it.    Also  called  Texas  Moss,  as  it  is  equally  abundant  in  that 
State.    In  common  parlance,  it  is  called  Old  Man^s  Beard. 
Not  Much.    "  He  is  not  much,^'  i.  e.  of  no  consequence,  or,  as  they 
would  say  in  England,  "no  gi-eat  shakes." 

O. 

Old  Man's  Beard.    A  moss  hanging  from  the  boughs  of  most  trees  in 

Louisiana  and  Texas.    See  New  Orleans  Moss. 

Oneida  Community.  A  society  of  Communists  living  in  Oneida 
County,  New  York ;  founded  by  John  Humphrey  Noyes,  a  native 
of  Vermont,  who,  after  studying  theology  at  Andover  and  New 
Haven,  announced  himself  a  "Perfectionist."  He  is  the  author 
of  several  books  illustrative  of  his  peculiar  faith,  one  of  which  is 
called  "Bible  Communism."  The  society  practises  community 
of  women  as  well  as  of  goods,  maintaining  the  equality  of  women 
with  men  in  social  and  business  life;  the  members  are  engaged  in 
manufactures,  and  carry  on  a  profitable  farming.  They  support 
two  printing-offices. 

Oughtness.  The  Rev.  Joseph  Cook  defines  the  office  of  conscience  to 
be  "  the  detei-mination  of  rightness  and  oughtness  in  human  affairs." 

Owe  you  One.  "  I  owe  you  one  "  means  that  I  will  retaliate  for 
some  advantage  which  another  has  obtained,  or  for  an  injury  done. 

Oyster-Plant.  (Genus  Tragopogon.)  Salsify;  a  plant,  the  root  of 
which,  when  cooked,  resembles  the  oyster  in  taste.  Also  called  Vege- 
table Oyster. 

P. 

Parient.  A  humorous  way  of  saying  "parent."  It  was  much  used 
by  song-writers  during  the  late  civil  war. 

Oh,  sorely,  sorely  did  they  grieve ! 

The  cruel parienfs  heart 
Inflexible  as  stone  remained, 

And  they  were  torn  apart.  —  St.  Nicholas. 

Patron.  One  who  gives  business  patronage  or  countenance  to  a  par- 
ticular railway,  steamboat,  hotel,  &c. ;  who  buys  his  liquors,  cigars, 
&c.,  or  who  encourages  any  particular  establishment,  is  called  its 
patron.  The  original  meaning  of  a  patron  is  one  who  counte- 
nances, supports,  or  protects. 


PEL— PUT 


791 


While  one  of  the  best-read  lawyers  in  Worcester  Count}-  was  reading  a  brief 
to  the  Supreme  Court  at  Worcester  the  other  day,  he  used  the  phrase  "  patrons 
of  the  Boston  and  Albany  Railroad."  "  What  do  you  mean  by  the  woi'd  pa- 
trms?  "  inquired  Chief  Justice  Gray.  The  lawyer  explained  that  he  meant 
people  who  patronized  the  road,  —  its  customers.  The  Jud!j,e  then  suggested 
that  he  should  use  a  Avord  that  conveyed  that  idea,  and  explained  that  "  patron  " 
had  no  such  signification,  and  that  the  State  is,  strictly  speaking,  the  only 
patron  of  the  road.  —  Boston  paper, 

Pe^ '  rist.  A  seller  of  finished  peltries ;  a  vendor  of  manufactured  furs. 
W.  Boyd,  in  Sicartzen,  a  Fur-Poem,  1865. 

Period.  "  The  Period  the  present  time  as  distinguished  from  all 
other  ages  of  the  world,  past  or  future.  The  terms  Girl  of  the 
Period,^^  "  Youth  of  the  Period,"  &c.,  are  employed  in  a  sarcastic 
sense. 

Pigeon  English.  The  dialect  of  the  English  which  is  peculiar  to  the 
Chinese. 

To  pigeon-hole.  To  put  away  memoranda,  documents,  or  other  papers 
for  ready  access,  although  it  may  be  long  before  they  are  wanted. 
The  Departments  at  Washington  receive  applications  and  com- 
plaints which  they  are  said  to  '^pigeon-hole,'^  i.  e.  lay  them  aside, 
never  to  be  removed  or  acted  upon. 

To  pineapple  the  Head.  To  trim  the  hair  of  the  whole  head  very 
close  and  uniformly;  to  "  shingle  "  the  hair. 

Pine-Knot.    (MergaUus  alle.)    The  Little  Auk.    New  England. 

Plenty.  The  antithesis  of  the  term  Scarce,  in  its  cant  sense,  which 
see.  "He  has  not  been  very  plenfg  round  here  lately;"  that  is, 
"  He  has  seldom  or  not  been  here  recently." 

Podunk.  A  term  applied  to  an  imaginary  place  in  burlesque  writing 
or  speaking. 

Post  Oak.  (Quercus  ohtusiloha.)  An  oak  found  in  the  Middle  States, 
used  for  knees  in  ship-building. 

Pull  through.  To  escape  disaster  by  a  combination  of  energy  and 
fortitude,  notwithstanding  difficulties. 

To  put  a  Head  on.  To  bruise  one's  head;  and,  figuratively,  to  swell. 
See  same  expression  in  body  of  book. 

Gave  utterance  to  whines  and  frets; 

Nay,  there  were  times  when  he  made  threats 

That  on  you  he  would  put  a  head, 

Or  he  would  "bust  your  snoot"  instead. 

Albert  R.  Cooke's  Poems. 


792 


PUT— REM 


Put-up  Job.  A  proceeding  injurious  to  one  party,  and  the  result  of 
the  secret  machinations  of  another,  especially  when  the  former  has 
relied  on  the  good  faith  of  the  latter. 

Put  up  to.    Instigated,  incited. 

Q. 

Quateroon.    Same  as  Quadroon.    See  Negro ^  in  body  of  book. 

R. 

Raoker.    A  kind  of  pacing  horse. 

Rag.  A  jesting  or  contemptuous  term  for  a  flag.  Thus,  the  Con- 
federate flag  was  often  termed  by  Unionists  "  the  Rebel  rag.''^ 

Rag  Baby,  The.  A  burlesque  term  for  the  policy  advocated  by  the 
"  Greenbackers  "  (q.  v.);  a  designation  applied  in  ridicule  to  cur- 
rency inflation  as  a  panacea  for  financial  ills,  and  advocated  on  that 
ground  by  a  faction,  as  a  matter  of  surpassing  importance. 

'Rah!  'rah!  'rah!  The  formula  for  a  cheer  by  the  students  of  Har- 
vard College,  Cambridge. 

Rattle- Trap.  A  building  or  house  of  poor  construction,  or  one  in  a 
decayed  condition. 

Reach.  The  pole,  or  its  equivalent,  connecting  the  forward  with  the 
hinder  wheels  of  a  wagon  or  other  four-wheeled  vehicle. 

Reaper.  An  instrument  drawn  by  horses  or  mules  for  cutting  various 
kinds  of  grain;  sometimes  called  a  Reaping-machine. 

Red  Coats.    British  soldiers. 

To  remonetize.  To  restore  and  make  a  legal  tender  any  description 
of  money  which  had  at  a  previous  time  been  such  tender.  By 
an  act  of  Congress  of  June,  1874,  silver  ceased  to  be  a  legal  tender 
on  all  sums  above  $5.  To  remonetize  silver  is  to  make  it  again  a 
legal  tender,  by  restoring  it  to  its  former  value. 

Mr.  Bland,  of  Missouri,  in  discussing  the  bill  before  Congress 
for  the  remonetization  of  silver,  with  a  committee  from  New  York, 
said :  — 

You  bankers  had  better  accept  my  bill  to  remonetize  silver ;  for  I  warn  you 
that,  unless  this  bill  becomes  a  law,  we  will  come  to  the  next  Conijress,  and,  as 
with  a  sponge,  we  will  wipe  out  all  your  bonds.  — N.  Y.  Tribune,  Nov.  16, 1877. 

Senators  Conkling,  Kernan,  and  Bayard  are  decidedly  opposed  to  the  remone' 
tization  of  silver,  and  will  do  all  in  their  power  to  prevent  the  passage  of  a  silver 
bill  that  does  not  protect  the  honor  and  credit  of  the  Government.  —  Ibid. 


RES— SCA 


793 


Restorator.    The  keeper  of  a  restaurant,  or  house  of  refreshment. 

Rip.  "  An  old  n)?."  A  rake,  a  libertine.  Corruption  of  reprobate^ 
English.  A  person,  reading  the  letters  R.  I.  P.  (Requiescat  in  Pace) 
on  the  top  of  a  tombstone  as  one  word,  said,  soliloquizing:  "  Rip  ! 
well,  he  was  an  old  rip,  and  no  mistake."  —  Cuthhert  Bede. 

Rocking-Chair.  A  chair  mounted  on  rockers,  so  as  to  swing  back- 
wards and  forwards. 

Before  [the  fender],  swinging  himself  in  a  rocking-chair,  lounged  a  large  gen- 
tleman with  his  hat  on.  —  Dickens,  Martin  Chuzzlewit,  ch.  xvii. 

Ropes.  To  "  know  the  ropes  is  a  figurative  expression  for  being  well 
versed  in  a  given  matter,  as  sailors  on  ship-board  are  fully  ac- 
quainted with  all  parts  of  the  rigging. 

Rough.  In  the  nature  of  a  hardship  or  of  an  imposition;  as,  "  That 
was  rather  rough  on  Jones,  about  his  son's  going  off  without  letting 
him  know  of  it." 

To  rough.    To  chaff.    "  You 're  roM^^m^/ me." 

Round  in.  In  Texas,  they  say  "round  in"  for  take  in,  include. 
"  In  my  tour,  I  will  round  in  Espartero's  ranch." 

Rub  and  go.  Nothing  to  spare.  "  The  Cambridge  boat  came  in 
ahead;  but  it  was  2^,  rah  and  go.'' ^  A  narrow  avoidance  of  a  con- 
trary result.    Comp.  Touch  and  go. 

S. 

To  salt  down.  To  make  provision  for  the  future;  as,  "  When  they 
opened  the  will,  they  found  he  had  salted  down  some  5-20's  that  he 
had  not  told  them  about." 

Sand  in  the  Wheels.  Unexpected  difficulties  preventing  the  execu- 
tion of  a  project. 

To  throto  sand  in  the  wheels.    To  cast  obstructions  in  the  way  of  an 
undertaking. 

Sang-Mele.  The  offspring  of  a  white  and  octoroon,  being  g^^th  black. 
See  Negro,  in  body  of  book. 

Sap-Boiling.  The  boiling  of  sap  from  maple-trees,  for  the  purpose  of 
making  sugar,  is  a  great  event  among  farmers  who  possess  a  sugar- 
bush  or  sugar-orchard,  which  see.  "  The  boys  are  all  going  to  the 
sap-bilen  next  week." 

Scalping-Knife.  A  broad-bladed  knife  worn  by  frontiersmen  and 
Indians. 


794 


SAP— SUA 


....  He  dashed  the  weapon  down, 
And,  leaping  from  the  rock  upon  the  glade, 

With  glittering  scalpiny-knife  and  haughty  frown, 
Before  the  assailant  stood. 

Durfee,  Whatcheer,  Canto  VII.  53. 

At  night,  before  his  bed  he  '11  seek, 

With  countenance  forlorn 
He  takes  his  scalphuj-lcni.fe,  and  eke 

He  trims  the  Indian  corn. 

Burlin(jton  Hawkeye,  Nov.,  1877. 

Sap-Gag.    A  trifling,  empty-headed  fellow. 

Say !  or  I  say  !  An  exclamation  by  way  of  calling  attention  to  subse- 
quent words  of  the  speaker;  as,  "  Say !  Boy,  throw  that  whip  up 
here."    "  I  say  !    Stranger,  won't  you  give  us  a  lift  here  a  minute." 

Scapulaire.  (Fr.)  A  small,  consecrated  image  of  metal,  suspended 
from  the  neck  next  or  near  the  person,  as  a  supposed  preservative 
against  accident  or  harm.    Province  of  Quebec. 

Set  up.  Intoxicated.  "  He  came  from  the  liquor-shop  pretty  well 
set  up.'''' 

Seven-Shooter.  A  revolver  with  seven  barrels,  now  much  used  on 
the  Western  frontier.    See  Shooter^  in  body  of  book. 

Sewing-Machine.  A  machine  of  American  invention  for  performing 
the  labor  of  sewing.  The  most  important  part  of  the  machine  is 
the  placing  of  the  eye  of  the  needle  near  the  point. 

Scribblement.  Either  a  contemptible  or  a  humorous  way  of  naming 
writings.    Comp.  Hurrygraph. 

Scuff.  To  rub  the  feet  against  the  ground  or  floor,  either  while  walk- 
ing or  standing. 

Shaded.  A  term  frequently  used  in  market  reports,  to  signify  a 
slight  falling  off  in  prices,  without  a  definite  reduction;  as,  "  Prices 
were  somewhat  shaded  at  the  close." 

Shaker.  One  of  a  religious  denomination,  styled  the  "  United  So- 
ciety," which  first  rose  in  Lancashire,  England,  in  the  year  1747. 
In  the  accoutit  which  the  Shakers  give  of  themselves,  they  mention 
the  Quakers  in  the  time  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  and  the  French  prophets 
of  a  later  date,  as  being  the  first  who  had  a  peculiar  testimony  from 
the  Lord  to  deliver  to  the  Christian  world.  But  they  complain  that 
the  former  degenerated,  losing  that  desire  of  love  and  power  with 
which  they  first  set  out;  and,  the  latter  being  of  short  continuance, 
their  extraordinary  communications  have  long  ago  ceased.  This 


SHA— SIN 


795 


testimony  was  revived  in  the  persons  of  James  Wardley,  a  tailor  by 
trade,  and  Jane  his  wife,  who  wrought  at  the  same  occupation. 
They  had  belonged  to  the  society  of  Shakers;  but  receiving  the 
spirit  of  the  French  prophets,  and  a  further  degree  of  light  and 
power,  by  which  they  were  separated  from  that  connnniiity,  they 
continued  for  several  years  disconnected  from  every  denomination. 
During  this  time,  their  testimony,  according  to  what  they  saw  by 
vision  and  revelation  from  God,  was,  That  the  second  appearing 
of  Christ  was  at  hand,  and  that  the  church  was  rising  in  her  full 
and  transcendent  glory,  which  would  elfect  the  final  downfall  of 
Anti-Christ." 

From  the  shaking  of  their  bodies  in  religious  exercises,  they 
were  called  Shakers,  and  some  gave  them  the  name  of  Shaking 
Quakers. 

In  1757,  Ann  Lee  joined  the  Society  by  confessing  her  sins  to 
Jane  Wardley.  In  1772,  she  professed  to  have  received  a  revelation 
from  God  to  repair  to  America.  Accordingly,  as  many  as  firmly 
believed  in  her  testimony,  and  could  settle  their  temporal  concerns, 
and  could  furnish  necessaries  for  the  voyage,  concluded  to  follow 
her.  They  arrived  in  New  York  in  1774,  and  in  1776  removed 
to  Watervliet,  near  Albany,  where  a  society  was  established,  which 
still  exists.  From  this  society  have  grown  communities  at  New 
Lebanon,  N.  Y.,  Wayne  county,  N.  Y. ;  one  in  Connecticut;  two 
in  Ohio ;  two  in  Kentucky ;  and  one  in  Indiana.  —  Rapp^s  Religious 
Denominations  in  the  U.  S. 

Shaking  Quaker.  A  member  of  the  religious  sect  called  Shakers, 
which  see. 

Sharpey.  A  species  of  boat  used  on  some  portions  of  the  Atlantic 
coast.    Long  Island. 

Shook  up.    "  He 's  considerably  shook  up,^^  i.e.  greatly  agitated. 

Should  die.  Among  immature  maidens,  a  common  exclamation,  at 
the  recounting  of  almost  every  trivial  occurrence,  is,  "  I  laughed 
so  that  I  thought  I  should  die/^ 

Sight.  Prospect,  favorable  probability;  as,  "Hopkins  has  no  sight 
for  getting  the  office;  "  "  Smith  thought  he  had  a  good  sight  for 
selling  his  horse." 

To  sing  out.  To  shout  lustily;  e.  g.,^^  When  Bill  found  the  lior.so 
was  too  much  for  him,  he  sung  out  like  a  good  fellow  for  Tom  to 
help  him." 


796 


SIN— SPI 


To  sing  small.  To  substitute  a  subdued  tone  for  a  previous  blusterin.^ 
manner;  e.  g.^  "Jenkins  commenced  to  order  everybody  round,  but 
the  'Squire  made  him  sing  small  after  he  came." 

Sit.    A  situation.    A  printer's  short  term  for  steady  employment. 

Sixty.  For  some  occult  reason,  this  number  is  used  by  many  persons, 
apparently  to  supply  the  lack  of  a  ready  comparison;  as,  "He 
scolded  like  sixty  because  the  job  wasn't  done." 

Skin  of  his  Teeth.  A  narrow  chance;  a  very  close  escape.  "  He 
got  in  by  the  skin  of  his  teeth. The  phrase  "  skin  of  my  teeth  " 
occurs  in  Job  xix.  20. 

Skullduggery.    Nonsense,  foolery. 

This  word  having  been  employed  by  a  letter-writer  in  Washing- 
ton, much  curiosity  was  manifested  by  the  press  to  know  its  mean- 
ing. The  "  Philadelphia  Times  "  (Nov.  5,  1877)  says:  "  It  is  a  very 
good  and  very  common  word  in  the  West.  It  is  a  favorite  in  the 
best  society  there;  and  the  meaning  is  very  simple,  and  well  under- 
stood by  educated  minds.  Its  best  Eastern  equivalent  probably  is 
Shenanigan,^ ^  which  see  in  body  of  book.  See  also  Missouri-is nis, 
in  same  place. 

To  slip  up.    To  completely  fail  in  any  undertaking. 

Sly-Boots.  A  nickname  applied  in  quasi  good  humor  to  a  person 
who  is  reputed  to  be  as  cunning  as  he  is  demure. 

To  snap  up.  1.  To  take  angry  and  unreasonable  exception  to  an- 
other's remark;  as,  "  Jenkins  snapped  me  right  up  for  saying  any 
thing  about  those  potatoes." 

2.  To  possess  one's  self  of  something  promptly  and  eagerly,  upon 
opportunity  given ;  as,  "Brown  snapped  up  every  pound  of  butter 
that  came  to  market." 

Soft-Horn.    A  weak,  credulous  person. 

Soire'e.  A  church  "sociable;"  also  any  public  social  gathering. 
Canada. 

Sore-Head.  A  political  term  applied  to  those  who,  from  disappoint- 
ment in  selfish  aims,  are  disaffected  towards  the  faction  with  which 
they  have  previously  been  identified. 

Sorrel  Top.    A  derisive  appellation  for  a  red-haired  person. 

Spindigo.  Overtaken  by  a  disastrous  result;  e.  g.,  "He  came  out 
spindigoj^^  said  of  a  person  who  entered  into  a  speculation. 


SPO— STE 


797 


Spoiling  for  a  Fight.  Impatient  to  fight  some  one  for  the  sake  of 
fighting;  eager  for  a  contest. 

Sponge.  To  throw  up  the  sponge  is  an  expression  which  belongs  to  the 
slang  of  prize-fighters;  to  the  "ring"  proper,  or  circle  around 
which  pugilists  assemble  for  a  fight.  On  these  occasions,  a  sponge 
is  used  to  wipe  the  blood  as  it  flows  from  the  bleeding  contestants. 
Hence,  to  "  throw  up  the  sponge,"  in  the  language  of  the  ring,  is 
to  use  it  no  longer,  thereby  acknowledging  a  defeat,  and  tliat 
the  party  which  ceased  to  use  the  sponge  is  vanquished.  The  fol- 
lowing example  will  show  that  the  expression  has  been  adopted  by 
religious  contestants :  — 

In  a  letter  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  H.  Hopkins  to  the  "  N.  Y. 
Tribune,"  N"ov.  24,  1877,  on  the  advancement  of  Ritualism, 
that  eminent  writer  and  divine  says:  — 

The  leading?  Ritualbtic  parishes  go  on  with  their  Ritualistic  services,  and  teach 
their  Ritualistic  doctrines  without  molestation.  Bishop  Stevens  tried  to  coerce 
St.  Clement's.  Pliiladelphia  (not  under  the  Ritual  Canon,  however),  and  finally 
fiun(j  up  the  sponge  in  despair. 

Spudgel.    To  rush;  to  move  swiftly;  to  dash  off. 

Squeal.  To  give  up  in  any  undertaking  or  game;  to  "throw  up  the 
sponge,"  which  see. 

Squealer.  {Chnradrim  Virginianus.)  The  Golden  Plover.  New 
England.    See  Tattler^  in  body  of  book. 

Squnch.  To  stoojD  or  lie  down;  to  squeeze  one's  self  within  the 
smallest  compass. 

St!  boom!  ah!  These  syllables  or  characters  stand  for  the  sounds  by 
which  the  students  of  Princeton  College  end  a  series  of  cheers.  The 
sounds  uttered  are  intended  to  represent  the  loud  fizzing  through 
the  air  of  a  rocket,  the  rocket's  subsequent  explosion,  and  the 
clamorously  expressed  surprise  of  the  spectators  at  such  explosion. 

Stand  Sam.  To  *'  Stand  Sam  "  is  to  pay  for  liquor,  refreshment,  or 
any  thing  else;  to  pay  for  the  entertainment  of  one's  friends.  The 
expression  was  much  used  by  our  soldiers  during  the  late  civil 
war.  By  "Sam"  was  meant  "Uncle  Sam,"  i.  e.  the  United 
States.  Hotten  says  the  expression  was  used  in  England  as  early 
as  1827.  —  Slang  Die.    See  Stand  Treat. 

State's-Prison  Bird.  A  criminal  who  has  been  sentenced  to  the 
State's  Prison;  notably,  one  whose  career  renders  him  liable  to  and 
emphatically  deserving  of  constant  confinement. 

Steady  by  Jerks,    This  is  explanatory  of  itself. 


798 


STI— TRA 


Stick  a  Pin.  "  I  '11  stick  a  pin  there,"  i.  e.  I  '11  make  a  note  of  it, 
I  '11  bear  it  in  mind. 

Straight-haired.    Honest,  uprio^ht,  reliable,  "square." 

Street-Yarn.  To  spin  street-yarn ;  to  gad  about  in  an  idle  manner; 
to  frequent  the  streets  without  any  definite  object. 

Sub.  A  substitute.  A  word  in  constant  use  among  printers  to  denote 
one  engaged  by  another  to  fill  the  permanent  situation  of  the  latter 
while  he  is  temporarily  off  duty.  "  He  subbed  in  Boston  for  a 
while;  "  that  is,  obtained  casual  employment  there  in  this  way. 

Suds.  In  the  suds  is  to  be  actually  engaged  in  a  manner  unsuited  to 
receive  visitors,  as  a  woman  would  be  at  the  wash-tub. 

Sweat.  A  condition  of  great  mental  excitement,  reacting  upon  the 
physical  system;  a  degree  of  concern  so  deep  as  to  induce  perspira- 
tion; as,  "I  will  make  him  sweat  for  his  conduct."  Used  in  the 
same  sense  in  England. 

Nor  did  he  ever  once  repeat 

The  prank  that  gave  him  such  a  sweat. 

Albert  R.  Cookers  Poems. 

T. 

Taking.  Excitement,  undue  emotion;  as,  "  I  found  Jerry  in  a  ter- 
rible taking  about  his  brother's  failure." 

Territory.  In  the  United  States,  a  portion  of  the  country  not  in- 
cluded within  the  limits  of  any  State,  and  not  admitted  as  a  State 
into  the  Union,  but  organized  by  a  separate  legislature,  under  a 
territorial  governor  and  other  officers  appointed  by  the  President 
and  Senate  of  the  United  States. — Webster. 

Tip-Cart.  A  two-wheeled  vehicle,  so  constructed  as  to  "dump  "  its 
load  by  tipping  up  the  forward  end  of  the  body. 

Too  Thin  to  wash.    Too  evident.     See  Too  Thin,  in  body  of  book. 

The  attempt  at  legislation  was  judiciously  made  under  the  language  of  friend- 
liness, and  an  express  desire  to  "  increase  the  etiiciency  "  of  these  institutions  by 
a  little  canonical  legislation.  But  the  veil  was  too  thin  to  tcash.  —  Rev.  Dr.  J.  H. 
Hopkins  on  Ritualism,  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Nov.  24.  1877. 

Trade  Dollar.  A  silver  dollar,  coined  by  act  of  Congress,  Jan.  12, 
1873,  containing  420  grains  Troy,  and  made  a  legal  tender  at  its 
nominal  value  for  any  amount  not  exceeding  five  dollars,  the 
"  standard  dollar  of  previous  coinages  weighing  but  4121  grains." 


TRA— YAH 


799 


It  is  called  the  *'  trade  dollar,"  being  coined  expressly  for  export  to 
China  and  India.  At  first,  it  was  received  with  hesitation  in  China; 
but,  upon  repeated  tests  of  its  weight  and  fineness  being  made,  its 
intrinsic  value  became  fixed,  and  at  the  present  time  it  is  received 
with  great  favor  at  the  ports  of  Canton,  Swatow,  Amoy,  and  Foo- 
Chow.  "Indeed,"  says  Mr.  Low,  our  Minister  at  Pekin,  "so 
reliable  has  this  coin  proven,  that  the  viceroys  of  the  provinces  in 
which  the  ports  named  are  situated  have  ordered  that  they  be 
received  in  payment  for  duties  in  payment  of  customs  duties,  at 
their  standard  value,  as  compared  with  the  tael." 

Traineau.    (Fr.)    A  farmer's  working-sleigh.    Province  of  Quebec. 

Tumble  to  or  Tumble.  Understand;  as,  "Do  you  tumble  to  it?" 
"  Yes,  I  tumble.''^ 

w. 

Wammikin.  A  raft  of  square  timber  or  long  logs,  on  which  is  built 
a  comfortable  shanty,  with  cooking  and  sleeping  facilities,  used  by 
lumbermen  in  Maine.    See  Raft^  in  body  of  book. 

At  night,  the  men  seek  their  several  Wammikins  for  supper,  sleep,  and  break- 
fast;  and,  when  the  '"drive"  tinally  arrives  at  its  destination,  the  timber  of 
these  portable  hotels  comes  into  good  use  for  booms  and  other  purposes.  — 
Scribner''s  Monthly  for  December,  1877,  p.  151. 

Water-Witch.  (Podiceps.)  A  name  applied  to  the  whole  family  of 
grebes.    They  are  also  called  Hell-divers  and  Tinker-loons. 

Wringer.  An  instrument  worked  by  hand  for  forcing  or  wringing 
water  from  clothes  after  they  have  been  washed,  thereby  saving 
gi-eat  labor. 

Y. 

Yahoo.    (Additional  to  this  word  in  body  of  book.) 

A  word  first  used  by  Swift  in  Gulliver's  Travels  to  designate  a 
race  of  beings,  degraded  men  subject  to  the  Ilouyhnhnms.  The 
name  and  the  character  attracted  the  wits  of  the  day,  especially 
those  of  Swift's  party,  who,  like  him,  were  disposed  to  be  out  of 
sorts  with  the  order  of  things  and  the  men  at  the  head  of  af- 
fairs. In  July,  1720,  Lord  Bolingbroke  writes  from  Davvley  Farm 
to  Swift,  Pope,  and  Gay,  under  the  designation  of  "  the  three  Yahoos 
of  Twickenham,  Jonathan,  Alexander,  and  John."  Mrs.  Howard, 
too,  in  writing  to  Swift  in  allusion  to  an  impostor  of  the  name  of 


800 


YAN— YAW 


Mary  Tafts,  calls  her  a  Yahoo;  and  Gay  writes,  "We  are  afraid 
that  B.  hath  been  guilty  of  that  crime  that  you  (like  a  Ilouyhnhnm) 
have  treated  him  as  a  Fa/ioo." — Dr.  Waller^ s  note  to  Gulliver^ s 
Travels,  CassePs  Ed,,  p.  279. 

Art  thou  the  first  who  did  the  coast  explore  ? 

Did  never  Yahoo  tread  that  ground  before  V  —  Pope. 

Yankee  Doodle.    (Additional  to  this  term  in  body  of  book.) 

You  know,  my  dear  Freddy,  how  oft  if  we  would, 

By  the  laws  of  Session  we  might  have  done  good : 

We  might  have  told  Ireland  we  pitied  her  lot; 

Might  have  soothed  her  with  hope,  but  you  know  we  did  not; 

We  might  have  withheld  our  political  noodles 

From  knocking  their  heads  against  hot  Yankee  doodles. 

Tom  Moore,  Twopenny  Post  Boy. 

Yawp.    The  cry  of  a  sickly  bird,  or  of  one  in  distress.  — Jamieson, 
Scottish  Die. 

The  "  Atlantic  Monthly  "  for  December,  1877  (p.  744),  in  speak- 
ing of  the  author  of  "  Leaves  of  Grass,"  says:  — 

The  indictment  preferred  against  [Walt]  Whitman  has  three  counts :  first,  he  is 
nasty  ;  second,  he  is  tedious  and  prosaic;  third,  his  singing  is  a  barbaric  yawp. 

"  Now  as  to  the  barbaric  yawp,^^  continues  the  critic,  "  I  maintain 
that  there  are  passages  of  his  poetry  which  show  him  to  be  one  of 
our  very  first  masters  of  verbal  melody  and  harmony,  and  do  not 
find  it  surprising  that  he  should  have  attracted  toward  him  two 
such  diverse,  but  veritable  singers  as  Swinburne  and  Tennyson." 

To  yawp,  yaup.    To  cry  out  like  a  child;  to  whine.  — Jamieson,  Scot. 
Die.    Noticed  also  by  Webster,  who  adds  "  Scot,  and  U.  S." 


PROVERBS. 


A  small  house  well  filled  is  better  than  an  empty  palace. 

A  cold  manner  never  covered  a  warm  heart :  hot  water  imparts  a 
glow  even  to  a  silent  teapot. 

A  college  education  shows  a  man  how  devilish  little  other  people 
know. 

A  nod  is  as  good  as  a  wink  to  a  blind  horse. 

Seeing  is  believing ;  but  it  is  not  those  who  stare  most  who  see  the 
best  always. 

When  ponds  dry  up,  the  pokes  get  the  pollywogs. 

When  grasshoppers  are  so  plenty  as  to  make  the  pastures  poor, 
gobblers  grow  fat. 

Never  draw  on  to-morrow.  It  is  like  anticipating  one's  income, 
and  making  the  future  bear  the  expenses  of  the  past. 

To  carry  care  to  bed  is  to  sleep  with  a  pack  on  your  back. 

Thundering  long  words  aint  wisdom,  and  stopping  a  creature's 
mouth  is  more  apt  to  improve  his  mind  than  his  understanding. 

Love  is  like  the  small-pox:  it  comes  in  the  natural  way,  and  one 
can't  help  it. 

Swapping  facts  is  better  than  swapping  horses  any  time. 

Hope  is  a  pleasant  acquaintance,  but  an  unsafe  friend.  He  '11  do 
on  a  pinch  for  a  travelling  companion,  but  he  is  not  the  man  for  your 
banker. 

Where  there  is  great  strength,  there  aint  apt  to  be  much  gumption. 

A  handsome  man  in  a  general  way  aint  much  of  a  man. 

The  world  is  like  a  baked  meat-pie:  the  upper  crust  is  rich,  dry, 
and  puffy;  the  lower  crust  is  heavy  and  underdone.  The  middle  is 
not  bad  generally,  but  the  smallest  part  of  all  is  that  which  flavors  the 
whole. 

Nicknames  stick  to  people,  and  the  most  ridiculous  are  the  most 
adhesive. 

Conceit  grows  as  natural  as  the  hair  on  one's  head;  but  it  is  longer 
in  coming  out. 

61 


802 


PROVERBS. 


Brag  is  a  dog  that  everybody  hates,  but  nobody  fears,  for  he  only 
bow-wows. 

There  is  cant  in  politics  as  well  as  in  religion,  and  hypocrites  of 
either  kind  are  rascals. 

Piety  aint  found  in  pot-houses,  nor  patriotism  in  mobs  or  mob- 
meetings. 

Blushing  for  others  is  the  next  thing  to  taking  a  kicking  for  them. 

Those  who  do  the  most  bragging  about  their  independence  before 
marriage  do  the  least  of  it  afterwards. 

I  have  never  known  a  second  wife  but  what  was  boss  of  the  sit- 
uation. 

Whiskey  is  a  hard  thing  to  convince,  therefore  never  argue  with  a 
drunken  man. 

Idleness  is  the  great  bane  of  life :  the  devil  always  enters  the  idle 
man's  house  without  knocking. 

Dandies  are  a  quick  study:  after  you  have  looked  one  over,  you 
have  got  the  size  of  the  whole. 

Don't  despise  your  poor  relations:  they  may  become  suddenly  rich, 
and  then  it  will  be  awkward  to  explain  things  to  them. 

A  woman  always  prefers  to  look  up  to  her  husband,  and  never  looks 
down  on  him  unless  she  is  obliged  to. 

Pet  children  are  tyrants ;  and  a  pet  deacon  wants  as  much  watching 
as  a  pet  coon. 

A  pet  wife  soon  gets  to  be  captain,  and  a  pet  baby  rules  the  whole 
household. 

Young  fools  are  comparatively  harmless:  it  is  the  old  fools  that 
make  most  trouble  in  the  world. 

It  is  time  enough  for  a  man  to  laugh  at  his  own  wit  after  others  get 
through. 

Those  who  begin  by  believing  too  much  generally  end  by  believ- 
ing nothing. 

Experience  is  a  good  teacher,  although  a  slow  one:  before  we  get 
half  through  her  lessons,  the  bell  rings,  and  we  are  summoned  to 
judgment. 

The  goose,  like  other  fools,  always  seems  anxious  to  prove  that  he 
is  a  goose. 

Any  man  who  can  swap  horses  or  catch  fish  and  not  lie  about  it 
is  just  as  pious  as  men  ever  become  in  this  world. 

The  shortest  way  to  a  woman's  heart  is  to  praise  her  baby  and  her 
bonnet ;  and  to  a  man's  heart,  to  praise  his  horse  and  buggy. 

There  are  no  women  so  much  abused  as  mothers-in-law,  and  none 
seem  to  stand  it  so  well. 


PROVERBS. 


803 


Early  genius  is  like  a  cabbage:  it  doesn't  head  well. 

Sharpers  are  like  hornets,  —  intimate  on  short  acquaintance. 

Secrets  are  like  the  measles :  they  take  easy  and  spread  easy. 

When  you  see  a  doctor  Avho  always  travels  on  the  jump,  you  can 
bet  he  is  looking  for  a  job. 

Self-made  men  are  almost  always  apt  to  be  a  little  too  proud  of  the 
job. 

There  aint  much  fun  in  physic ;  but  there  is  a  good  deal  of  physic 
in  fun. 

It  is  a  very  small  spot  in  a  lightnir^-bug's  tail  that  shines;  it  is 
the  darkness  of  the  night  that  makes  so  brilliant:  it  is  just  so  with 
virtue. 

Disease  and  pills,  when  they  enter  a  man's  body,  are  like  two 
lawyers  when  they  undertake  to  settle  his  affairs :  they  compromise  the 
matter  by  laying  out  the  patient. 

Sewing  societies  are  generally  places  where  women  meet  to  rip  and 
so  —  up  the  neighborhood. 

Advice  is  like  castor  oil,  —  easy  enough  to  give,  but  dreadful  uneasy 
to  take. 

Error  will  creep  through  a  crack,  while  truth  will  get  stuck  in  a 
doorway. 

Take  the  humbug  out  of  the  world,  and  you  wont  have  much  left 
to  do  business  with. 

The  interviewer  has  just  brains  enough  to  keep  his  impudence 
active;  and,  though  he  has  but  little  malice,  he  will  hunt  you  sharper, 
and  worry  you  worse,  than  a  canal-boat  bed-bug. 

Death  is  no  escape  from  the  interviewer;  for  they  will  hang  around 
the  departure  till  they  get  an  item,  and  then  go  for  the  widow. 

When  a  man  runs  his  head  against  a  post,  he  curses  the  post  first, 
all  creation  next,  and  something  else  last,  and  never  thinks  of  cursing 
himself. 

An  enthusiast  is  an  individual  who  believes  about  four  times  as 
much  as  he  can  prove,  and  who  can  prove  about  four  times  as  much  as 
anybody  else  believes. 

It  is  easy  to  manage  our  neighbors'  business,  but  our  own  sometimes 
bothers  us. 

People  who  are  trying  to  get  to  heaven  on  their  creed  will  find  out 
at  last  that  they  didn't  have  a  through  ticket. 

The  thinner  the  ice  is,  the  more  anxious  is  every  one  to  see  whether 
it  will  bear. 

Be  merciful  to  all  dumb  animals :  no  man  can  ride  to  heaven  on  a 
sore-backed  horse. 


'804 


PROVERBS. 


The  dog  that  will  follow  everybody  aint  worth  a  cent. 

Ambition  is  as  hollow  as  the  soul  of  an  echo. 

Tides,  steam-boats,  and  soda-water  will  wait  for  no  one. 

Big  feet,  like  a  leather  shirt,  are  more  for  use  than  ornament. 

Money  slips  from  the  fingers  like  a  watermelon  seed,  travels  with-' 
out  legs,  and  flies  without  wings. 

It  is  the  lot  of  humanity  to  err  at  times,  as  the  drunken  man  said 
■when  he  mistook  the  pigpen  for  his  bedroom. 

A  good  deed  will  stick  out,  with  an  inclination  to  spread  like  the 
tail  of  a  peacock. 

Evil  actions,  like  crushed  rotten  eggs,  stink  in  the  nostrils  of  all. 

One  might  as  well  undertake  to  whistle  a  grape-vine  from  a  white- 
oak  as  to  induce  a  girl  to  relinquish  her  lover. 

Vice  is  like  a  skunk  that  smells  awfully  rank,  when  stiri-ed  up  by 
the  pole  of  misfortune. 

Obstinacy  is  like  red  hair:  there  is  no  cure  for  it  but  to  die.  B. 

Time  isn't  of  more  account  than  an  old  setting  hen.  B. 

A  hen's  time  aint  much.  B. 

All  deacons  are  good,  but  there 's  odds  in  deacons.  B. 

It 's  a  poor  belly  that  can't  warm  its  own  pie.    (Cape  Cod.) 

I  never  eat  the  calf  in  the  cow's  belly. 

Believe  all  things  that  you  hear,  but  put  your  faith  and  money  in 
but  few.  B. 

Clubs  are  places  where  most  people  go  to  get  rid  of  themselves.  B, 
Waiting  to  be  whipped  is  the  most  uninteresting  period  in  boy- 
hood life.  B. 

The  man  who  is  reckless  of  his  life  holds  it  at  just  about  its  market 
price.  B. 

The  most  critical  people  to  suit  are  those  who  board  at  alms- 
houses. B. 

Don't  parade  your  sorrows  before  the  world;  but  buiy  them  as  , 
dogs  do  their  old  bones,  and  then  growl  if  anybody  offers  to  dig  them 
up.  B. 

The  middle  course  is  the  best:  even  a  moderate  deacon  is  better 
than  a  ret-hot  one.  B. 

Woman  has  always  been  a  match  for  man:  Adam  held  the  best 
cards,  but  he  didn't  play  them  well.  B. 

There  are  no  w^eeds  in  the  world  that  wilt  so  quick  as  the  weeds  of 
the  widower.  B. 

The  man  who  lives  the  life  of  a  toady  is  a  kind  of  human  spit- 
box.  B. 

If  you  w^ould  escape  envy,  abuse,  and  taxes,  you  must  live  in  a  deep 
well,  and  only  come  out  at  night.  B. 


PROVERBS. 


805 


It  aint  whistlin'  makes  the  plough  go. 
"Wishers  and  woulders  make  poor  housekeepers. 
You  can't  make  a  fog-horn  out  of  a  pig's  tail:  the  squeal  aint  in 
that  end. 

Perseverance  is  a  whole  team  in  itself;  but,  tackled  with  Patience, 
"  Jordan  is  a  slow  road  to  travel." 

It  is  more  respectable  to  be  seen  with  a  dirty  shirt  on  one's  back 
and  a  clean  moral  reputation  beneath  it,  than  with  an  oath-stained 
character  wrapped  in  broadcloth.  D. 

Whatever  your  conscience  dictates  to  be  done,  do  it,  and  tell  the 
devil  to  go  home  and  attend  to  his  domestic  affairs.  D. 

Deal  justly  with  all  men:  if  your  neighbor  steals  a  sheep  of  you, 
consider  it  an  act  of  necessity  on  his  part,  and  furnish  him  with  funds 
to  buy  his  mutton  in  future.  D. 

Animated  by  the  invigorating  influence  of  love,  a  young  mim  will 
climb  higher  and  steeper  acclivities  than  a  Rocky  jNIountain  ram,  leap 
farther  at  a  hop  than  a  kangaroo,  crawl  through  a  smaller  hole 
than  a  weasel,  assume  more  colors  than  the  chameleon,  and  dive 
deeper  into  danger  than  avarice  ever  dare  venture  for  the  sake  of 
the  all-puissant  dollar.  D. 

To  test  your  luck,  don't  throw  dice  nor  buy  lottery  tickets;  but 
put  your  hand  to  the  plough,  and  hold  on.  D. 

Don't  suppose  that  good  luck  wdll  keep  company  with  a  loafer  who 
is  too  lazy  to  work.  D. 

Life  is  like  a  kiss  that  does  not  last  long  enough  for  a  fellow  to 
ascertain  how  good  it  is.  D. 

Let  a  man  be  minus  his  brains  and  plus  brass,  and  he  is  sure 
to  slide  through  the  woi'ld  as  though  he  was  greased  from  ear  to 
ankle.  D. 

Money,  like  manure,  is  of  no  earthly  use  until  it  is  spread. 
Keep  cool;  be  busy;  chirify  your  conscience,  and  exliibit  a  clean 
shirt.  D. 

Tdbness  eats  big  holes  through  one's  coat,  jacket,  and  trowsers, 
and  never  provides  means  to  mend  them.  D. 

The  longest  pole  fetches  down  the  persimmons. 

Let  every  man  skin  his  own  skunks  [/.  e.  do  his  "own  dirty 
work"].    S".  S. 

Tease  not  your  own  gi/zard;  fret  not  your  own  mizzard. 

Let  well  enough  alone. 

The  bread  of  idleness  in  a  general  way  is  apt  to  be  stale,  and  some- 
times I  consait  it  is  a  little  grain  sour.    S.  S. 

The  mind  is  like  a  slate,  — one  thing  gets  rubbed  out  for  anotiier. 
S.  S. 


806 


PROVERBS. 


Republics,  like  some  apples,  thrive  only  in  certain  places.    S.  S. 

Grumbling  spoils  the  relish,  and  hurts  the  digestion.    S.  S. 

Bashfulness  rubs  off  in  America  long  before  the  beard  comes.  S.  S. 

When  you  see  a  politician  extra  full  of  patriotism  and  stuffed  with 
stump  speeches,  you  may  take  it  for  granted  he  wants  office  either  for 
himself  or  some  friend.  D. 

Hope's  brightest  visions  absquatulate  with  their  golden  promises 
before  the  least  cloud  of  disappointment,  and  leave  not  a  shinplaster 
behind.  D. 

Politics  are  nothing  more  or  less  than  a  race  for  a  purse,  a  game 
for  the  stakes,  a  battle  for  the  spoils.  D. 

No  man  nor  woman  can  be  a  general  favorite  and  be  true.    S.  S. 

Hypocrisy  has  enlisted  more  people  for  "  Old  Scratch  "  than  any 
recruiting  sergeant  he  has.    S.  S. 

The  moment  a  fellow  has  a  woman's  secret,  he  is  that  woman's 
master.    S.  S. 

No  atheist,  with  all  his  boasted  bravery,  has  ever  dared  to  adver- 
tise his  belief  on  his  tomb-stone.  B. 

When  a  man  is  old  enough  to  travel  a  good  gait  on  his  experience, 
death  taps  him  on  the  shoulder  and  wants  him  just  around  the  cor- 
ner. B. 

The  man  who  can't  find  any  thing  to  do  generally  hunts  with  great 
caution.  B. 

Beauty  has  won  many  a  victory,  but  seldom  has  succeeded  in  keep- 
ing it  long.  B. 

The  man  who  has  never  been  cheated  doesn't  know  as  much  as  he 
will  some  day  before  long,  perhaps.  B. 

A  careless  man  in  a  family  is  a  nuisance,  but  a  sluttish  woman  is 
worse  than  a  blister.  B. 

He  who  has  nothing  to  do  in  this  w^orld  but  to  amuse  himself  has 
the  hardest  job  on  hand  that  I  know  of.  B. 

There  is  nothing  that  we  make  so  many  blunders  about  and  the 
w^orld  so  few  as  the  actual  amount  of  our  importance.  B. 

He  who  works  for  notoriety  had  rather  be  insulted  than  not  noticed 
at  all.  B. 

One  half  the  troubles  in  this  world  can  be  traced  to  saying  "  Yes  " 
too  quick,  and  to  not  saying  "  No  "  soon  enough.  B. 

When  the  fox  turns  preacher,  the  geese  had  better  not  go  to  night- 
meetings.    S.  S. 

There  is  no  security  where  there  is  a  committee  of  safety.    S.  S. 

Fellows  who  have  no  tongues  fire  often  all  eyes  and  ears,    S.  S. 


SIMILES. 


Like  bricks. 

Like  all  fury. 

Like  all  nature. 

Like  all  possessed. 

Like  hot  cakes. 

As  cute  as  a  fox. 

As  drunk  as  a  loon. 

As  crazy  as  a  bed-bug. 

As  mad  as  all  wrath. 

As  long  as  a  thanksgiving  sermon. 

As  straight  as  a  loon's  leg. 

Mad  enough  to  eat  snakes. 

As  dry  as  a  lime-burner's  wig. 

As  meek  as  a  sucking  dove. 

As  innocent  as  a  sucking  turkey. 

As  hot  as  the  devil's  kitchen. 

As  quick  as  greased  lightning. 

As  crooked  as  a  Virginia  fence. 

As  tight  as  the  bark  of  a  tree. 

As  thin  as  the  last  run  of  shad. 

As  happy  as  a  clam  at  high  water. 

Thicker  than  bees  in  a  buckwheat  field. 

As  smiling  as  a  basket  of  chips. 

As  outspoken  as  a  north-wester. 

As  hungry  as  a  graven  image. 

As  handy  as  a  pocket  in  a  shirt. 

As  dry  as  the  clerk  of  a  lime-kiln. 

As  busy  as  bees  in  a  tar-barrel. 

As  small  as  the  little  end  of  nothing. 

As  popular  as  a  hen  with  one  chicken. 

Hopping  about  like  pop-corn  on  a  hot  shovel. 

He  pricks  up  his  ears  like  a  filly  in  fly-time. 


808 


SIMILES. 


Mean  enough  to  steal  acorns  from  a  blind  hog. 

Stingy  enough  to  skim  his  milk  at  both  ends. 

Head  and  tail  up  like  chicken-cocks  in  laying-time. 

As  proud  as  a  mulatto  in  a  negro  congregation. 

Hot  enough  to  fry  pitch  out  of  a  palm-leaf  hat. 

To  feel  as  mean  as  a  rooster  in  a  thunder  shower. 

To  grunt  like  an  old  sow  when  she  hears  the  swill  running.  D. 

As  fresh  in  my  memory  as  butter  just  from  the  churn. 

As  mad  as  a  bull  among  bumble-bees. 

As  forlorn  as  an  unmated  coon. 

As  forlorn  as  a  musquash  when  his  swamp  has  been  drained. 

She  looks  like  a  scalded  shoat  on  the  last  day  of  hog-killing. 

As  big  as  what  hogs  dream  of  when  they  're  too  fat  to  snore. 

As  cold  as  the  north  side  of  a  January  grave-stone  by  moonlight. 

As  miserable  as  roosters  in  a  rain,  heads  down  and  tails  half-mast. 

So  thievish  that  people  have  taken  in  their  stone  walls  at  night. 

As  silently  as  a  snail  slips  over  a  cabbage-leaf  on  a  dewy  morning. 

To  look  as  solemn  as  though  a  stone  wall  lay  on  one's  grandmother. 

As  busy  as  a  negro  in  a  sugar-cask. 

As  busy  as  a  hen  with  fifteen  chickens  in  a  barn-yard. 

It  stinks  worse  in  the  nostrils  of  Heaven  than  a  dead  horse  on  the 
top  of  Mount  Ararat. 

He  sticks  like  a  Comanche  on  a  mustang:  the  worse  it  jumps,  the 
tighter  he  sticks. 

Like  a  dog  at  a  churn,  —  working  hard,  with  no  prospect  of  a  lick 
at  the  butter. 

The  pigs  were  so  poor  that  the  owner  was  obliged  to  tie  knots  in 
their  tails  to  keep  them  from  crawling  through  the  cracks  of  their 
pens.  D. 

A  miser  has  a  soul  so  small  that  a  million  like  it  could  go  through 
the  eye  of  a  cambric  needle  abreast.  D. 

To  feel  as  if  one  could  lick  the  spirit  out  of  a  dozen  76 's  in  less 
than  two  .shakes  of  a  lobster's  liver.  D. 

He  bawls  loud  enough  to  make  a  dead  horse  turn  over  in  his  grave 

She  looks  like  an  angel  rammed  through  a  brush-fence  into  a  world 
of  wretchedness  and  woe. 

I  see  many  that  permit  the  worm  of  corruption  to  gnaw  at  their 
moth-eaten  morals  !  Their  name  is  Legion;  and  the  way  they  are 
streaking  it  down  the  dark  road  to  ruin  is  sorrowful  to  steam  locomo- 
tives. D. 

I  felt  like  a  speck  of  dust  cut  up  into  homoeopathic  doses  for  a  child 
two  minutes  old. 


SIMILES. 


809 


As  interesting  a  sight  as  a  shimmy  (chemise)  in  a  wash-tub ;  and 
whispers  of  purity,  love,  harmony,  and  peace.  D. 

I  can  strike  as  hard  as  fourth-proof  lightning,  and  keep  it  up  rough 
and  tumble  as  long  as  a  wild-cat. 

As  much  out  of  tune  as  a  corn-stalk  fiddle  is  in  the  hands  of  a 
plough-boy.  D. 

As  forward  and  saucy  as  the  devil  himself. 

As  fierce  as  a  ram-cat. 

He  doesn't  know  enough  to  chaw  gum. 

He  doesn't  know  enough  to  throw  potato-apples  over  a  fence. 
I 'm  in  an  unfortunate  iwsition,  as  the  toad  said  when  he  found 
himself  under  a  harrow  which  was  about  to  go  over  him. 
Like  a  singed  cat,  —  better  than  he  seems. 
As  natural  as  grinning  is  to  a  hyena. 

As  tough  as  old  hickory,  and  as  long-winded  as  a  tornado. 
As  lonely  as  a  catamount,  and  as  dull  as  a  bachelor  beaver. 
Like  a  pea  in  a  hot  skillet. 
Better  than  pone  and  'lasses. 

Great  on  small  wheels,  i.  e.  large  pretensions  on  a  slight  basis. 
Cheaper  than  bull-beef  at  a  penny  a  pound. 
As  scarce  as  hen's  teeth. 

AVith  all  its  frauds  and  deceptions,  we  cling  to  the  earth  as  it  turng 
on  its  axis,  like  a  tumble-bug  when  it  accidentally  rolls  down  hill. 

You  may  scent  your  persons  with  the  richest  perfume;  but  they 
will  no  more  compare  with  the  rich  fragrance  that  youth  and  beauty 
emit,  than  the  atmosphere  which  surrounds  a  wounded  skunk  can  equal 
the  odor  of  an  orange-grove.  D. 

As  important  as  a  militia  officer  on  a  trahiing-day. 

As  uselp.ss  as  whistling  psalms  to  a  dead  horse. 

As  melancholy  as  a  Quaker  meeting-house  by  moonlight. 

Thrasliing  round  like  a  short-tailed  bull  in  fly-time, 

AVhen  frightened,  a  coward  will  shake  like  a  shirt  in  a  hurricane. 

Hash  is,  like  faith,  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for  and  the  evi- 
dence of  things  not  seen. 

He  does  not  need  it  any  more  than  a  toad  does  a  pocket. 

Like  shoemaker's  wax,  we  are  bound  to  admire  goodness  and  stick 
to  it,  whether  found  in  the  dunghill  of  humanity  or  in  liearts  of 
angels.  1). 

As  for  taking  a  good  man's  name  from  him,  you  might  ;is  well 
undertake  to  pull  goose-quills  from  the  wings  of  an  angel.  I). 

When  a  woman's  affections  are  once  fairly  fastened  npon  a  fellow, 
they  stick  and  hang  like  tick  to  a  sheep.  D. 


810 


SIMILES. 


As  easy  as  rolling  off  a  log. 

He 's  a  whole  team  and  a  dog  under  the  wagon. 

The  lustre  that  surrounds  good  deeds  will  as  much  outshine  the 
light  of  a  candle  as  the  noonday  sun  surpasses  the  feeble,  phospho- 
rescent glow  emanating  from  the  tail-end  of  a  lightning-bug.  D. 

Time  may  scribble  decay  over  the  whole  vegetable  world;  but  he 
can  no  more  make  a  m.ark  upon  the  unalterable  ocean  than  a  school- 
boy can  cipher  upon  a  buttered  slate.  D. 

The  world  has  been  rolling  in  sin  and  corruption,  like  the  ball  of 
a  tumble-bug  through  manure,  till  it  is  ready  to  flatten  beneath  the 
weight  of  its  squashy  abominations.  D. 

So  indistinct,  that  I  can  no  more  see  it  than  I  can  see  the  shadow 
of  an  idea. 

The  thing  is  as  impossible  as  it  would  be  to  fire  a  joke  from  a 
cannon. 

To  disappear  as  suddenly  as  ghosts  at  cock-crowing.    S.  S. 

As  tender  as  a  porter-house  steak.  B. 

As  full  of  twitter  as  is  a  canary-bird  on  a  perch.  B. 

Like  a  streak  of  yellow  sunshine.  B. 

Like  the  balm  of  many  flowers.  B. 

Like  a  Scotch  terrier  at  a  rat-hole.  B. 

As  full  of  wit  as  a  ginger-beer  bottle  is  of  pop.  B. 

As  serious  as  a  white  mouse  in  a  wire-trap.  B. 

As  proud  of  her  as  a  third  lieutenant  is  of  his  first  epaulettes.  B. 

As  welcome  as  a  dandelion  in  the  bosom  of  winter.  B. 

As  sleek  and  slippery  as  though  he  had  been  taking  a  hip-bath  in 
a  tub  of  soap-grease.  D. 

As  rough  as  the  back  of  a  hedgehog,  and  as  foul  as  Zebedee's  hen, 
that  laid  three  rotten  eggs  to  a  good  one.  D. 

Of  no  more  use  than  it  would  be  to  stop  up  a  rat-hole  with  an 
apple  dumpling.  D. 

All  talking  and  none  listening,  after  the  manner  of  a  Woman's 
Eights'  Convention. 

As  clamorous  for  food  as  the  boys  of  a  district  school  just  let  out 
to  play  at  lunch-time.  B. 

Some  men  have  so  little  backbone,  that  you  might  as  well  under- 
take to  help  them  as  to  stand  an  angleworm  on  end  and  ask  him  to 
dance  a  jig.  B. 

I  would  sooner  face  a  square  mile  of  grasshoppers,  or  cross  the 
Newark  marshes  by  moonlight  in  August,  when  mosquitoes  are  in 
their  glory,  than  have  a  newspaper  critic  who  writes  for  eight  dollars 
a- week  get  after  me.  B. 


SIMILES. 


811 


The  jokes  of  an  auctioneer  are  generally  as  level  as  a  cold  slap- 
jack. B. 

Mean  enough  to  steal  the  coppers  from  a  dead  nigger's  eyes. 

She  leaned  against  him  like  a  sick  kitten  against  a  hot  brick. 

He  should  be  kicked  to  death  by  lame  grasshoppers. 

As  impracticable  as  it  would  be  to  employ  learned  spiders  to  span 
the  Mississippi  with  cobweb  bridges  suitable  for  railway  purposes. 

We  can  make  a  new  application  of  an  old  story,  as  the  schoolmarm 
said  when  she  spanked  the  little  boy  with  "  Robinson  Crusoe." 

To  leave  stains  as  conspicuous  as  the  traces  of  candy  about  the 
handles  of  a  young  candy-sucker's  mug.  D. 

Her  hair  it  hung  about  her  cheeks  like  seaweed  round  a  clam. 

In  youth's  lovely  spring-time,  thought,  reason,  and  philosophy  are 
as  much  strangers  to  us  as  is  piety  to  a  plaster-o' -Paris  Christian,  or 
patriotism  to  Powers 's  Greek  Slave.  D. 

News  borrows  the  wings  of  lightning,  and  darts  to  the  uttermost 
ends  of  the  earth  in  less  than  two  throbs  of  a  scared  kitten's  liver.  D. 

Just  as  confident  as  I  am  sure  that  lawyers  will  never  go  to  heaven 
any  other  way  than  by  degrees.  D. 


Note. — Proverbs  and  Similes  marked  B.  are  from  the  writings  of 
"Josh  Billings  "  (Henry  W.  Sliaw) ;  those  marked  D.  are  from  the  sermons 
of  "Dow,  Junior"  (Elbridge  G.  Page)  ;  and  those  marked  S.  S.,  from  the 
writings  of  "Sam  Slick,  the  Clock-maker"  (Judge  T.  C.  Haliburton). 
Doubtless,  others  in  the  list  are  by  the  same  writers. 


STATES,  PEOPLE,  AND  CITIES,  THEIR  ABBREYIATIOXS 
AND  NICKNAMES. 


N^AMES  OF 

Abbrevi- 

Nicknames of 

NAMfi;S  OF 

Nickn.vmf;.s  of 

Statfs. 

ations. 

Statks  and  People. 

Cities. 

CiTIKS. 

^lci^)tinici     •  • 

Ala. 

Alaska  Ter. 

Alas. 

Arizona  Ter. 

Ariz 

Avkciusas  . 

Ark. 

[uate. 

nlifornifi   .  . 

Cal 

Golden  State 

City  of  the  Golden 

Connecticut 

Conn. 

J^dlKL  Ul  OLcdUV  XlctUlLh 

New  tfaven 

City  of  Khns. 

1  5 

v.'OiorcKiO 

(Jol. 

CentenniRls. 

D.  C. 

^Yashinj^ton 

City  ot  xMagnincent 

Dacotah  Ter 

Dac 

[Distances. 

Delaware 

L^lRlTlOllU.  ocRte. 

Blu6  Hen's  Cliickens- 

r  lorida  .  . 

r  la. 

Greori^'ia  . 

\_>  I  dv^ivci  o   •      •      •      •  • 

Atlanta  . 

Gate  City. 

Tflilir.  Tor 

Id. 

Iowa  .... 

la. 

Hawkeves    .    •    •  • 

Keokuk  . 

Liate  vvity. 

Til 
111. 

kjLHw-tVCl    kJlCVLC           •        •  • 

Chicago  . 

Garden  Cit}"". 

... 

Prairie  State     .    .  . 

Springfield  . 

Flower  City. 

Indiana  . 

Tnrl 

inci. 

rTfincilPTC 

Indianapolis 

xiaiiioad  yAty, 

ivan. 

j^^'_bawlvers. 

ivy. 

i_ / ti I  tv  o^j  iJivjvLi>  vjriuiiiJLi 

r 

Louisville 

rails  '-vity. 

Corncrackers. 

l-<ou!siaua 

La. 

New  Orleans 

Crescent  City. 

>)         •  • 

xeiicau  oLaie. 

Mifine  . 

Me. 

Pino  Ti'oa  Qfafa 

iine-ijee  oiaie. 

Portland 

Forest  City. 

jNIarvIand 

Md. 

Baltimore 

jNIonumental  City. 

Massachusetts 
" 

iMass. 
" 

ijcij  oiaLc      •    •    •  • 

Boston 
" 

iNIodern  Athens. 
1  ne  tluD. 

Lowell 

City  ot  Spindles. 

jMiohigan 

^lich. 

\v  olverines  .... 

Uetroit 

City  of  the  Straits. 

[Minnesota  . 

"vt;., 
M 1  n . 

Mississippi  .  . 

Miss. 

Bayou  State. 

Missouri  .    .  . 

Mo. 

]Mound  City. 

]\[ontana  Ter.  . 

Mta. 

Nevada  .    .  . 

Nev. 

Silver  State. 

New  .Jersey 

N.,J. 

.Jersey  Blues. 

Nebraska    .  . 

Neb. 

New  jMexieo  Tr. 

N. 

New  Hampshire 

N.  H 

Granite  State. 

[Lakes. 

New  York  . 

N.  Y. 

Empire  State     .    .  . 

Buffalo  .  . 

Queen  City  of  the 

Knickerbockers      .  . 

New  York  . 
Brooklyn  . 

Gotham. 

City  of  Churches. 

\ 


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